A carafe is highly recommended for your kitchen, living room or bedroom, to make sure everyone in your house stays hydrated. A carafe surrounded by a few glasses on a coffee table allows you to enjoy tasty beverages more often, and it also adds to the interior décor. You can store different types of liquids in a carafe, such as plain, fresh water, juice, lemonade, tea, milk, or even wine. As a result, you don’t have to make a trip to the water cooler or to the juicer in your kitchen to get a tasty beverage. You'll always have it next to you in a beautiful, modern carafe.
Think of a carafe as a glass water bottle, with the difference being that carafes are much bigger and can store large amounts of liquid. They also come in various shapes and can be made from many types of materials, so we created this guide to help you pick a good carafe at the correct price. To give you some examples of what’s out there, you can opt for a simple plain design, like the
Libbey Single Serving Wine Carafe. This carafe has a 6.5-ounce capacity and comes in a convenient 2-pack! Alternatively, if you wanted an elegant carafe to hold your wine, you should check out the
Sagaform Wine Carafe with Oak Stopper. It’s got a huge 67-ounce capacity which is perfect for dinner parties and get togethers. Some budget-friendly carafes can be found, particularly if they’re made from plastic rather than glass, like the
Rubbermaid Carafe. This option is also leak-proof, a feature you don’t see in every option. Okay, now you’ve seen some examples of options out there, you should be ready to check out more detailed consideration factors.
Price
Let's start with the price of carafes and find out how much they usually cost. Before everything else, make sure that you stay away from excessively cheap carafes, because they don’t provide good value for money and can break easily. Carafes priced below $10 can pose a lot of problems in the future, so it’s best to avoid them.
What you need is a high-quality carafe. Such products are usually priced around $14 on the simple end, and $50-60 for a more sophisticated and attractive model. There are several factors that influence the price of a carafe, such as size, shape, materials, construction, and what is intended for. For example, if you want a versatile carafe that can store multiple types of liquids and that features double-wall insulation (to keep your tea warm), prepare to pay a higher price for a more valuable product.
Features
By now you probably already know what the characteristics of a carafe are, but just to make it really clear, let's take a look at them again and get into more details. Carafe features include:
- Materials - Good carafes can be made from durable glass, aluminum or even stainless steel. They may also feature dripless lids and sturdy handles
- Capacity - Usually expressed in ounces, this shows how much liquid your carafe can hold. If you have a large family or you are a really thirsty person, get a carafe with a higher capacity
- Design - Some carafes are not only practical, but beautiful to look at. Others can have a small indentation, so that you can have a firmer grip when you pour water or juice
- Color - Carafes not made from glass can usually come in various colors, so if you have a preferred color, go for that
Let's talk in greater detail about how a carafe is made and what features it might have.
Construction and Design
A carafe can be made from various materials, including plastic, glass or stainless steel. Higher-end carafes can even have insulated walls to keep your beverage warm or cold for extended periods of time. Although such carafes might be more expensive, they are worth the money because nothing compares to having warm tea at your disposal, especially if you are British!
Other carafes come with a leakproof lid to prevent juice or wine drops from staining your beautiful white tablecloth. Such lids even make mixing easier, and this is an added bonus you can take advantage of.
Prestigious manufacturers make dishwasher safe carafes, so you don’t have to clean them manually. You just use the washing guidelines provided in the instructions manual, and that’s it. The market also offers carafes made from heat-resistant glass, so you can put hot tea or coffee in them and the glass won't break. Little details like this make a carafe versatile and practical, so analyze your needs first and then buy the right one.
Performance and Ease of Use
Most carafes can be used for popular beverages such as water, tea, or milk, but some of them are specially designed for wine. These carafes might even aerate your wine, and they have aesthetically pleasing designs, so if you are a wine lover, you may want to consider one of them. Remember that today's carafes also come with warranty periods, so check that out before pressing the order button, to have more peace of mind in the future!
Buying the right carafe is mostly a matter of personal preferences and how much liquid you want it to store at a given time. Now that you are familiar with the basics of a carafe, let's look at our recommendations and see which one fits your needs the best.
Features
Hiware produces a range of kitchenware and flatware products, all at a high quality. Their products are mainly made out of stainless steel and glass, giving them a luxurious yet minimalist style. Their best selling products include mainly stainless steel cutlery, such as tea spoons and forks, but they also produce a line of attractive glass carafes and pitchers.
The Hiware Glass Drip Free Carafe is made from glass with a stainless steel pourer that has a seal, ensuring your beverage doesn’t end up on your tablecloth, but in your glass instead. Happy days! Most people think of a carafe as a product for wine only but you can use it for any liquid; tea, juice, water, whatever takes your fancy. This carafe is the height of convenience; made with heat resistant glass, it won’t shatter and it’s also dishwasher proof, making your life even easier! If you’re not satisfied with this product, it comes with a 2-year limited warranty, to put your mind at ease.
Features
Menu is a brand that uses some of the most talented architects and designers to create truly beautiful objects. Their aim is to create elegant, functional products for the home that make each day just a little bit brighter. Their items have a Scandinavian feel to them, but with a flair of innovation. Whether it’s an expertly designed floating shelf, a vase or an innovative kitchen product that makes your life just a little easier, they’ve got something for you.
Luckily for us, their product line also extends to carafes! And their Winebreather Carafe is one example of how innovation meets beauty. All you need to do with this product is place the carafe on top of an opened bottle of wine, flip it over and let the wine pour into it. Then, within 2 minutes, 10 times more oxygen will have been added to your wine. This is an insane amount, and the reason why this carafe was the undisputed winner of the Eurofins aerating test. Once your wine is nicely aerated, you can then serve straight from the carafe or turn it back the other way and pour it back into the original bottle. That’s not something you see every day!
Features
Bormioli Rocco is a very special brand and has earned their place on our list easily. They are an Italian brand that is the very definition of powerhouse. It all began in Fidenza over 1,300 years ago, where the foundation for the brand was laid down. Now they have over 2,200 employees at 9 plants creating only the finest quality plastic and glass tableware. They’ve become a truly influential brand, in part due to how they sustainably source organic glazes and the finest sands that go into their glass products.
When we say Bormioli Rocco is a powerhouse, you might think we are just assuming so, but the numbers back this up. They hold half the market share in the retail distribution of tableware in Italy. That’s 50%! They are found on tables across the world thanks to their commitment to quality and economic sourcing of raw materials. The reason they’ve made it into our Best Value spot is because, due to the scale and efficiency of their production, they’re able to offer these high-end products at an affordable price!
The Bormioli Rocco 33 ¾ ounce Carafe is one example of their fine craftsmanship. Made with 100% BPA-free glass AND 0% lead, this product is both safe and recyclable! The superior construction of this carafe makes it dishwasher safe too, ensuring it really stands the test of time, just like the brand itself! As mentioned, the large capacity is a real win if you’re planning to serve your whole family or a large dinner party. Alternatively, though, this carafe also comes in a 17oz and 8 ½ oz capacities.
Now you've seen some of the best carafes out there. Before wrapping it up, we want to mention another hidden benefit of getting a carafe – it might actually help you drink those recommended eight glasses of water a day, simply because of its attractive design. If this trick doesn’t work for you as an adult, it might work for your kid!
