The deceptively simple-looking Hibear makes coffee and cocktails.
The time has come for striving minimalists to donate their old water bottles, pour-over coffee brewers, and cocktail shakers. You might as well get rid of your coffee mug and measuring cup, too.
After traveling for several years in South America, Truckee resident Mark Tsigounis believed that the basic water bottle could be so much more.
“Living out of a backpack for nearly two years really gets you thinking about all the things you carry,” Tsigounis says.
The planning and design phase for the Hibear All-Day Adventure Flask took nearly as long.
“We wanted a lot of utility in the Adventure Flask, but we also wanted beautiful artwork,” Tsigounis says. “Everyone can’t be in the outdoors all the time, but if we carry things that stand for those times, we can hold on to those memories.”
After Tsigounis established a Kickstarter fundraiser to help him produce the flask and then hit his goal in just 45 minutes, the first run of the flask was produced in June 2021. Since then, the Adventure Flask has won two design awards: a 2020 Red Dot Design Award and a 2021 iF Product Design Award.
Memorializing the Mountains
The Hibear team wanted to celebrate the Reno-Tahoe lifestyle. The bottom of each flask features Sierra range and high-elevation mountainscape artwork by local artists Bryn Merrell and Lauren Ouye.
Basic to Badass
In terms of function, Tsigounis describes the Adventure Flask as being like a Russian nesting doll. The main flask, topped by a lid with a handle, contains a steel filter to make cold-brew coffee and a thermal core and cocktail strainer for on-the-trail cocktails.
But wait, that’s not all. Once the lid is removed, the top portion of the flask unscrews and inverts to reveal a stand that can fit a paper filter and make pour-over coffee directly in the flask. The Hibear website also offers tutorials on how to make tea, decant wine, and chill cocktails and wine. Oh, you also can use it for water.
“We put in the extra work to have all the functionality,” Tsigounis says. “You may not use all the functionality all the time, but you always have the ability in your bag.”
Additional features of the flask show the attention to detail that went into the design. An outer silicone sleeve does triple duty by protecting the bottom of the flask and acts as a measuring cup and mug for both people and pooches. In addition, the extra-wide mouth actually can fit in your hand for easy cleaning.
“All the functions are super fun to use,” Tsigounis adds. “For example, our head of marketing likes the flask for cold brew and her everyday water bottle, and I have friends who love to use the thermal core to muddle up limes and mint for cocktails. The most popular feature seems to be the invertible lid to make pour-over coffee.”
Tsigounis likes to add a handful of chocolate chips to his brew to make “weekend coffee.”
“Because you can’t have it every day of the week,” Tsigounis says, laughing.
For details, visit Hibearoutdoors.com.
Writer and designer Christina Nellemann may have received a Hibear Adventure Flask from Santa Claus last year.
