Review: Brita Large 10-Cup Water Filter Pitcher (a.k.a. Everyday) With Elite Cartridge

Full Analysis of the Brita Large 10-Cup

Filtration: 3.03/5.00

1. Lab Results: 3.28/5.00

Lab Results Chart

*100% means reduction to below the minimum detection level. To learn more about our testing procedures check our editorial guidelines.

Link to Filtered Water Report
Link to Unfiltered Water Report

Usability: 4.50/5.00

Costs: 4.68/5.00

Please note: This page is still a work in progress. Additional content and details will be added shortly – stay tuned!

Paraphrased Video Script

Hello everyone, and welcome to today’s review featuring the Brita Everyday Water Filter Pitcher! Now, Brita is probably THE biggest name when it comes to water filter pitchers, but are Brita pitchers really the BEST? Well, we conducted our own lab testing on the highly popular Brita Everyday measuring for real-life contaminant reduction, so if you consider buying a Brita pitcher, make sure to watch this video first…

The Brita Everyday was part of our recent water filter pitcher comparison where we reviewed and compared 11 of the most popular and most effective pitchers on the market – I’ll link the video here and in the description. The comparison included lab testing for each of the 11 pitchers. Essentially, we measured the level of impurities and contaminants in our unfiltered tap water and compared that to the level in the filtered water. This provided us with real-life contaminant reduction rates for each pitcher.

Based on these reduction rates and several other factors, the Brita Everyday did not make it into our final product recommendations, however, since Brita is such a big player, we wanted to provide a complete review, pointing out the good, the bad, and the ugly about the Brita Everyday (and Brita water filter pitchers in general), and also let you know the product or products we recommend instead.

That said, today’s review is based on the same analysis we did for our top 11 pitcher comparison video, and we will use the same Google Sheet, which you can also find in the description below. The Google Sheet contains all the details you need about all 11 pitchers so you can compare them if you like.

We’ll also do a quick comparison as part of this video: We’ll compare the Brita Everyday against the Clearly Filtered Pitcher – which is our top recommendation right now if you want the most effective filtration process – and against the Waterdrop Chubby – which is great if your #1 priority is usability, looks, and a low price – but more on this later.

Product Overview

This review features the Brita Everyday which, if I’m not mistaken, is also sometimes called the “Brita Large”. The Brita Everyday, or Large, holds the standard 10 cups, and it can be used with 2 different Brita filter cartridges: The Brita Standard and the Brita Elite. For this review, we used the Brita Elite filter cartridge which is considered to be the more effective one. And because all other Brita pitchers and dispensers can also use Brita’s Elite filter cartridge, except for the Brita Stream pitcher, they should achieve very similar filtration results, which we’ll cover now.

Lab Testing

For this test, we essentially took 2 water samples: one of our raw tap water and one after our tap water had been filtered by the Brita Everyday pitcher combined with the Brita Elite filter cartridge. We sent both samples to a professional and independent lab for analysis and compared the contaminant levels as soon as the lab reports came back. This allowed us to check how much of the undesirable impurities and contaminants present in our water supply the Brita pitcher was able to remove.

Disclaimer: With this approach we couldn’t test for the reduction of contaminants that were not in our water. And also, this kind of before vs after comparison is not an exact science and you won’t get 100% accurate results, so please keep that in mind.

The Brita pitcher achieved 100% reduction for chlorine and all 3 disinfection byproducts found in our water, namely bromodichloromethane, bromoform, and dibromochloromethane. Copper and barium were also removed to 100%. For all other analytes, performance left some to be desired:

• Boron 25% reduction – to be fair, none of the pitchers we tested really excelled here
• Lithium no reduction at all
• Strontium 56%
• Nitrate 21%
• Uranium 57% reduction
• We also didn’t see a reduction in fluoride, but our numbers on that might be flawed

Besides, there was a tiny amount of aluminum found in the filtered water that hadn’t been detected in the raw water. Does this mean it was added by the Brita pitcher? Not necessarily. And the level was way below health goals, but we wanted to mention it anyway.

So in summary, for some of the analytes tested the Brita pitcher performed well, but these were also the ones we usually consider easier to remove. For all the stuff that we consider a bit harder to remove, filtration was subpar at best and other pitchers performed way better than the Brita.

Filtration Process

It must have to do with the filtration process that the Brita pitcher applies: Basically, it uses activated carbon, which is good, lined with bacteriostatic silver and possibly mixed with other filter media – we’re not sure. All we know is that Brita mentions “absorbents” to be included in the filter. This may or may not include ion exchange resin. If not, ion exchange resin would be really important for broad contaminant removal, and this might explain the partially lackluster filtration results.

Aside from the types of filter media used, filtration performance is also about how long the water is in contact with said filter media. Although this may be annoying when you are thirsty; generally speaking, longer contact time between water and filter media leads to more effective contaminant reduction. Now, in our speed test the Brita pitcher could filter 4 cups of water in 2:30 minutes which was much faster compared to most of the competition. In fact, our top recommendation, the Clearly Filtered Pitcher, required almost 30 minutes to filter 4 cups of water. So this might also explain why lab results for the Brita were not where we wanted them to be.

Taste & Odor

Aside from our speed test, we also tested taste and odor of the filtered water, obviously, and found that the water had some taste left in it, which also points to incomplete filtration. Good news: We couldn’t detect any odor.

NSF Certifications

The next factor that played a big role when evaluating the Brita pitcher was NSF certifications for contaminant reduction. Here, the Brita Everyday combined with the Elite filter cartridge is certified against NSF/ANSI standards 42, 53, and 401. These certifications were granted by the WQA and the IAPMO and cover more than 30 different substances – not bad.

However, if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that most of the certified substances are what we would consider less important – not because they would be less harmful but because, from our experience, they are the easier ones to remove using simple activated carbon. So please don’t get me wrong, we always prefer having NSF certifications over not having them, but not all certifications are equally valuable so to speak.

What we do like is that we have an NSF standard 53 certification for lead reduction and for asbestos reduction. This is great. The rest is mainly organic compounds including pesticides, industrial solvents, and trace pharmaceuticals which, again, we consider less important because easier to remove.

Usability

On the pro side, the pitcher is easy to assemble. The same goes for filter priming.

The pitcher is also easy to use thanks to the flip top lid that allows for easy refilling and the overall lightweight design. The pouring of the filtered water also goes nicely, even when you pour fast.

On top of that, the Brita Everyday uses one of the best if not the best filter life indicators of all pitchers currently on the market – because the indicator doesn’t simply count down from a preprogrammed number of days like most other systems do. No, the new Brita Smart Light tracks actual water usage by tracking how often you open the lid to refill the pitcher. So provided you refill the reservoir to the top every single time you open the lid, you will have accurate tracking of the gallons filtered and will know when it’s time to replace filters, which by the way, is also a very straightforward process.

Brita Elite filters last 120 gallons which is good and annual filter replacement cost comes down to around $55 to $60, so highly affordable.

Cost & Warranty

I feel like Brita pitchers used to be more affordable in the past. The Brita Everyday is currently around $50 on Amazon which means there are cheaper options out there. We also don’t like the short 90-day warranty. Some other pitchers are warranted for 2-3 years, like the Clearly Filtered and the LifeStraw Home.

User Complaints

What did other users complain about? It seems like most issues have to do with clogged filters, cracked plastic, and water spilling when pouring.

Verdict

On the plus side we have:

• Standard 10 cup size
• Good usability
• Fast filtration
• Long filter life
• Fast and easy filter replacements

But filtration results in our lab testing were lackluster and the filtered water also still had some taste to it – and this doesn’t only apply to the Brita Everyday pitcher specifically, but to any Brita pitcher that uses the Elite filter cartridge. And there’s also the extremely short warranty.

In our opinion, all of this didn’t matter as much in the past when Brita used to be among the most affordable options on the market, but this doesn’t seem to be the case anymore, and for a price tag of around $50 for the Everyday pitcher, we think that there are better options out there.

Alternatives

The Clearly Filtered Pitcher is the one we consider the best when it comes to overall filtration effectiveness. It may only have a few NSF certifications but it achieved the best results in our lab testing. The filtration process also looks very promising and there’s a lot of test data to be found on the Clearly Filtered website. So this is the pitcher we recommend if clean drinking water is your #1 priority. Be prepared, however, to pay a premium.

We also recommend the Waterdrop Chubby if your main concern is great usability and looks combined with a budget price. Most importantly, the Waterdrop Chubby filters water even faster than the Brita, it pours nicely, the pour-through tab works great, and we like the looks with the nice wooden handle. Also, although nowhere near as good as with the Clearly Filtered, lab results for the Waterdrop Chubby were slightly superior to those of the Brita Everyday. And we also preferred the taste of the filtered water.

By the way, we have discount codes for both the Clearly Filtered and the Waterdrop Chubby.

For a more detailed comparison of the Brita Everyday water filter pitcher to the Clearly Filtered, the Waterdrop Chubby, and 8 other pitcher models, remember to check our Google Sheet and our comparison video. We also have a standalone review of the Clearly Filtered – all links in the description! And please don’t hesitate to ask questions in the comments below, remember to like and subscribe if you want more content like this, and let us know which water filters you would like us to review next!