Coming in three sizes and two colours, brushed steel or black, the Klean Kanteen TK Pro is a very classy flask indeed. The half litre is good for a solo hike, the 0.75 litre ideal for co-campers, and the 1 litre big enough to refresh a family and their tea-drinking dog.
Big plus: the flask is certainly durable – the double-walled stainless steel design takes care of that. Having dropped our tester flask on a concrete floor within five minutes of receiving it we can testify the TK Pro will not shatter. It's robust enough to withstand many years of hard picknicking. It has to be said, there’s a compromise here in terms of the weight – the 1 litre weighs in at 730g, which in layperson's terms means it's noticeably solid without making your legs buckle. Other flasks are probably lighter, but they will be more fragile.
But enough of the flim-flammery, let’s cut to the burning question here – because, let’s be honest, lukewarm tea on a frosty morning does not service the soul – does it actually keep your tea hot?
We put it to the Outdoor People overnight test – brew a thermos of tea before you go to bed, roll out your hammock the following morning, pour.
Verdict – HOT. Not lukewarm – hot.
Manufacturers claims for the thermal properties of their flasks are mostly over-stated – and Klean Kanteen's given spec that the flask will keep hot drinks hot for 28 - 38 hours and cold drinks cold for 90+ should be treated with a bit of scepticism. But its definitely going to give you a hot cup of tea overnight, or at the end of a long day, so it meets the basic threshold.
Great feature is the 360 pouring option – so it doesn’t matter which way you tip the flask, tea flows out. The cup is a proper size for a cup of coffee. It fits nicely in the hand, and is about the same diameter as the wide-mouth Klean Kanteen or Klean Kanteen tumbler. The cup has a rounded edge, so it feels like you’re drinking out of a mug.
The sleek design features the 'TK Closure' internal thread system. Not the laying to rest of a traumatic incident in a high-street discount retailer, but in fact a techy bit of engineering which increases the thermal properties of your flask. A few online reviews complained that you need to pour your drink slowly, otherwise the flask will dribble, but we can honestly say this wasn't a problem over the weekend. Maybe we are natural slow-pourers.
In conclusion – the Klean Kanteen TK Pro gets our recommendation: 100% plastic-free and 100% leak-proof.
