I really hope that you have mastered the art of keeping bike bottles clean. I have not. Sometimes they get pretty gross. Eventually I try to clean them with a brush, but it doesn’t always seem to work well.

If you, like me, haven’t mastered this art…let me tell you about this unexpectedly effective bottle cleaning device.

How did I happen upon said product?

We have a tradition in our family (I have no idea where this came from but it is phenomenally fun and sometimes wasteful): in our Christmas stockings we share kitchen gadgets and the person has to guess what they are. Tip: find obscure products that do not give any clues away when the packaging is removed.

This year I received these little sponges with balls in them that look like edamame beans.

My husband and I were stumped.

A google search revealed that they were marketed as bottle cleaning sponges. I had a very good laugh and remarked that of course we didn’t guess what it was because there is no way that these mini things would do well at cleaning bottles.

Fortunately I tried one anyway on a bottle we use for our soda stream that gets kind of gross. To my amazement, it worked beautifully as marketed! I put in some warm water to fill it about halfway, a little soap, my new sponge, and shook vigorously. Viola. It has never looked so clean since shortly after we bought them.

They run about $8 for a set of two sponges.

In case you were at the edge of your seat in suspense…the Google search that revealed the use of these sponges was “edamame sponge”. What?