Soda Stream Review
October 13, 2008 by Katelyn Thomas
Filed under Uncategorized
Today, I got to play with the SodaStream home soda factory. This handy machine helps you create your own sodas and sparkling water, which means you can really help cut back on buying plastic containers and bottles. Since the machine doesn’t need electricity to work, it is doubly green.
I would have been able to set up and use the SodaStream really easily if I could have just gotten to it. I swear I saw some kids that weren’t even related to me crowded around the table. “It makes soda? I can drink it? Really?”
Part of the excitement was probably that we don’t allow sodas for anyone under 16 as a normal rule because they are so sugary. The Soda Club mixes have 9 grams of sugar or less per serving, so I said everyone could try the sodas. (As a comparison, my A&W Root Beer label said it had 45 sugars a serving!) Not bad for a soda that isn’t a diet drink.
The rest of the excitement was over how cool it was to make instant sodas from filtered tap water. We chilled the water as instructed, used the SodaStream to carbonate it and added the flavor. After it sat for a few minutes, we had a soda tasting. Those of us who have had soda before thought the root beer flavor tasted like one of those expensive root beers in the glass bottles. The rest of them had nothing to compare the sodas to, but thought they were wonderful.
So, on to the nitty gritty – why would anyone who is being thrifty want a SodaStream? Well, if your family doesn’t drink soda or sparkling water, you probably don’t. However, if you have a sodaholic in the family, it will most likely pay for itself pretty quickly. I know several of my brothers who have soda addictions would save money by making sodas with the Soda Club mixes.
The benefit of a lower sugar soda is something to consider, too. Medical costs can be very pricey and anything that is even a little bit healthier is worth trying. Five times less sugar is a big difference, especially for someone who swigs soda like it is a nice healthy glass of water.
Then, there’s the environmental factor. I have a friend who is hooked on sparkling water who is going to be getting a SodaStream show and tell very soon. All the energy to make the four or five bottles of sparkling water she drinks every day is not good for the environment at all! She can use the My Water flavor essence that SodaStream sells along with the SodaStream carbonator to transform her tap water into fancy sparkling water. (And from the price tags I saw on those bottles, she’ll probably recoup her costs fairly quickly.)
The thing I didn’t like about this product? The recommended three squirts does not create enough fizz for us. Adding another two squirts made us happy, but we will run out of carbonization sooner, which makes the cost of each bottle a bit higher.
To find out more about the home soda factory, visit the SodaStream website.
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They sell proprietary C02 cartridges, which means they can only be refilled by SodaStream.
Also be aware that the cartridges and refills a.) are not always in stock at retail outlets listed on the SodaStream site b.) cost $24 per cartridge refill (as compared to $3 for a ’standard’ CO2 cartridge) c.) the size of the cartridge when available at a retail store “may not” match yours
The customer service on getting exchange CO2 cartridges is *horrible* – every order that I have placed has had some problem. Beware especially if you live in an area where they use an independent courier, rather than UPS. (seriously… call them up and check before ordering) In this case, they don’t send shipping confirmations or tracking by e-mail, and several times I have waited for bottles only to find that they have not yet shipped (in one case, for weeks).
Thanks for letting me know that getting cartridges refilled can be tough. The novelty sort of wore off for us, so we never actually used all of our cartridges and didn’t get to experience the joys of refilling.