After Bobby and I got back from our Mayercraft Cruise, we started following John Mayer on Twitter (follow me!). One of the first things he tweeted about was this cool soda machine made by Sodastream. We wanted it, but didn’t want to fork over the $130 bucks for the value kit (there’s a cheaper start-up kit for $90, but with shipping it’s almost the same price as the value kit which has free shipping).
So we didn’t get it. But then I saw it on Herbivoracious, and I wanted it again. There are so many benefits to making your own spritzer/soda at home! It’s environmentally friendly because it reduces packaging…
- No bottles or cans to recycle or throw away
- Saves thousands of containers for a family of four in a year
- Carbonating bottles last for three years (you can send them back in to be refilled)
- Highly concentrated sodamix minimizes packaging
And it saves energy…
- No batteries or electricity
- Reduces energy used to manufacture bottles and cans
- Reduces gas and pollution from shipping packaged beverages
- Eliminates pollution from batteries
Not to mention that it’s convenient! We finally decided to order it last week, and it arrived just 2 days later. The value pack came with the Fountain Jet Soda Maker, 2 x 110-liter carbonators, and 4 x carbonating bottles. They also threw in a free pack of soda samples (12 flavors; 6 diet and 6 regular) and 3 flavors of spritzer (berry, orange, and lemon-lime). I found a 10% off coupon online so that basically paid for the tax and a $5 bottle of root beer flavor (makes 12 liters) that Bobby wanted. We opted for the silver and black (to match the kitchen) but they have red and white as well.
The process to make the seltzer water is simple. Screw in a bottle of chilled water:
Press the button on top a few times until you hear it make a buzz noise. Then press it 2-3 more times after that and remove the bottle.
Add flavoring (optional), put the cap on, and gently turn it up and down a few times. Drink!
The flavors are made with real sucrose and some Splenda (no HFCS) and the diet flavors are made with Splenda (not great, but at least it’s not aspartame). I actually prefer the real soda. I dilute it a lot because you don’t need much! My favorite flavor is orange. Bobby only uses half of a flavor pack at a time to make his soda as well because it’s very strong. The nutritionals are great though: 8 ounces of this soda has ~35 calories whereas 8 ounces of Coke/Pepsi/other soda has 100 calories! (And since we only use 1/2 a packet it’s only ~17 calories per cup.)
I still think soda is pretty awful, but if you’re going to drink it – this soda is probably your best option. I mostly drink the seltzer flavors – my favorite is orange for this as well. I’m a major seltzer addict and I’ve been chugging it like mad. I’ve finally found a way to stay hydrated and get my 8-12 glasses of water each day.
Overall – I highly recommend the Sodastream soda maker. Go out and buy it!
Do you like soda? Seltzer? Diet soda? What’s your favorite flavor? I used to drink diet soda but I’ve stopped now. I never really drank soda as a kid except for the rare “treat” occasion. My favorite flavors were always Sprite, 7-Up, Mountain Dew, and Orange soda. I hate Coke, but when I drank diet soda it was always Diet Coke or Diet Root Beer because those seem to be the ones that are always available.
Thanks for a review of such a neat product! The price tag does deter me a little bit, but you’ve given me some things to think about. I try off-and-on to break my soda addiction and I always turn to plain seltzer water – something I love but other people seem, mysteriously, to hate. I’m glad to hear that making your own is just as good!
That’s so super cool that you bought one for yourself! We have a local healthy burger joint that makes their own sodas too, and the nutrition facts are also WAY better for their sodas. They make a fresh raspberry soda with real raspberry puree that’s to die for.
But normally, I don’t drink anything carbonated because it tends to upset my stomach. 🙂 I stick with water, and sometimes milk or juice/smoothies.
Chris and I have been wanting one of these. Thanks for the review!!!
I loooove diet coke but lately I’ve pretty much cut it out of my diet since water is free 🙂 I still love it though! I know this is silly, but I’m totally planning on getting a diet coke on my birthday and I am so looking forward to it!
I haven’t had soda in years! Finally broke the addiction and feel so much better because of it. My tummy thanks me.
That is such a cool gadget though!!
That is such a cool machine, I never knew this existed! I used to love Diet Coke but then I read Ultrametabolism and all about hard bad the crap in it is and I cut it out. Now I only have it when I have a very strong craving, which is rare! I was never into seltzer unless vodka was involved, but this sounds great. I think my boyfriend might love it, he loves his fizzies.
wow i’m a total seltzer addict- this sounds amazing. i may have to buy it.
My husband is teasing me because I have never heard of one of these before. It looks so cool–I would use it all the time to make seltzer water! Thanks for the review. I’ll check it out 🙂
I am a soda “sipper”… I never finish a whole one… and if I did attempt to drink a soda…all I do is HICCUP…LOUDLY…
When I want a quick sweet chug, I just steal a sip from Hubs…or the Teen…but he’s starting to take after me and after two years of braces… soda’s not his fav either.
that might make a cool gift for a soda drinker…. you could maybe make “fizzie” juice drinks for kids??? That might be fun
Thanks for the fun reivew 🙂
I don’t like soda at all… but in some social events when there’s no alternatives, I get diet coke! 🙂
I am currently trying to break my addiction to Diet Coke/Pepsi!!!!
how fun! thanks for the review maggie 🙂
I’ve never seen one of those before, but what a great idea! I don’t like soda or sweet drinks, but I chug sparkling water like you wouldn’t believe…pelligrino is my favorite because of the pretty bottles (which I recycle). I may have to look into getting one of these. Do you know if you can carbonate fruit juice with the machine? Sparkling grapefruit juice is my lastest obsession.
That looks really cool! I bet you could do interesting things with that.
When I was a teenager I had a sprite every afternoon. I can’t imagine doing that now. I only drink diet sodas and only once a week or so. I love Dr. Pepper and Sprite. I also like Coke with Lime or Cherry Coke. Cherry 7-up is good too. And ginger-ale. I like most sodas 🙂
Wow! This is exciting. I never even knew such things existed. Thanks for the review! I love seltzer too. I used to drink diet coke, but then stopped because it hurt my tummy, and well, i’d rather drink water. BUT, every once in awhile I crave a nice cold rootbeer. My favourite these days is definitely seltzer though. Some sparkling water with a bit of cranberry and orange juice is so good–this was my family’s “soda” when I was a kid.
WANT!
Yeah, Diet Soda and I parted ways long ago, but there are occasional moments when I feel a brush against my wrist and suddenly it’s a steamy hall closet.
I’ve tried stevia-sweetened diet soda but it tasted kind of weird.
Oh, and your personal trainer tip made me giggle! I think my mentality is going to be “If it doesn’t sound like something Jillian Michaels would say, CALL EM ON IT!”
So basically my BS detector will be honed to go off at:
– 1200 calorie diets
– Low weights/High reps
– Lots of rest between sets
wOOOW! This is going on my wish list for sure! I LOVE fizzy drinks, which is one of the reasons why I BURP so much, too, haha! my fav soda would be this Japanese brand called calsipco (not sure if the spelling’s right) which is a yogurt soda drink! cool, eh?
That machine is so cool! I remember seeing it in December, and wanting to get it. I was also deterred by the price, though. Maybe I’ll reconsider.
I like sparkling water (La Croix is my favorite). I used to be a HUGE diet coke addict, but finally managed to give it up. It was bad, and it was really messing up my stomach. I felt gross when I drank it, but I had the hardest time quitting it! Now, I like to drink Zevia as a treat. It’s a stevia sweetened soda, and though it doesn’t taste like regular diet soda (it has a little bit of an aftertaste), I still really like it.
I bought the cool penguin one for PB as a wedding gift. We are both seltzer fanatics (especially him) and I can’t wait to give it to him!!!
i’m even more excited for him (and myself) after seeing ur review! yah!!!!!
Brilliant!! These soda makers are so convenient. Happy cos i saved $10 using a coupon from http://makeyoursoda.com
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).
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