SodaStream review

It’s been a couple of weeks, hasn’t it?  Semester grades were due last Wednesday, and as always when that time of the year rolls around, I don’t have time for much else.  With a mountain of papers behind me, however, I’m back to blogging.

I mentioned in late December that Adam got me a SodaStream machine for Christmas.    It looks like this:

Basically, the Sodastream machine is a homemade soda maker.  And I have to say, having used this bad boy for more than a month, it’s probably one of the greatest inventions ever.  Here’s the low-down.

How it works:

• There are several varieties of Sodastream machines.  We have the Genesis model, which uses plastic bottles (the machine/start-up is cheaper).  Also avaliable is the Penguin model, which brews soda in glass carafes.   Obviously the glass is preferable to the plastic, but the plastic bottles are reusable for several years, and Adam went with what we can afford.
• The Sodastream machine charges regular tap water with a CO2 canister made from aluminum, turning it into sparkling water. 
• Flavored syrups or flavored water “essences” (no sugar) can be added to the carbonated bottles once fizz has been added.

Good things:

• LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that the Sodastream company will take back and refill the empty CO2 canisters.  We can either mail these back to the company or take them to a local Bed, Bath, and Beyond for exchange.  This is one major reason we wanted this machine.
• Ridiculously easy to use, and there is no power cord.  Ours just sits on the counter, waiting for us.
• Flavor and fizz control.  Conventional soda is often too sweet and too flat for me; with the Sodastream, we can control the amount of flavor and the amount of carbonation. 
• Many flavors avaliable, from cream soda to lemonade to cran-raspberry.
• Never again buying cases of soda means we move up the waste hierarchy ladder from “recycle” to “reduce” – it’s always better to reduce consumption than recycle something because reduction uses no energy at all.
• Bottles of soda are wonderful for potlucks or picnics – we carbonate what we need, then are on our way, bottles in tow.

Bad things:

• Bottles of concentrated flavor syrup come wrapped with a nonrecyclable plastic seal, meaning that these have to be occasional luxury items (though one bottle goes a long, long ways).
• Some soda syrups are made from a mixture of Splenda and sugar.  Given my desire to live and eat as naturally as possible, I don’t like these chemicals showing up in my food.  I wrote to the company immediately and found out about a new product line called “sparkling naturals,” which have all natural ingredients and use only cane sugar. 

Disclaimer: In no way have I been compensated for this review.