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| My Sodastream |
Personally I just got mine a few weeks ago, found a deal on Black Friday for it, and decided to give it a try. Granted it was still not cheap at $50 (although I did get 3 free syrup bottles with it), it was the best deal I had found with it since my gadget addiction kept looking at it.
My kit came with the plastic body, a carbonator, a 1 liter bottle, 6 sample syrups, and like I mentioned I was able to get 3 free syrup bottles with it.
The short and sweet of it, for this model, I can honestly say I would not pay over $50, had I known exactly the build of this one, I'm not sure I would have gotten it at that. The entire thing is completely made of plastic, and it's not that I'm against a lightweight plastic gadget, I can't say that from a quick glance at it, that I'm getting much for my money, although if you include the cost of a new carbonator at around $30 in reality I'm probably getting about what I pay for. If it lasts long enough, I guess I won't be too upset, but time will tell, if it is good plastic, or the cheap stuff.
The directions are simple enough for it thats for sure, fill a bottle up to the line, screw it into the Sodastream, and give it 3 good presses to carbonate the water. There you have soda water in no time flat(no pun intended) and for practically nothing. Although via some experimentation, if you use really cold water like leaving a bottle in the fridge before you carbonate, it doesn't seem to carbonate as well, but this was far from a scientific test, just one that worked and and one that worked less.
The flavor's I've tried thus far have been, Diet Orange, Orange Mango, and Dr. Pete. The best by far is the Orange Mango, and I know the reason why. I am just not a fan of Splenda or sucralose, and while even the regular versions that use Sugar, still use a certain amount of sucralose(if you look at the ingredients), the diet versions use all sucralose. Hence why if you try the Diet cola, it isn't even close to Diet Coke, it's much closer to Coke Zero. If you are like my wife and I, that difference is huge, and was a big deterrent from getting the Sodastream originally. I really thought it was just the difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero, that made me not like it, but now after trying a couple other diet drinks versus a regular one in the Sodastream, I'm pretty certain I just don't care for the Splenda factor.
One of the nice things about the Sodastream is the play factor. If you are like me, there is something about drinking a carbonated beverage that just beats plain flat old drinks. Well I decided I would try something out, a way that could potentially actually make the Sodastream a money saver. I took a Crystal Light packet and made my own concentrate, and added it to the carbonated water. Raspberry Ice flavor.
Ok, so on this attempt I took a packet that made 2 quarts and mixed it with 2 tablespoons of water. Mixed that up real good, and added it to the carbonated water. My first lesson from this, way too strong for my tastes. Going to have to try it with much less, we shall see, but it was a bit over strong, needed to be diluted quite a bit more. Aside from being overly strong, it was quite delicious and worked very well. A crisp carbonated raspberry soda, ahhhhh. So I will try some more things down the road.
All in all, this one is a fun toy with some possibilities, but if you are looking at it for a cost saver, don't bet on it. There are many sites that calculate the costs savings, and basically say you will save the $100 price tag after about 1500 liters of soda (ends up costing around .45 cents a liter if memory serves from what I have read, so a 2 liter on sale would be about the same or could be less, but don't take my word on it, google it and you will find many pages that discuss it,). Now the savings on Soda water alone, I'm sure you would see much quicker returns.
If you are one of those "green" type people, yes you save a lot of plastic using this, (although you still have quite a few small plastic syrup bottles too).
The best reason I could see for this in reality, is city living. If you live in a place where you walk to and from the grocery or take public transportation, it most certainly is easier on you to carry a small bottle of syrup than it is to cart 2 liters or cases of cans home.
But I will continue to play around with it, and maybe figure out a great alternative that will make it more cost effective.
If you have ideas or experiences with it, let me know.
Best of luck in the kitchen!
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