Make Your Own Soda With Soda Stream

These type of machines have actually been around for years.  My friend had one when I was a kid and we used to pester his mother to let us have more soda.  I don't remember what it was called, but essentially it was the same idea, you were shooting Co2 into regular tap water and adding syrup to flavor it.  So what is the benefit of this thing, it is still soda, ya know?

How about all of the additives and preservatives that the big soda companies add?  That's just a start.

There are quite a variety of flavors.  You would need to test them on your own to decide which ones are good.  I have discovered that most of the fruit flavored ones are pretty good.  The photo shows me enjoying a cherry soda.

We just swapped out our empty cartridge at Bed Bath and Beyond for 16.99.  It is supposed to carbonate about 250 32 oz bottles, although I didn't keep count, I'm sure it's pretty close to that.

The syrups range in price from 3.50 to 5.00, depending on where you get it.

I got really gutsy one time and carbonated some water and added caramel syrup (the kind you use in coffee).  It was actually pretty good.  Similar to an Italian soda.

The sodas don't have near as much sodium as regular canned soda.  That is a good thing.

No matter what, though, it is still soda and definitely was not designed to replace more healthy drinks.  We have had fun mixing flavors and finding what we like.