To me SodaStream conjures up memories of childhood. I never had one but I remember friends who did and I also remember greatly coveting one, although never quite managing to get my parents to succumb and get “busy with the fizzy”. I was slightly worried that admitting to remembering it may show my age but given I also remember when most people in Scotland had fizzy drinks delivered to their door on a milk float so I decided SodaStream is probably the least of my worries.
Despite the fact that I considered it somewhat of a sevnties/ eighties throwback SodaStream never really went away. It’s always been popular
in Europe where apparently more than 1 in 5 households in Sweden own a machine,
but it seems to have somewhat reappeared in the UK recently, so when we were
offered a chance to test one out I was keen not only to right my childhood
wrongs but also to see where the growing move back to SodaStream had come from.
First off I was surprised how easy it is. We tried the “pure”
drinks maker. It doesn’t need plugged in, just a work surface to sit on.
Initial set up was a doddle and afterwards it’s just a case of screwing on a
plastic bottle and pulling a lever. You then add your syrup of choice and hey
presto, 1l of fizzy goodness. A 500ml bottle of syrup costs around £3.49 and makes
12 litres, so the savings that can be made on even supermarket own label soft drinks
are pretty good.
Aside from fiscally, SodaStream also makes sense
environmentally. The bottle used in the machine is reusable, so instead of piling
up mountains of empty 2 litre bottles and throwing away drinks cans that we
intended to recycle but just never got round to, the SodaStream has reduced the
amount of rubbish we create, which can’t be a bad thing.
My main concern about SodaStream was the flavours. When it
comes to soft drinks I’m a label whore, supermarket brands are not an option.
First time around I remember SodaStream having name brand flavours like Vimto, Tizer
and Irn Bru, now it’s all made in house. I needn’t have really worried, the
fruit flavours are great and there’s a surprisingly large range of other
drinks, clear flavoured waters, natural options and even energy drinks (I found
the Red Bull-esque Xstream particularly good). I’m not going to lie though, for
me the cola flavours don’t stack up to the name brand equivalents. We started
with a sample pack which let us try without buying a full bottle of the syrups.
The root beer in particular was a huge success. We’re all root beer fans in our
house and as it’s generally imported into the UK it tends to be expensive. £3.49
for 12 litres with SodaStream is a bargain. It’s not hard to find the syrups
either. We’ve bought some in both Tesco and Asda, as well as ordering from the
full selection on the SodaStream website.
I think the main reason my parents were anti-SodaStream in
the eighties was that they were worried that it somewhat relied on a novelty
factor, that we’d all be excited to make our own fizzy drink once or twice and
then we’d put it in the back of a cupboard and forget about it. So far that’s
not been a problem for it: three months on it’s still in the kitchen and we
still use it, both for knocking together soft drinks and soda water. In fact we
like it so much that I’m pretty sure that it’s a permanent feature.
The SodaStream Drinks Makers are available to buy at most major grocery stores or online via the SodaStream online store starting from £55.99.
The fabulous people at SodaStream are giving you the chance to win a SodaStream Drinks Maker! If you live in the UK leave a blog comment and follow the Rafflecopter instructions to enter. Competition ends Friday, January 11th at 4am (see widget for hours remaining). See Rafflecopter widget for full Terms and Conditions.
GOOD LUCK!Competition CLOSED.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The SodaStream Drinks Makers are available to buy at most major grocery stores or online via the SodaStream online store starting from £55.99.
GOOD LUCK!
Transatlantic Blonde was provided a SodaStream Drinks Maker for review and one for a prize but all opinions and stories are our own. I don't know about yours but my husband only does and says things he wants to say!