SodaStream

I originally posted this rave to Skirt Loves, but the link has gone missing.  Skirt must have realized that I don't Love, so much as Covet, SodaStream.  And since Skirt.com does not have an I Covet column,  I will celebrate SodaStream here.

  Home Carbonation is not a new idea.  It's a RE-new idea.  Even our great-grandparents had home carbonation, before they had refrigeration   They did love a good physic.  But to us, and our bottled water-dependent generation, the home-soda route is a tempting experiment in genius.

I do not have one of these, for no reason except I just don't.  But I have seen it in action many times.  And I do sort of envy it.

(Ms Fizz seems to have more going on than soda....)

I am nearly exclusively a seltzer drinker.  I did not so much give up soda as syrup, and I go through the big bottle about once a week.  I am also personally responsible for the imbalance of the company Coke Zero out-put, because that is where the "soda" lever is.  (Sorry co-workers, but it is "zero," after all...)

Enough about me - this is the "I Love" column.  Here's what to love:

simple design: it's a carbonator.  Takes up less space than your blender.  Attach bottle, press pump.  You have soda.  Even during a power outage.

cost effective?  You'll have to run your own numbers.  If you are making the switch from commercial sodas to "I made my own soda," this will pay for itself fairly quickly.  Because even at Shaw's 10/10.00 stock up sales, soda can set you back.  For someone like me, who is making a switch from seltzer to home-seltzer (under a dollar a half-gallon, at a rate of 2 gallons a month)  I got some bubbling to do to pay for the lowest $79 bottle, but a year would do it.

There are several models of SodaStream, to make you feel like it's shopping.  Some are more fanciful in design, closer to the art deco bar-ready look we remember from the picture show.  And I get that.  One model boasts, "stainless steel accents to complement the finest kitchens."  (as we say, "well fanh-fanh-fanh.")  That's the "Pure."  For the Right Kind of People.  The Dynamo Delux has a "family-friendly design."  Rated G - for Get Your Own Soda.  Mommy has had a day.;

The bachelor girls I know trend toward the Fountain Jet design.  All the copywriters could come up with for that was "look[s] great on your kitchen counter." 

science:  Pumping carbon dioxide into water and making a refreshing beverage scratches that itch that makes you think you should do something more economical and home-crafty.  Go ahead and fool yourself.  You need to relax.

convenience:  SodaStream makes much of freeing you from bottle returns and recycling.  They would prefer that you return and recycle CO2 canisters instead.  It is less often, though; a canister makes "60 or 130 liters of soda" and they count on you to not know what quantity that is.  It's a lot  -- remember that we learned a liter is (almost) equal to a quart.  It is the same principle that makes Canadian gas look cheap. 60 liters is about 16 gallons. 

The SodaStream website won't mention the price of refill cylinders.  I found prices as varied as $15  (Gourmet Depot) to $68 (Amazon).  No explaining that, but my advice is shop around.

Or get friends with SodaStreams.  I have 3.  And they are irreplaceable.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/joyful-noise-soundtrack-to-be-released-...