SodaStream Home Soda Maker Review: Making Your Own Soda Is Easy and Delicious

Do you spend too much money on bottled sodas and flavored carbonated waters? Then a SodaStream home soda maker might be the kitchen gadget for you! Make carbonated water and sodas in less than thirty seconds at home using your own tap water. Never again lug heavy bottles of soda from the store. Never again worry about recycling those empty soda bottles. Make your own delicious and healthier soda right at home with SodaStream.

I recently received a SodaStream home soda maker to review. Along with the soda maker, I also received a generous supply of soda and carbonated water flavors. My SodaStream review package consisted of the following products:

Fountain Jet Home Soda Maker
60 Liter Carbonator
Carbonating Bottle
Sodamix Taste Sampler (Root Beer, Orange, Lemon-Lime, Diet Cola, Diet Pink Grapefruit, Energy)
Root Beer
Cranberry-Raspberry
Cola Free
Diet Lemon Lime
Diet Pink Grapefruit
Naturally Sweetened Cola
Sparkling Naturals Ginger Ale
Sparkling Naturals Orange & Pineapple
MyWater Flavor Essence Variety 3 Pack (Orange, Raspberry, Lemon Lime)

When I received my SodaStream home soda maker, I must admit that I was surprised at just how easy the set up was. I had in my mind that putting together the SodaStream would be a long and arduous process. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that putting the machine together was simply a matter of popping off the back cover and screwing in the carbonator. As far as easy of assembly goes, my SodaStream gets two enthusiastic thumbs up.

Making delicious, homemade soda with the SodaStream is also incredibly easy. Begin by filling up the carbonating bottle with tap water and chilling the water in the fridge. Alternatively, I found that keeping a separate container of water in the fridge makes making my SodaStream soda go a lot faster. I simply fill the carbonating bottle with the already chilled water, so that I do not have to wait for the water to get cold.

After the water in the carbonating bottle is cold, you screw the bottle onto the SodaStream homemade soda maker. Then you press the button on the top of the machine until you hear a minimum of three buzzes. If you like your soda fizzier, you can continue pressing the button until you hear up to six buzzes. However, I think that the amount of bubbles in the soda is just perfect after three buzzes. After you carbonate the water, simply remove the bottle from the SodaStream machine, and then add whatever flavorings you want. You have just made your own soda or a variety of other delicious soft drinks. Mmm! Check out my video to see just how easy making your own soda with a SodaStream home soda maker is.

The one tip that I will offer when you are making your own homemade soda is to add the flavoring to the carbonated water very slowly. The first couple of times that I made soda, I got a little overexcited and dumped the flavoring in. As a result, the water bubbled up and out of the bottle. I since learned that I should tilt the bottle to the side and slowly pour in the flavoring. I found that letting the flavoring run down the side of the bottle into the water also helps prevent spillage.

Of all the SodaStream flavors that I have so far tried, my favorites by far are the Naturally Sweetened Cola and the Orange. First, I love Coke. For the most part, off-brand versions of cola just do not compete with the deliciousness that is Coke. However, the SodaStream Naturally Sweetened Cola does. I honestly cannot tell much of a difference between the two colas in taste. I do, however, love that the SodaStream Naturally Sweetened Cola is much healthier for me than Coke. A serving of Coke has 100 calories and 27 grams of sugar. In comparison, a serving of Naturally Sweetened Cola has only 34 calories and only 9 grams of sugar. Because I cannot tell the difference in taste, I am sticking to the SodaStream Naturally Sweetened Cola from now because of the improved nutrition.

I also love that the Naturally Sweetened Cola does not contain any high fructose corn syrup. I, frankly, am not a fan of high fructose corn syrup because of the taste, so, although Coke and the Naturally Sweetened Cola are pretty equal in flavoring, I can tell that Coke is made with high fructose corn syrup but that the Sodastream Naturally Sweetened Cola is not. Furthermore, because none of the SodaStream regular sodas are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, once my daughter gets a little older, I will feel more comfortable giving her Sodastream soda as opposed to other brands.

In addition to the Naturally Sweetened Cola, my husband and I also really love the Orange soda. Our Sodamix Taste Sampler included a sample of the Orange soda. After trying the sample, though, I actually went out and bought an entire bottle of the syrup because we loved the flavor so much! James also really enjoyed the Root Beer and the Sparkling Naturals Ginger Ale.

Our Sodamix Taste Sampler also included a sample of the SodaStream Energy drink, which is comparable to Red Bull. Because I limit my consumption of caffeine as much as possible, I do not drink energy drinks. However, when my husband was struggling to get his work done recently because he was tired, he decided to try out the SodaStream Energy drink. His initial reaction was that, unlike Red Bull, SodaStream Energy did not leave a weird aftertaste in his mouth. He also liked that SodaStream Energy helped him feel more awake and alert but did not leave him feeling jittery. He told me that he would like me to buy him a big bottle of the SodaStream Energy drink.

Final Verdict: I had been reluctant to invest in a SodaStream home soda maker, but, after making my own soda at home, I wish that I had bought one sooner. First, making my own homemade soda is so easy and much easier than going to the store to buy bottles or cans of soda. Second, the taste and nutrition of the SodaStream flavorings are so much more delicious and so much healthier than other brands of soda. Finally, SodaStream offers a flavor for every taste. The variety is amazing. My husband and I give the SodaStream home soda maker four enthusiastic thumbs up! If you are interested in making your own delicious and healthier soda right at home, then I highly recommend that you buy a SodaStream today.

For more information about Sodastream, check out the company website or blog. Make a purchase on Amazon via my affiliate link. You can also follow Sodastream on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube.

Image Credits

SodaStream Home Soda Maker Review: Making Your Own Soda Is Easy and Delicious © 2012 Heather Johnson
Sodastream Fountain Jet Home Soda Maker and Flavors © 2012 Heather Johnson
Sodastream and Carbonator © 2012 Heather Johnson
Preparing to Install the Carbonator © 2012 Heather Johnson
Installing the Carbonator © 2012 Heather Johnso
Filling the Sodastream Bottle with Water © 2012 James Johnson
Refrigerating the Sodastream Bottle © 2012 James Johnson
Attaching the Bottle to the Sodastream © 2012 James Johnson
Sodastream with Bottle © 2012 Heather Johnson
Carbonating the Water with the Sodastream © 2012 James Johnson
Sodastream Carbonated Water © 2012 James Johnson
Removing the Carbonated Water from the Sodastream © 2012 James Johnson
Heather with the Sodastream Naturally Sweetened Cola © 2012 James Johnson
Measuring the Cola Flavoring © 2012 Heather Johnson
Pouring the Flavoring into the Sodastream Bottle © 2012 James Johnson
Sodastream Cola © 2012 Heather Johnson
Pouring the Sodastream Cola © 2012 James Johnson
James Trying Sodastream Cola © 2012 Heather Johnson
Heather Trying Sodastream Cola and Poppy © 2012 James Johnson
Sodastream Orange © 2012 Heather Johnson
Sodastream Root Beer © 2012 Heather Johnson
Sodastream Sparkling Naturals Ginger Ale © 2012 Heather Johnson
Sodastream Cranberry-Raspberry © 2012 Heather Johnson
Sodastream Cola Free © 2012 Heather Johnson
Sodastream Diet Lemon-Lime © 2012 Heather Johnson
Sodastream Sparkling Naturals Orange & Pineapple © 2012 Heather Johnson
Sodastream Sparkling Water © 2012 Heather Johnson