Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsPop star?
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2023
Who doesn’t love a nice fizzy drink from time to time? When this bundle was offered up as an invitation only item for Prime days I decided to give it a try.
First, what I like about this product. I can control what my sodas and sparkling waters contain. Unfortunately I suffer from some serious allergies to some fairly common ingredients that aren’t common allergens. A bit more on that later. Making my own sodas at home allows me to keep myself safe from those ingredients. For anyone concerned about what ingredients they’re being exposed to in store bought sodas, the Soda Stream will be the product for you. If you’re concerned about the environmental impact of plastic fizzy drink bottles, this product will help cut down on that waste as well. I also like that you can control how fizzy your drinks are. Only want it lightly carbonated? You can do that. Want it fizzy enough to tickle all the way down to your toes? It can do that for you as well. Another plus is the cost per soda is much lower than store bought sodas. You can save a good bit of money if you drink a lot of sodas and sparkling waters by making them at home with Soda Stream. But….read on.
Now for the things that are negative. What it costs for a soda stream CO2 refill is insane. The small canisters cost anywhere from $13-$20 for an exchange at various retailers or by mail/online. Conservatively estimate this is costing you 25 cents per 1/2 liter bottle of soda and up to $1 per. There are ways to save considerably by hacking the system and using large CO2 tanks available from your local brewer supply shop or AirGas. You can search for how to do that if interested.
Another big negative in my opinion is the soda stream co-branded branded sparkling water flavor concentrates called “Bubly drops”. Soda Stream and bubly are both owned by Pepsi so this co-branding makes sense. Now I have only had a chance to investigate the 2 flavors that were included in the bundle so far, and am basing this review totally on that. But they contain, as the primary ingredient, antifreeze - yes - antifreeze. Propylene glycol is the primary ingredient in these. This chemical is fairly common in our food/drink supply as it provides some properties that are helpful and convenient for the food manufacturers. In addition to being an antifreeze, it can act as a preservative, a solvent, an emollient, a thickener, a humectant, among other uses, and it also has a sweetness to it (although to my taste buds a strange kind of sickly sweetness). The FDA lists it as GRAS, for what it’s worth. But propylene glycol happens to be something I suspect I’m allergic to since I break out in a rash after consuming products containing it. I guess Soda Stream uses propylene glycol so they can claim their soda doesn’t contain artificial sweeteners? I wish they had an option that only contained the natural flavors without this ingredient. Want to avoid artificial sweeteners? Sorry, the soda concentrates sold by soda stream contain sucralose and acesulfame potassium - even the non-diet versions of soda contain these such as their Pepsi concentrate.
That’s a big disappointment.
That’s why I review this product with 3 stars.