A couple of weeks ago I was in Walmart and noticed that the Soda Stream machine kit was on sale. I had been looking at it for several months with interest. We drink a fair amount of soda (or pop, as we call it in Canada) and I was curious as to whether or not it would be worthwhile. Well, it was a pretty good sale; $80 Canadian, so I picked it up and took it home to try.
The starter model comes with the machine, 1 CO2 canister and 1 soda bottle. I also picked up the sample trial pack with about 20 different flavours in it. The machine itself is easy to use and the results are fairly good. I have found, however that the soda will tend to lose it's carbonation over a few days in the bottle, and rather quickly from the glass once it is poured. So if you are a soda sipper, pour half glass at a time.
I soon found that I wanted more bottles, so I could have a variety of flavours available, and that once a bottle is made, it goes pretty quickly. I picked up the 3 bottle pack for around $17C. Mathwise, I am not sure yet if the machine will pay for itself, but we haven't bought any soda in about 3 weeks. So far, I am liking the system. Now on to the flavour reviews:
These are flavours that are available in a smaller Canadian market; from Walmart, The Bay, Target, Canadian Tire, and London Drugs. Not all flavours are at all locales. I have found that Walmart, so far, has the most extensive selection. All reviews out of 10. Based on 2 opinions.
COLA: 6. This is the regular cola syrup that came in the sample pack. Not a lot of bite to it. So if you are like me, and love the feeling of the caffeine hitting your blood stream, this is probably not for you. It doesn't really taste like either Coke or Pepsi, maybe more like a generic version cola.
LEMON-LIME: 6. I felt this had a bit of an odd taste to it. Nothing like Sprite or 7-UP. My son liked it better than I did.
ORANGE-MANGO: 9. Delicious! Tastes just like the Koala Springs flavour. One of my faves.
CRANBERRY RASPBERRY: 7.5. I really like this one, has a good refreshing flavour, but my son not so much.
ORANGE: 8.5. Has a nice refreshing taste and not syrupy sweet like other orange sodas. More like the Fanta Orange soda with the orange juice in it.
CREAM SODA: 9. We both really like this one. Nice natural flavour. Good vanilla notes. Nice natural colour, not that neon pink stuff. My son says this is the best cream soda he has ever had, which is high praise, cause he does not normally like cream soda.
ROOT BEER: 8. Good flavour. More like an A&W than a Barqs. Natural tasting, but not a lot of bite.
DR. PETE: 7. Not really close to Dr. Pepper, but still fairly good. Lacks the bite, but it is definitely growing on me.
GRAPEFRUIT: 8. Nice refreshing flavour. Not too sweet, but with realistic tasting grapefruit flavour with a hint of tartness.
GINGER ALE: 5. Not very flavourful. Almost seems watery.
DIET COLA: 5. Not much flavour here either. No cola bite and quite watery tasting.
DIET GRAPEFRUIT: 8. Pretty close to the original version. Still nice grapefruit tang. Not too sweet. Very refreshing.
ORANGE GRAPEFRUIT SPORT DRINK: 7. Good fruit taste, but a little flat.
DIET LEMON-LIME: 5. Not great flavour, seems watery also.
These are the ones that we have tried so far, and we will update as we try more.
*Winners definitely seem to be any of the fruit flavour sodas.
