#SodaStream bubbles and fizzes this holiday season #holidaygiftguide

 Soda, or pop as I like to call it, is somewhat a staple in our apartment. We always have it! We also recycle bottles and unfortunately, that means we accumulate mountains of empty bottles in the little area in our hallway. It hasn’t been pleasant. It’s bulky and it gets in the way. BabyPom actually gets scared of the pile and stays away from it. Ha, but now, it is finally cleared up thanks to the SodaStream. Bwahaha, I have my own personal soda maker!

I was sent the Genesis model and a variety of drink mixes to test out. Assembling the machine was relatively easy. You hook up the carbonator to the top, pop it into the base, and that’s pretty much it. Even making the drinks was easy. They came with these 1L bottles which you fill with filtered water. You then carbonate the water with what the instructions say about 3 pushes or when the buzz sounds. In my case, usually the buzz didn’t sound until 5-8 pushes. It varied each time and I’m not sure why.

Once the water was carbonated, you could mix in the syrups for whatever flavor you’d like. We were sent both diet and non-diet varieties. Of the non-diet options, there was naturally flavored Cola flavor and Ginger Ale. The Cola flavor reminded me of the gummy coke bottle flavors. In terms of caloric content, it’s probably fairly similar to other brand name soft drinks. The taste of Sodastream flavors are a bit different but still enjoyable.

I am biased towards the diet flavors though of course because it’s 0 calorie! The SO fell in love with the flavor. It was awesome, which is pretty funny because in the beginning, he was skeptical about the whole idea of having a SodaStream. It turns out I wasn’t carbonating it enough for his tastes. Then he started making his own sodas on a daily basis, sometimes even several times a day. He loves the Pink Grapefruit and Cranberry-Raspberry. We would’ve loved a 0 calorie version of those drinks. Depending on the flavor, you can make anywhere from 6-12 liters of soda for a price range of $4.99-$9.99.

Overall, we love the system. It’s so convenient to make drinks with and there’s less plastic bottles to deal with. The only issues we have are with the carbonator, which makes 60L of soda if used with the recommended number of pumps. It’s refillable but it does take more than described attempts to get it to normal carbonation (indicated by the buzz). To refill a carbonator costs $29.99 for 2 exchanges, meaning you send in 2 empties for 2 full ones. They'll send you a return box when they ship you your new ones. That's the smallest size they have. Considering if you got the starter kit, you already have 1 carbonator. This means at minimum, you'd either have to do the reorder kit with 1 spare and 1 exchange for $44.99 first in order to continue doing 2 exchanges. Or you can look for a local dealer that will refill the carbonator for you and save on shipping charges too.

In terms of price, depending on how much you use of your carbonator and the flavor you choose to buy, I don't necessarily think that you save that much on soda costs. The site does say it works out to 25 cents per can of soda but it may be for the lower priced sodas. What I do like, however, is the unique flavors offered, the decreased waste in my home, and the ability to create beverages fresh and to our tastes. It really is an awesome product that we fell in love with. It's sure to be a hit with all ages this holiday season.

Stay connected with SodaStream:
Facebook || Twitter

Buy It: Shop online or in stores for your own SodaStream. The Genesis Soda Starter Kit ($119.95) includes the Genesis Home Soda Maker, 1 60 liter Carbonator, 2 Carbonating Bottles, 3 SodaMix bottles of your choice, and the Sodamix Variety 12 pack.

Win It: 1 lucky WOS reader will win a SodaStream of their own during the Nov 23-Dec 7 Holiday Turkey Hunt Event! Please take the time to enter my other giveaways while you're here.

Disclaimer: The product/s mentioned above have been provided for the purposes of this review. No other form of compensation was received. Opinions expressed belong to Whirlwind of Surprises and are NOT influenced in any way. Please view my full disclosure, TOS, and privacy policy.

Follow WOS:
Google+ || GFC || @CinnyBBS || WOS on facebook || Pinterest || Blog Frog

                                                         Until next time,