I just got a Sodastream yesterday and I gotta be honest. I was a little disappointed. I thought the syrups, even the regular (non diet) syrups, had an artificial aftertaste to them. Does anyone else notice that?
The first flavor I tried was Cherry Cola and I thought it was terrible and I got really worried that I just wasted a lot of $. Then I tried the Cola and thought it was pretty good. I made some Ginger Ale, and Diet Sprite too. Everything (but the Cherry Cola) was 'pretty good' but I didn't think anything was 'great'. And I still think there is a little bit of artifical aftertaste.
I was thinking of trying a few things to improve and wanted to ask if you think this will help. I read that it is important to have cold water. I got water from my fridge dispenser. It was cold, but it wasn't as cold as water sitting in the fridge overnight. I was thinking of trying letting the water sit in the fridge overnight to get it colder. Do you think that will make much improvement? I shot 3 bubble squirts and thought it was a little flat, so I started squirting 6 and it still doesn't seem as fizzy as store bought. Does the water hold the fizz better if it's cold?
I was also thinking of trying a water filter. I don't have a Brita or a Pur water filter or anything like that. My local water isn't that great either. When I drink it by itself I can taste chlorination. Do you think filtering the water first will help?
Well, I stuck with the sodastream, and I definitely love it now. Since my first update I bought a faucet mounted water filter. I actually got a pretty cool Dupont filter at Walmart. It had a counter on it that showed how many gallons it had filtered so you know when it is time to change it. It also had a 4 stage filter (more then Brita or Pur) and refills are readily available at Walmart. I started filling the bottles with filtered water, then letting them sit in the fridge over night to get cold. I don't think you NEED a water filter for this... it just depends on your local water. I can taste something in my faucet water, and I think this filter made a difference. I've pretty much settled on about 4 or 5 'squirts' of bubbles. I don't think 3 is enough.So I told you about Cherry Coke. Even after getting filtered water and making it cold, the Cherry Coke was still bad. I really like cherry coke and cherry pepsi off the shelf, so I don't know what the deal is. I think they just go it all wrong. Anyway, I decided to just pour out the Cherry Coke and move on, and I am glad I did.
I got one of those 12 flavor sampler packs with my unit. I tried the following flavors:
Pete's Choice: meh... an OK verson of Dr. Pepper but I don't like Dr. P that much anyway
Fountain Mist (reg and diet): Mountain Dew Copy. Awesome flavor very close to OG. I doubt they have as much caffeene but they are good
Lemon-Lime (reg and diet): Sprite copy... both taste just like original to me
Orange: Awesome flavor. Pretty much all orange soda tastes about the same to me. This one fits in
Diet Cola: I do not drink Diet Cola hardly at all. It was in the sample pack and it was surprisingly good. It seemed to be a bit stronger cola taste, and less sweet
Diet Root Beer: I thought this flavor was awesome. Very good root beer flavor, again not as sweet (similar to diet cola). I am not a big root beer drinkier, but I might get this again.
Diet Cranberry Raspberry: Surprisingly good. Maybe not good enough that I would get it again. I might mix it up and get one for variety every now and then. Taste is very crisp and refressing. A 'light' soda. I liked it.
Diet Pink Grapefruit: This sounded horrible to me, but it was in my sampler so I gave it a try. It was tolerable which was surprising to me. I drank it, it does the job a drink should do, but it wasn't that great. Much better then expected though.
The only place near me that exchanges cartridges is BB&B. Lukily for me, I work in an office complex connected to a BB&B. I did buy an exchange there. It was easy, and best thing is, the exchange is only $15. After trying all the samplers, I bought a full bottle of Orange and Diet Fountain Mist.
I think the thing I like best, which wasn't even a MAJOR consideration for me why buying, is that I don't have to carry 12 packs of soda from the grocery store. I never realize how much I dislike that until I didn't have to do it. Overall I really like the Sodastream. I think it will save $ in the long run, but I don't think it will save that much $. I guess I wouldn't do it JUST for the money. I know it will save a lot of aggrivation and that is much worth it to me. It is also much healthier from what I can tell. On their regular soda, they just use a regular sugar / splenda mix which makes the calorie count a lot lower vs. regular soda. I wanna say 120 cal in regular vs. 65 cal for a sodastream.
