So my wife and I recently bought this device that allows you to make your own soda at home (it’s essentially a CO2 cannister that allows you to carbonate cold water that you put in, and then you pour in flavored syrup). We’ve found it to be pretty tasty, and yes, it’s kind of fun to do. It’s also supposedly far lower in caffeine and sugar than most soda you’d buy in the store.
I’m just curious to know any of you here owns one, and whether you do or don’t, what you think of the concept.
I don’t remember what the rules are here about linking to a consumer website, but you can do a quick Google search for Soda Club USA and get plenty more information about the product.
I got my husband one for Christmas last year, and we haven’t used it yet – because all of the syrup things they sent us (both the free samples and the ones I bought) were all expired. They had all expired before I even placed my order, and multiple calls to their customer service department (whose phone, apparently, is never answered) have gone unreturned.
I’d really love to try it, but I’m so fed up with their lousy service that I’m going to send it back.
I have one. I do like it, but I never knew that the syrup expired. However, I do think that it is a bit of a scam, because I have used the expired syrup and never had a problem.
I find that I didn’t like their cola type drinks, but the fruit drinks (Pink Grapefruit especially) are pretty darned good. I also like the tonic flavor even if it is missing the quinine.
Hmm…you know, a few of the samples we received were also expired, but the majority of the ones we got were good. I’m sorry to hear about your experience.
We bought ours at a local fair and haven’t had reason to deal with their customer service yet. I hope this isn’t typical of them. Although we’re fortunate in that there’s a physical store location right near my wife’s work. Haven’t been in there yet, but at least we can talk to a real person if we need to.
I’m not sure what equipment you all are using, but to look for soda extracts/syrups, try your local brew equipment store.
Midwest Supplies is one near me, and that link is to their page of soda extracts. I’ve tried some of the Gnome brand, and they are pretty good. If you don’t yet have equipment, check at a brew shop for that as well. We picked up a nozzle that fits on a standard 2 liter bottle, that allows us to hook a CO2 tank up to it. We have discovered that not all home made wines improve with carbonation. :smack:
I’ve got one, didn’t even think to check of the syrups were expired (you’re sure that’s not a manufacture date, not an expiration date?)
I agree with adam yax – the fruit mixes are much better than the cola-types. Their “Dr. Pepper” clone is particularly awful. The rest are just undistinguished, neither exceptionally good nor bad.
In general, I think of it as being generic, store-brand pop; it’s about the same quality. Even the non-diet drinks are quite low in calories for pop, though, so I drink it anyway.
I occasionally also use the machine to just make seltzer, and add Torini syrups for Italian sodas.
I have one, but I left off drinking soda two months ago (~5 liters per day of diet soda to none at all, or a single 12-oz can a day at most). Worked for me, but some people don’t like the taste of aspartame so those flavored syrups wouldn’t work so well for them.
I’m told that this sort of machine was a huge fad in England around the late 70’s, and it was called a “sodastream” there. A bit of research shows that soda club bought out or became the same company as this “sodastream” company, and they’re now the same entity on an international scale.
They seem to have a bigger appeal nowadays in the states to RV’ers and boaters, and not so much ordinary consumer folk.
I don’t know whether you’re talking about the Torini’s I mentioned or the Soda club syrups, but I’m pretty sure none of them contain aspartame. They’re all sucralose (Splenda).
I stand corrected. I knew it was Splenda; I had the other thread about “what diet sodas don’t contain aspartame” in my head when I was writing that. :smack: