I'm not a big one for endorsing products: before I can actually bring myself to encourage others to spend money on a product, I have to really believe that something is morally good for the world rather than just “convenient†or “tasty†or “prettyâ€. It's one of the reasons I have difficulty with the concept of “likes†on FaceBook. If I'm going to put my name behind something (and names are very important to me) I've got to believe in it.
But this would be one of those products: or at least one of those concepts. I first discovered “SodaStream†at two friends' house when one of them asked if we wanted something to drink. I don't think they had any “pop†(the Canadian term: “soda†for our Southern neighbours) but they had carbonated water. This confused me, so I asked: and she showed me her carbonating object. She explained that she had gotten it in her previous home, in Israel (one of benefits of living in such a cross-cultural city as Toronto is the continual input of ideas from around the world). We instantly fell in love. Tim had all kinds of ideas about things we could carbonate, and bring the ol' pop budget way down. It would also help us to use less plastic, regarding those evil two-litre bottles. The only problem: I wasn't going to Israel to get one.
So I was doing my Christmas shopping a few weeks ago: I was not late, but I wasn't early either. I walked into one of those ubiquitous kitchen stores: and there it was. On sale, too. I snapped it up... so fast that I didn't even bother to figure out if they had CO2 cannisters available. I just knew I wanted one. Oops, no. I mean Tim wanted one. Really.
Tim opened it Christmas morning, and he was as thrilled as I was. And since then we've shifted away from our pop gluttony. It's amazing the things you can mix with carbonated water. (We quickly discovered that you shouldn't really carbonate flavoured drinks. You add carbonated water to concentrated syrup. So you can, for instance, reconstitute concentrated juices with carbonated water. It's great.) As I've grown older, I've also discovered that either my tastes are more sensitive or I really prefer weaker drinks: so I've started cutting Mountain Due and Doctor Pepper with straight carbonated water. And tonight I even just had carbonated water straight.
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Comments: 12
Now back to my tea.
Mountain Dew and Dr Pepper will kill you.
Cran Lime Cooler
fuzzy water
Grenadine
Rose's llime juice
Lime slice
ice
Shaken, not stirred
I put real fruit in my tea, too. And I put ginger and lemon in my chicken and rice and live mostly on slow cooker soups and fresh gazpacho, and salads.
Ha, ha, ha, another job killed by modern technology... There were thee people working in the store. Then they started to sell dispensers with CO2 cartridges. The dispenser was filled with tap water, and carbonated as needed.
Shortly after we arrived in the USA, we found the familiar dispenser for sale at specialty stores. They were selling the cartridges that could be exchanged after use. I don't remember the cost but it was about as much as a bottle of seltzer water.
After a while, they stopped selling them, and if they did here and there, the cost of the cartridges was prohibitive, compared to off the shelf seltzer water...
I saw the new machine in the store, but I am waiting to see how it will fare on the market. I don't remember the price, but it is affordable. The CO2 is sold in a small tank and if I remember right Meijer was selling it for $16.00 which was not expensive for the number of refills obtained.
The question is, how long is it going to be on the market before they change their minds? So far I stick with seltzer water. For sure it is healthier than the soda pop sold which is loaded with sugar...
Tim had all kinds of ideas about things we could carbonate
Haha, I am picturing that scene from Forest Gump where Bubba is recounting all of the different types shrimp dishes. Carbonated water, carbonated juice, carbonated bananas...