Tiny bubbles….

I’m giving homemade carbonated water another try.

A bottle of water being carbonated. You can probably figure out what “Dr. Pete” is an imitation of.

Several years back, I bought a SodaStream machine, which I used for a while but sort of got tired of it and set it aside in a corner. I’ve been thinking about it lately. Pepsi now owns the SodaStream company; back when I used to use my machine, SodaStream sold its own, generic cola (and other flavor) syrups. At some point in the interim, while I wasn’t using my machine, they began selling official, Pepsi-branded syrups, and I wondered if they tasted any different.

Let me back up a minute. I think most people know about SodaStream, but if you don’t, it’s a home carbonating machine. It uses a tank of carbon dioxide to turn ordinary tap water into soda water. You fill a bottle with cold water (cold water takes the CO2 better), attach it to the machine, and, depending on your specific model, you press a button or pull a lever to carbonate. On my model, you press once for light carbonation, twice for medium, and three times for heavy. The system works with proprietary bottles that attach to the machine. They don’t last forever, however; you’re supposed to replace them after a few years before the plastic starts to wear out.

SodaStream, and its close imitators/competitors, are designed to work with plain water, and only plain water. Flavorings may only be added after carbonation. The reason…