Now that the holidays are officially here, it's time for fizzy, bubbly things...most notably Champagne...but today we are writing about something more pedestrian, which we drink all year-carbonated water, seltzer, club soda, and the like.  We love those kinds of fizzy waters...and are ardent consumers.

That is why at this time of year, when the entertaining calendar is full, and people are stocking their bars for parties, this is the ideal time to become a member of the Soda Club extended family.  And what, pray tell, is that?

Well, the Soda-Club, USA  (it's not really a club and there are no dues and there is no membership) is the world leader in home carbonation systems, with sales in more than 20 countries, distributed through Sodastream.  Here in the States, Williams-Sonoma , among others, sells the chic dispensing machines (that whip up sodas and waters) and handsome coordinated carafes.

It could not be easier:  You own the machine, they supply you with refill carbon dioxide cartridges, as needed (depending on your machine, you can make anywhere between 60 and 110 liters of soda or carbonated water); and if you want to create sodas from your carbonated waters, the company sells mixers, called, aptly enough, sodamix.  (They have less sugar, calories, and carbs than standard sodas and diet flavors are sweetened with Splenda brand sweetener.)

For me, the best part of the fizzy experience is making my own mildly flavored water drinks, although many people are in it for the sodas they can create.  Soda and sparkling water mixes are available in more than 25 flavors, including traditional best-sellers like cola (and diet cola), root beer, cream, and lemon-lime; my faves are the unusual flavors like the diet pink grapefruit and cranberry-raspberry. Additional mixes include ginger ale, tonic, flavor essences for sparkling water, and an energy drink.

In an era when we are all concerned with being green, this is also a smart thing to do.  We drink an average of 55 billion liters of soda and sparkling water every year, nearly 2,400 cans and bottles for a family of four!  Pundits estimate that a mere 20-30% of those cans and bottles are actually ever recycled.  (And here is a nugget you may not know:  Plastic bottles take 700 years before they begin compositing!)  So this is a way to cut down on the abuse to the environment and to create wonderfully thirst-quenching, fizzy waters and sodas at home.

Soda-Club, USA, manufacturing under the SodaStream brand, sells four different models of its carbonating machines and bottles:

Fountain Jet, Sodastream Design, Sodastream Pure, and Sodastream Penguin. (The latter is the top of the line and at Williams-Sonoma for about $200.)

• The Fountain Jet: available in several lively colors; comes with two BPA-free, one-liter bottles.
• The Design: includes two BPA-free one-liter bottles, a 12-variety sodamix sample pack and samples of MyWater flavor essences.
• The Pure: made of stainless steel with gray or white accents; comes with two BPA-free one-liter bottles with fizz-preserving caps.
• The Penguin: a highly stylized machine available exclusively at retail at Williams-Sonoma; comes with two elegant cut-glass carafes.

All models come with CO₂ carbonators and none uses electricity or batteries, making it easy to take them with you-if you're entertaining on a boat or in the backyard.

1-800-763-2258

www.sodaclubusa.com/wheretobuyRETAIL.htm

Posted on November 23, 2009 - by

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