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Soda Stream users

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What fancy niche hipster avant garde things are you putting in the fizzy water instead of the PepsiCo syrups they sell for it?

I did like Robinson's but I read a report on a paper that linked sucralose with DNA damage, so I'm a bit torn since I don't want too much sugar. But a bit would be ok, I am open to all ideas with or without sweeteners. I am currently filling the bottle to the top after fizzing with orange juice which is apparently not bad for you after all.  Apple juice is quite ok like this too.

There are a few 'natural' cola syrups online I haven't tried, there are some rather nice looking Belvoir syrups in Waitrose, my wife likes the ginger beer.  I am also being advertised ****y looking things on FB.  What do you like?


 
Posted : 22/04/2026 11:00 am
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I'm also thinking of finding sweeter juices like pineapple or pomegranate to add to the orange to get enough sweetness without refined sugar.  Yes, I know fructose etc etc.


 
Posted : 22/04/2026 11:06 am
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We use the likes of the Bottlegreen cordials or the Rocks brand - do a nice orange one and blackcurrant too. 


 
Posted : 22/04/2026 11:26 am
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We have subscription with CO2you for our gas refills - we get 4 cylinders every few months, delivered to the door and empties collected.


 
Posted : 22/04/2026 11:27 am
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You lot are classy.

I have yet to open ours but my immediate thought. Is fizzy vodka, whisky etc.

Then fizzy tea and coffee.

 


 
Posted : 22/04/2026 11:30 am
Tom83 reacted
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Soda stream controversy? Nah I’d rather drink flat un fizzy drinks thanks.


 
Posted : 22/04/2026 11:45 am
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i used to work with a roofer who was covered in massive surgery scars. I thought he was ex Army and had been caught by some shrapnel so I didn't say anything but then one day a subcontractor who wasn't as tactful as me asked him what they were. Apparently when he was a teenager he was messing with a soda steam at home ( I can't remember exactly what he had done to it but he said he was trying to make fizzy cheese!) and the thing went bang in a big way. It lacerated his liver and several pieces were deeply embedded in his torso and had to be surgically removed. I thought he was winding the subcontractor up but then out came the photos showing the remnants of the soda stream and all the bits that he had removed from himself.    


 
Posted : 22/04/2026 12:03 pm
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Is it possible to carbonate the tears of Palestinian children? 

Until 2015, the company's principal manufacturing facility was located in Mishor Adumim, an industrial park within the Israeli settlement of Ma'ale Adumim in the Occupied West Bank, which generated controversy and a boycott campaign.


 
Posted : 22/04/2026 12:51 pm
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Our machine is over 20yrs old -wasn't aware of the Israel link when we got it - but since became aware we try to get our gas from other sources. Never use their concentrates.


 
Posted : 22/04/2026 1:54 pm
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I mainly drink fizzy water with some lemon in it. Occasionally I add some apple cider vinegar to give it a kick.


 
Posted : 22/04/2026 1:56 pm
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i had a few deliveries of these:

https://mrfitzpatricks.com/

Pretty tasty, but found i had to add a fair chunk to taste the flavours (but i do like a strong squash!).

But these days i just stick to fizzy water. bloody love the stuff. apple cider vinegar is a curious one... might give that a go!


 
Posted : 22/04/2026 3:08 pm
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We have an Aarke carbonator (Swedish company) and use CO2 4U refills.

Mostly just drink it with Ice and lemon or just ice, occasionally a splash of fruit juice.   The wife likes fizzy water with Pernod or Ricard but I prefer those with flat water, she also likes a wine spritzer in the summer.


 
Posted : 22/04/2026 4:00 pm
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I can’t believe they are a thing , had the Kenwood one in the ‘70s along with everyone else.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jul/22/sodastream-gets-busy-with-the-fizzy-again


 
Posted : 22/04/2026 5:07 pm
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My current favourite is the Belvoir Farm Ginger Cordial.
Makes an absolute rip-roaring ginger beer. I tend to use double the equivalent amount of the Soda stream syrups.

Cheapest place I've found to buy it is Morrisons, about 1.50 less than Sainsbury's.


 
Posted : 22/04/2026 9:06 pm
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You should soda stream milk. Lots of fun. Fizzy and nutritious 


 
Posted : 22/04/2026 9:15 pm
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Posted by: munkyboy

You should soda stream milk. Lots of fun. Fizzy and nutritious 

When I was at college there was a vending machine which dispensed drinks in their component parts.  So if you ordered say cola, it'd dispense cola syrup, then water, then a blast of highly carbonated fizz.  Similar with coffee etc.

We started mixing and matching to make drinks that weren't on the menu.  We knew we'd gone too far when we invented fizzy chicken soup.


 
Posted : 22/04/2026 10:44 pm
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I carbonate water using a big CO2 bottle and regulator and a 19 litre cornelius keg because I homebrew so have kegs and CO2 for that. Cheap and easy, but you need to have space and a spare fridge (I get them free).

I mostly drink the water straight but sometimes add things like elderflower cordial. Until recently there was a local company that made great flavoured kombucha syrups that went well... but then Soda Stream bought them out and discontinued the range! I've been meaning for years to try adding a new world hop infusion to a keg but haven't. 


 
Posted : 22/04/2026 11:36 pm
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Cougar's post made me think that an old memory of mine might not be false after all.

 

At the Stafford Brine Baths in the 1960s there were two drinks machines, Ditchburns, one hot the other cold.  After swimming we used to queue up with our threepenny bits to madly turn the dial on the front while it was dispensing to get a cocktail of lime, cola, tizer, lemonade etc.  The other one, not so popular.  Tea, coffee, chicken noodle soup was a tough swallow.


 
Posted : 23/04/2026 12:02 pm
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I've been meaning for years to try adding a new world hop infusion to a keg but haven't. 

Do it! I'm a big fan of hop water in the summer.

[ I've not used a SodaStream since the 1980s, and I'm genuinely surprised to hear they're still a thing. ]


 
Posted : 23/04/2026 12:05 pm
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I'd really like fizzy water at home, and there are alternatives to Sodastream now.  But when I've looked none of them seem to actually bring the cost of a litre of fizzy water below what the supermarkets charge and you've got the additional hassle of returning/receiving the gas canisters (unless you have access to a pub canister to refill).  So we do without.  Has that actually changed?

 


 
Posted : 23/04/2026 12:27 pm
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Posted by: ThePinkster

My current favourite is the Belvoir Farm Ginger Cordial.
Makes an absolute rip-roaring ginger beer. I tend to use double the equivalent amount of the Soda stream syrups.

Cheapest place I've found to buy it is Morrisons, about 1.50 less than Sainsbury's.

Are you aware of how easy actual real ginger beer is to make?.

Well worth the effort. 

 


 
Posted : 23/04/2026 12:55 pm
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Yeah, the ginger beer thing is next on my list after I have put the mead that is cold crashing now into bottles.

Like Reeksy: Homebrewer, so carbonate with CO2 and a keg


 
Posted : 23/04/2026 2:09 pm
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Fizzy elderflower cordial is good. Nearly elderflower season and it's easy to make. We usually freeze it in 1/2 litre plastic bottles (bought with fizzy water in as we don't own a soda stream). Lots of recipes online. Sample here:

https://www.countryliving.com/uk/food-drink/a401/elderflower-cordial/


 
Posted : 23/04/2026 2:27 pm
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Posted by: joshvegas

Posted by: ThePinkster

My current favourite is the Belvoir Farm Ginger Cordial.
Makes an absolute rip-roaring ginger beer. I tend to use double the equivalent amount of the Soda stream syrups.

Cheapest place I've found to buy it is Morrisons, about 1.50 less than Sainsbury's.

Are you aware of how easy actual real ginger beer is to make?.

Well worth the effort. 

Oh yes, but I'm a really lazy bugger 😉 

 


 
Posted : 23/04/2026 2:48 pm
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Just thought I would follow up that milk in a soda stream instantly curdles into bubbly cheese/curds/whey like the old cement mixer baileys and lime cordial cocktail. The fun was watching your parents curse as it was impossible to clean the machine after. 

fizzy chicken soup. That needs some trying


 
Posted : 23/04/2026 8:19 pm