This is something that I have wanted to mention on this blog for a while, but now is a good time. For Christmas, Nate's parents gave us a Sodastream. Specifically this Sodastream model. This is something I wanted for a long time because I like drinking carbonated water. It was really easy to use and we started using it in January. It did come with some "syrups" and they were ok, but not great. The suggested dilution was WAY too syrup-y and sweet so we haven't really used them at all.
We have had to replace the carbonator twice now. Once in mid-April and once yesterday. I thought this was going to be super hard and frustrating, but we just went to the Bed, Bath, & Beyond (there is one next to Costco so it's super convenient) with the old one and they had new ones there. They are apparently $15, but Bed, Bath, & Beyond honors their "$5 off $15 or more" coupon for them so it becomes $10, which is really cheap for about 3 months of carbonated water.
At first, Nate was skeptical of the Sodastream, but now he uses it almost as much as I do (which at least once a day). So, if anyone is really into drinking carbonated water and thinking about getting a carbonator, we really recommend this one. Yes, you can make your own and yes, that's probably cheaper and handier, but the Sodastream is really easy to use, takes up very little space, and the cartridges are super easy to replace.
So, recently, especially now that it's summer, I have been wanting to find a syrup that I can add to the water to give it a little bit of flavor. I started looking online, and all of the syrups I could find were just sugar. They had high fructose corn syrup listed as the second ingredient. I didn't want sugar but rather a flavoring, so I was really frustrated. Finally, I decided to just make some of my own. I had a few berries in the fridge, so I boiled them with some water and a tiny bit of sugar (I also added some rosemary and a squirt of lemon juice to round it out). I ended up with the perfect flavoring (I don't think it's even syrup since it's not syrupy) that was not sugary at all. Yay! And it was super easy to do. I should have done this long ago!
We have had to replace the carbonator twice now. Once in mid-April and once yesterday. I thought this was going to be super hard and frustrating, but we just went to the Bed, Bath, & Beyond (there is one next to Costco so it's super convenient) with the old one and they had new ones there. They are apparently $15, but Bed, Bath, & Beyond honors their "$5 off $15 or more" coupon for them so it becomes $10, which is really cheap for about 3 months of carbonated water.
At first, Nate was skeptical of the Sodastream, but now he uses it almost as much as I do (which at least once a day). So, if anyone is really into drinking carbonated water and thinking about getting a carbonator, we really recommend this one. Yes, you can make your own and yes, that's probably cheaper and handier, but the Sodastream is really easy to use, takes up very little space, and the cartridges are super easy to replace.
So, recently, especially now that it's summer, I have been wanting to find a syrup that I can add to the water to give it a little bit of flavor. I started looking online, and all of the syrups I could find were just sugar. They had high fructose corn syrup listed as the second ingredient. I didn't want sugar but rather a flavoring, so I was really frustrated. Finally, I decided to just make some of my own. I had a few berries in the fridge, so I boiled them with some water and a tiny bit of sugar (I also added some rosemary and a squirt of lemon juice to round it out). I ended up with the perfect flavoring (I don't think it's even syrup since it's not syrupy) that was not sugary at all. Yay! And it was super easy to do. I should have done this long ago!
I used a cocktail shaker to strain out all of the berry skins!
Carbonated water, so great. I love it for summer.
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