Caught by the fizz
Here’s how carbonator rivals SodaStream and Spärkel compare
Rarely do I need to buy throwaway plastic bottles of water — I have a fresh source on tap (and a Brita jug) as an effortless substitute. Fizzy sodas and other drinks haven’t been quite as easy to replace, but with at-home carbonators, it’s entirely doable. Here are two I recently tested, and how they compared.
The classic sparkler
SodaStream is arguably the best-known sparkling water maker, and it was acquired by PepsiCo in 2018. In October, the company launched five syrups — Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Zero Sugar, 7Up and 7Up Zero — which you can add to your freshly carbonated water, so you can have the pop flavours you know, without quite so much single-use packaging. (Of course, the syrups still come bottled, so it’s not zero-waste, but each 440 mL of concentrate, $8, turns into about nine litres of pop.)
The SodaStream One Touch, $180, offers three fizziness levels, and it’s as quick and easy as promised — we’re talking seconds to carbonate the onelitre jug. The syrups are as familiar as you’d expect, and you can adjust the amount to suit your sweet tooth. Although I find the drink slightly less bubbly than what’s in a just-cracked can of pop, the reduced waste makes this a trivial compromise.
The challenger
The Toronto-based Spärkel, $140, caught my eye because unlike other carbonators, it doesn’t require a CO2 canister to work. Instead, you pour two sachets into the machine to fizz each drink — one with citric acid and one with sodium bicarbonate, which generate CO2 when mixed with water. (The powders don’t end up in your drink, so there’s no effect on taste.)
Not needing to regularly replace a little gas tank sounds like a plus, but there are a few trade-offs: The machine itself takes up much more counter space than the SodaStream, and carbonating a 750-mL drink at the fizziest setting (there are five) takes four minutes instead of seconds. Even at max fizz, the drink tastes less bubbly than SodaStream’s. All this said, the Spärkel allows for more bev options: You can add citrus slices into your bottle for fruit-infused water, say, or make a DIY mimosa, so this option would suit those who want more than sugary pop.