Bubbly water. We drink lots of it. We love it, from Pellegrino to Perrier and all of them in between.
But we didn't love the idea of drinking water that traveled a long way to get to us. Lugging the bottles home on our bike was not great either. Not to mention having to deal with the recycling for something we drink all the time.
We decided to go the soda siphon route and make our own seltzer from tap water. First step: Get a siphon and cartridges at...
posted originally from: AT:Chicago
Sam's. The siphon we purchased (shown above) is a one liter size and cost $45. The cartridges are around .50 each, in packages of 10.
We got home, filled up the siphon with water, used the cartridge, shook it up and voila! Homemade bubbly water. The whole process takes under 30 seconds.
We've made a bottle or two every day for the last two months or so and are really happy with our purchase. The seltzer is SUPER bubbly (just the way we like it). We keep the siphon in the door to our fridge, very convenient and the metal interior of the siphon keeps the beverage nice and cold.
We've been buying the cartridges at Sam's a few (very small) boxes at a time (MUCH easier to cart home than ten bottles of water), but have seen really low prices on bulk purchases of cartridges online. We're committed (and addicted) enough to the soda siphon now, so we think were going to jump in and put in an order.
While not a perfect green solution (the cartridges need to be recycled), it still feels much more efficient and earth friendly. It saves us time and money too.
Once again, an old-fashioned, supposedly "outdated" product ends up coming back because it simply makes sense.
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I've been seriously considering getting one of these. I'm a major seltzer junkie, but watching the plastic bottles pile up makes me sad.
view the opoponax's profile
Seltzer is great, isn't it?
It's got a lot of nothing, yet it's harmless...and it tastes good!
It's the 'forgotten soda' as for as I'm concerned.
I even talked it up here: http://sodaisgood.blogspot.com/2007/10/club-sodayou-got-nuthin.html
As a kid, my grandparents drank it all the time. It used to be delivered by the case to them in those big blue bottles. I was amazed at the time how it all 'worked'.
view Defmall's profile
Oh and the best thing about seltzer is that you can mix it with juice to make your own soda, sans high fructose corn syrup and in any flavor you want!
My dream kitchen would have a soda siphon right next to a juicer, so I could make my own fresh squeezed soda anytime.
view the opoponax's profile
Isn't this also better from a recycling standpoint than glass bottles, since metal is easier to melt down and recycle than glass?
view mh330's profile
I have the Edition 1 from Soda Club. (http://www.sdoaclub.com) Similar idea but the carbonator sits on the counter and you put liter bottles on to be carbonated. What I prefer about it is that the CO2 canisters are big (about 110 liters of bubble), so you don't have to get them refilled very often.
view Sarah in Boston's profile
Do the cannisters just go in with metal recycling like cans? I've been meaning to look into this for so long so I am really glad you posted this.
view jesse@humanerecipe's profile
Great post -- I've been using a soda siphon for about a year now, and I don't miss schlepping the plastic around.
Some tips for good seltzer making:
-- use cold, preferably filtered water
-- shake the siphon well after adding the CO2
-- chill the seltzer in the fridge for 30-60 minutes before using
-- check the pieces of the bottle every few uses for mineral deposits or other gunk that can make your seltzer less delicious
My preferred source for CO2 cartridges is www.creamright.com -- they offer generic cartridges for 40 cents each -- I've used them and they're great.
view troyingaround's profile
i've been wanting a vintage siphon, the thick glass kind, but they're crazy hard to find still in working order. plus i'm a little scared about cartridge compatibility, since i don't know much about them. do you have to have cartridges specific to your siphon or are they universal?
view lindsey kathlene's profile