Join the Soda Club

Alternate post title: I love my Penguin.
Alternate-alternate post title: Wedding Gifts for your Spouse.

I never shared the wedding gifts that I bought for my husband. Why? I fear that you’ll all see right through me to realize that one gift was equally for myself as for PhillyBoy. That would be our SodaStream Maker! I do wonder what he was thinking as my bridesmaids brought up this gigantic box to his room… definitely not your standard wedding gift. I did get him some standard stuff, but that’s a story for another time. Today, it’s all about the seltzah.

A little secret… PB and I drink seltzer water all. day. long. We have been known to order two large bottles of sparkling water during one meal in a restaurant, and were going through cases and cases of seltzer together on the weekends. It is sort of an addiction, but the only guilty part was all the waste. I am ashamed to think of how many piles of seltzer cans and bottles I have used and tossed over the years… it is sickening. Also, drinking seltzer water is expensive, and some brands of seltzer water contain such impurities as aspartame!!!!

That’s why I can’t rave enough about our SodaStream Maker. I chose the Penguin version for PB, as he has a thing for penguins (and has since he was little- just ask his family & friends). It is sleek and fun and I don’t mind looking at it on our counter. Here it is:

close up:

on the right, where it sits all the time:

close up of the fun icon:

  

what the machine looks like when it is open:

The instructions are quite simple. Fill one of the glass carafes with cold, filtered water. Put it in the machine and close. Pump as much carbonation as you want into it (PB likes his fizzier than I do). Release the bottle. It comes with these awesome bottle toppers that keep the water in the carafe carbonated for a few days. The only thing you have to purchase for the machine is the carbonators, but you get a discount if you send in your old one! Go recycling!

These machines can be quite pricey though… this one, as part of PB’s wedding present, was $200. It included two carbonators and two carafes. Over time it will have been worth the investment, however, as cases of seltzer add up!

SodaStream’s Customer Service is really great too. We had a problem with the Penguin just a few days after setting it up and called Customer Service to ask for help. Once we explained the problem (the carafe was stuck in the machine with it locked), they quickly addressed it. How? They sent us a new penguin, and simply asked that we return the old one in the prelabeled box they sent along with the new one. It now works perfectly with no problems!

I just wish we had mentioned that since the carafe was stuck inside we are down one carafe!!! I think I will call them now… their customer service really is that good.

Off to pour myself a glass of homemade sparkling water!