Test it Tuesday: Is SodaStream soda as good as the real thing?

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — SodaStream is an at-home appliance used to make your own sparkling water and even soda thanks to a selection of flavored syrups found in stores. The question is, are these officially licensed soda flavors comparable to the real thing straight out of the bottle?

If you’re younger, you might remember first hearing about SodaStream from 2010s infomercials, but SodaStream as a company has actually been around since 1903 . Although you can technically carbonate whatever you want, individual results may vary , and you could risk ruining your machine.

A 12 News reporter had their own SodaStream, so we conducted several blind taste tests to compare the bottled soda and the “made at home” soda; we used different amounts of carbonation and syrup to try and get the flavors as close to each other as possible.

Taste testers drank out of two cups labeled A and B without knowing which one had the bottled soda and which one had the SodaStream soda and were told to pick out which one contained the bottled soda.

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In all 10 blind taste tests across all three flavors and using different amounts of syrup and carbonation, the taste tester could identify the bottled soda every time. Testers said they could tell the difference because the SodaStream soda was either too flat or too sweet.

Our final recipe used nine pumps of CO2, and the measuring cup for the flavored syrup was filled to the bottom line, less than the recommended amount. Although the carbonation was very similar to the bottled soda, taste testers said the SodaStream soda had an aftertaste similar to diet soda and preferred the bottled soda.

If you already own a SodaStream machine, it might be worth giving these flavors a try for yourself; maybe you can come up with better flavor and carbonation amounts than we did. However, due to the high cost of some of these machines, it probably isn’t worth buying one just so you can make your own soda using these flavors.

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