When I think of SodaStream I hark back to my childhood, when it seemed that one of their machines lurked in every kitchen. These days their presence seems to be less commonplace. But could all this be about to change?

I was lucky enough to be sent a Sodastream World Without Bottles Jet to review recently. This is a new limited edition machine with an emphasis on being eco friendly by utilising a reusable bottle. In the UK alone we use a massive 13.1 million plastic bottles a year, that’s roughly 500 per household and more than 43% of these households recycle less than half of the bottles they purchase. That’s an awful lot of plastic that goes into landfill, possibly taking hundreds of years to biodegrade. For every drinksmaker sold SodaStream are also making a donation to the One to One project who build water wells in Kenya. Every Jet or Genesis machine sold will help supply one person in Kenya with clean drinking water for at least a year.

I know what you’re thinking, eco friendly and healthy aren’t terms you’re used to associating with this brand. But Sodastream are moving with the times and it doesn’t seem unreasonable to assume that this could mean a reintroduction of a Sodastream to every kitchen counter. But is all this praise truly deserved?

I’ll start with the basics, the machine was packed in a brown cardboard box with rope handle. I really like this design, before you even open the box it promises an environmental and design conscious machine.

Next we began to assemble the Jet, but as it took about two seconds and a couple of clicks assemble might not be the right word. We first tested out the Sugar-free Lemonade flavour. Making is as simple as ‘assembling’, just fill the bottle with cold water, marvel as you carbonate it at the touch of a button and then carefully pour in the flavouring.

I really enjoyed this flavour, it made a delicate bubbly lemonade. I should mention that I am not a big fan of fizzy drinks, I often find them too harsh and high in sugar. So I was apprehensive when I took the first sip, but I was pleasantly surprised. The bubbles in this drink were just right and not too sharp. The flavour didn’t suffer for being sugarfree and it also worked very well as a mixer with other juices and in cocktails.

We also tested out the Pink Grapefruit flavour and I think we may have formed a lifelong love, all my family have really enjoyed this flavour and we’ve already made several bottles.

We can’t wait to test out more flavours and there’s plenty of choice, just a quick glance at SodaStream’s website proves we’ll never get bored.

Would I recommend this product?

I can happily recommend this machine, it’s both eco conscious and family friendly. How can you not resist a product that manages to both cut your waste and satisfy your taste buds. It also inspires a warm fuzzy filling when you realise your not only treating your own family, but your helping another in a less affluent part of the world. Plus the novelty of making your own soft drinks at home never gets boring.

Could it be improved in anyway?

My only bugbear with this product and it’s a small one, was that we found the bottle a little difficult to wash. One of our bottle brushes was too wide and the other too short. But a new brush and we’d fixed this problem, of course I don’t know how the well the reusable bottle would hold up under extended use. But judging by the quality of the rest of the machine I’m willing to bet there would be no problems in this area.

Details

The World Without Bottles Jet Drinksmaker has an RRP of £59.99 and is available to purchase online from www.sodastream.co.uk. Or www.argos.co.uk

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