One of my New Year’s resolutions was to drink more water! I was pretty good about this in 2020 but slowly slumped off during 2021. My habit of “reach for my water, and if it’s empty, get more” became “reach for my water, and if it’s empty, make a note to refill in 5 minutes (repeat for the next hour or two).” I realized I rather enjoyed carbonated water, and the fading aftertaste flavor was a natural cue to get more. However, if this were to become a habit, it’d VERY quickly become expensive. On my monthly grocery shopping trips, I’d pick up a few 12-packs of some of the store brand flavored water on sale, and without fail, I’d consumed it all within a week. As the pandemic eased, and I no longer had the “well, I’m not spending money on “XYZ” anymore” to fall back on, I searched for a solution.
Years ago, I read about how some people hacked their SodaStream devices and used paintball air tanks as cheaper sources of CO2. I did another deep dive and found fascinating things about CO2 quality controls (apparently, in many cases, high-quality welding supplies are more stringent than food grade, but both have fewer heavy metals than your average paintball shop, though it’s likely not to be an issue regardless). I read reviews, breakdowns, and parts lists and ultimately decided on DrinkMate. It came with a tiny CO2 tank and a carbonating bottle. The main deciding factor between DrinkMate and SodaStream was that you could only carbonate water with SodaStream (or so they said). In contrast, DrinkMate can carbonate anything, but you might want to fill it less full to be safe. Both units can use the same CO2 tanks, making refills nice if you aren’t going the massive tank route.
As an aside, I think this “carbonate anything” is a marketing ploy; both devices have a relief valve that lets you know the bottle is fully carbonated, though you don’t want to get any liquid in that, but especially not anything with sugar that can breed bacteria or anything that can clog it up. So long as you can avoid that, you can carbonate anything in either device.
To flavor it, I also bought a TON of different “water enhancers,” both powder and liquid. I’ve found that Orange Crush liquid tastes EXACTLY like Orange Crush (not even sugar-free, it tastes like the full-sugar one), and A&W powder tastes like a nice diet root beer. The powder is cheaper, but sometimes it doesn’t fully dissolve.
After about two weeks, I used the CO2 tank and decided I loved this machine, so I enacted step two. I bought an adapter for the DrinkMate (which also works on SodaStream) that can connect to a larger CO2 tank. I found a local homebrewing supply shop that sells CO2 tanks and bought a 10lb tank for $120. Considering the average cost for the smaller bottles is $20-$30 for less than 1lb, this is already a savings. When the CO2 tank runs empty, I can exchange it for another for roughly $20-30, increasing savings even more!
