This is the only carbonator that can add fizz to any drink – juices, iced teas, wine – you name it, this machine can make it can sparkle. What if we told you there was a very clever gadget that’ll help the planet and help you drink more water? It might sound too good to be true, but sparkling water makers and water carbonators hold the secret to a hydrated and sustainable home. They put the fizz at your fingertips to make water more exciting, so it’ll never feel like a chore to pour another glass. And with one of these in your kitchen, you’ll never have to buy a single-use plastic soda bottle again – especially with the delicious selection of syrups and flavours. SodaStream: the first name in fizz Most gas bottles can be recycled if taken to your local household waste centre. Herthey'll be emptied and have their valve removed. Not sure which to go for? We've rounded up eight of the best water carbonators and SodaStreams for 2022.

The bottles are made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate), which can be recycled along with the other recyclable plastics in your household. These findings were further supported by the study in healthy adult volunteers, which similarly showed that fizzy drinks increased ghrelin production." The Aarke Carbonator 3 is a sleek soda maker with a solid handle that is why soda jerks must have gotten into the business in the first place. The soda maker produced gentle rolling bubbles for rounded bubbly water with a few short pulls of the handle.

Aarke soda makers are designed to be easy to use. Just insert a CO2 cylinder into the tower, add tap water up to the fill line of your carbonation bottle and screw it into the machine. Push the stainless steel lever down until you hear a buzz, then release the lever, unscrew the bottle and seal it. Canisters of CO2 are available separately and Aarke carbonators are compatible with the 60-litre SodaStream gas cylinders we sell online, and the recycled canisters we sell in store. Built to last Ideal for garden parties, mobile home owners and off-grid holidays, because the carbonation is created solely by the gas cylinder, you don’t need to plug your Aarke Carbonator in to create fizzy drinks, so you can make them anywhere you’re happy to take the carbonator. Thanks to their pop culture popularity, everyone now refers to absolutely every water carbonator as a SodaStream, which can get a bit confusing.

This most recent incarnation of the cult product is streamlined and exceptionally simple to use. For a start, you don’t need to screw the bottle into the machine, you simply need to give it a small push and lower the support cradle into place. The sound of the fizz is deeply satisfying, too. If you’ve got kids, watch them fight over who gets to push the button. Machined from a single piece of stainless steel, the precision nozzle works with the highly tuned carbonation system to ensure your fizzy water has the perfect bubble size while also minimising the amount of CO2 used to create each bottlefull, so every gas cylinder lasts longer.

Aarke

SodaStream is known as the OG of water carbonators – most people remember them from their heyday in the '70s and '80s. Carbonating water: Following the included directions, we used each machine to make a batch of plain sparkling water on every available setting. We taste-tested the results, looking for off flavors and paying special attention to whether different settings resulted in noticeable differences in carbonation level. (For soda makers with only one setting, we made three batches in a row and tasted them for consistent flavor and level of bubbles.) The Aarke Carbonator Pro is a luxurious take on the soda maker concept. It’s a more effective version of the design featured in the SodaStream Aqua Fizz, and carries the price to match, which — while it’s a good performer — makes it harder to recommend. As one of the more expensive carbonators around, we decided to try it out to see if it's worth forking out a little more for.

Alternatively, you may find soda makers bundled into starter kits that include a couple CO2 cylinders and/or additional bottles. If you plan to carbonate a lot of liquids or have a large household where everyone enjoys fizzy drinks, a bundled starter kit might make sense. Soda makers are either electric or manual. The electric models have preprogrammed carbonation levels and automate the carbonation process. With manual machines, you’re depressing a button on the top or pulling a lever to force bubbles into your drink. Our Lab team has spent collective decades working in professional kitchens, developing recipes, and testing kitchen gear.After all of the tests, we compared the performance of each model and factored in the price and warranty to determine which soda makers we would recommend. SodaStream claims that it has made more than 70 million of these canisters since it introduced the aluminium version to the market two decades ago, and that not a single one of them has ever failed. Are SodaStreams bad for the environment? Designed for efficiency as well as good looks, the sleek polished steel tower of the Aarke Carbonator 3 will not only look fabulous on any kitchen counter, it’ll allow you to make your favourite sparkling drinks at home, too. Both models are heavy-duty, commercial-grade products designed for everyday use, extremely reliable and easy to service. They are easily one of the best carbonated water makers you can get on the market.