A Short History of SodaStream

SodaStream was started in 1903. Invented by Giles Gilby, it was a carbonation system which made standard water into fizzy water, and was originally targeted to the upper classes. New flavours were introduced in the 1920s. These included cherry ciderette and sarsaparilla. It enjoyed widespread success in the 1970s and 80s, becoming a big hit in countries such as Germany, Australia, and the UK.

The company underwent numerous changes in ownership, becoming, at one stage, part of the Cadbury Schweppes empire. 1998 was the year the company changed hands for the final time when purchased by Soda Club, which at that time was the biggest supplier of SodaStream to Israel. After Soda Club’s unsuccessful bid to change the brand from SodaStream to Soda-Club, SodaStream remained the name of the brand.

More recently Soda Club sought to reposition the SodaStream brand. Focusing on the health and diet issues that are so prevalent in this day and age, SodaStream was relaunched with a new machine and many new flavours, concentrating on providing a healthy alternative to fizzy, sugar-rich drinks such as Coca Cola and Pepsi.

Essentially, the SodaStream product is a home carbonation kit, which allows you to change water into sparkling water, as well as allowing you to add low-calorie flavours such as cola and orange. A large assortment of calorie-free flavours to flavour sparkling water to great taste is sold at allfreightfree.com.

The SodaStream machine is employed to force co2 into a water-filled bottle suitable for pressurising. The co2 turns the water into carbonated water. This process — dissolving co2 — is referred to as carbonation. The carbonated water can then be drunk on its own as sparkling water, or mixed with flavours to create tasty, healthy treats. Once the co2 canisters have been used up they can be sent back to Soda-Club who recycle the canisters by refilling them with co2 then sending them back out.

Regarding actual health and diet benefits gained from drinking SodaStream, it is claimed that all their flavours are completely sugar-free and contain a maximum of 2 calories per 100ml; this is, assuredly, good news for every parent concerned about a child’s diet.

The SodaStream machine adds only co2 to the water, meaning it does not have the added sugar that some bottled sparkling water contains, so there is little difference between it and normal water.

SodaStream have made much of their environmental and health credentials, going so far as to say that each litre bottle of SodaStream saves three aluminum cans. Which in turn means that over 3 years, a family of four could slash their soft-drink-related packaging usage by over 90%. This is a popular claim, one that in this environmentally conscious age will stand them in good stead. It is clear that Sodastream has developed into a realistic alternative to the big players in the soft drink world.

Tags: carbonated water, Natural Soda, soda club, soda machine, sodastream

This entry was posted
on Sunday, April 19th, 2009 at 11:38 am and is filed under Natural Soda.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.