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Filtered Carbonated Water


susanmab

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I drink a lot of San Pelligrino. A *lot*. It's one of my primary vices.

I can accept that I spend quite a bit buying it by the case at Costco. It's the bottle upon bottle of empties that drive me crazy - even though I recycle them.

I very much appreciate that some restaurants have moved from bottled to filtered water, both still as well as sparkling, and I would be pleased to do the same at home. Does anyone know anything about commercial filtration/carbonation systems and whether I would be crazy to pursue fitting one for home use?

At present I use a Pur filter on my tap. It's not fantastic, but it renders the water drinkable. I guess I could use an old-fashioned seltzer cartridge type thing, but the idea got me wondering about commercial-grade systems in general. Both carbonating as well as filtering. (and now I'm wondering, is it possible to filter the water as it enters the house as opposed to at the kitchen spigot-level?)

Does anyone know anything about this? I've promised no more gadgets in my current kitchen (I've maxed out my space), but I'm looking to buy a place in the near future so I thought now might be the time to research.

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Well, I was uninspired at work and this topic was a great excuse to do some google research -- so thanks Susan! What I've found was that Natura Water* systems are the popular, current system in restaurants, but a residential model is not yet available (although it might be when you are ready to shop for one).

Otherwise, I've heard a lot of talk about Soda Stream and its convenience. Most of the talk is from eco-friendly folks who prefer this over buying tons of seltzer bottles/cans. Apparently, it's easy to use and it comes with syrups to make coke-type of sodas without the HFCS.

*Oops. Took the link out, as I started typing this prior to Mark's posting, but don't really want to duplicate stuff.

Edited by goodeats
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Well, I was uninspired at work and this topic was a great excuse to do some google research -- so thanks Susan! What I've found was that Natura Water* systems are the popular, current system in restaurants, but a residential model is not yet available (although it might be when you are ready to shop for one).

Otherwise, I've heard a lot of talk about Soda Stream and its convenience. Most of the talk is from eco-friendly folks who prefer this over buying tons of seltzer bottles/cans. Apparently, it's easy to use and it comes with syrups to make coke-type of sodas without the HFCS.

*Oops. Took the link out, as I started typing this prior to Mark's posting, but don't really want to duplicate stuff.

Thread on home carbonation at Mouthfulsfood
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I'm back to this question again - I bought my first house last summer and I'm finally getting around to redoing the (awful) kitchen. Natura is still the way I want to go - if I can find a way to afford it I'm hoping to go with the Natura commercial model.

Although I sure would be interested in a residential version that is a little more substantial than the countertop-dealies I've seen for sale.

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I'd ask the folks at Chinatown Coffee, they seem to take their water very seriously. If you want to do some secret shopping, they offer it free on tap too, and refuse to sell any bottled water.

EDIT: Sorry, I somehow glossed over the fact that you're looking for carbonated water. FWIW, I'm very happy with my soda siphon gas cartridges.

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We've had the Soda Stream for about 2 years and initially, we used the diet soda flavors, but now, I use it to carbonate filtered water from the fridge and just add citrus or a splash of cranberry juice, or just drink it plain.

I couldn't be without it.

I carbonate to 4-5 "burps".

I get my refill cartridges at Bed Bath & Beyond, always using a coupon.

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I just got a soda stream and am kinda excited about it, any tips, suggestions on how to rock it?

Always keep a second cartridge on hand, or else you'll run out at an inopportune time, such as making guest cocktails.  We get a ton of mileage out of our machine, the hardest part is remembering to keep that spare cartridge on hand.

One thing that's absolutely marvelous about the SodaStream is, once you have a few flavors in the house, you never have to worry about having non-alcoholic drinks for children and other non-imbibing guests.  And if they've never used the device, they'll have fun mixing their own bottles.

Consider picking up some ice sphere molds, hitting the farmer's market for whatever overripe fruit hits your fancy, and making this with some of your seltzer.

Porcupine posted this refreshing recipe for by-the-glass ginger soda cocktail; I have not made it yet but plan to.

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Always keep a second cartridge on hand, or else you'll run out at an inopportune time, such as making guest cocktails.  We get a ton of mileage out of our machine, the hardest part is remembering to keep that spare cartridge on hand.

Agree.  And definitely agree about the Bed Bath & Beyond coupons - I hoard those things to help defray the (small) cost of the cartridge refills.  My husband drinks TONS of carbonated water, so the SodaStream probably paid for itself the first week we had it.  Plus, it means we don't have to lug big pallets of Pellegrino from the store (and it eliminates the associated waste, since we're not cycling through dozens of bottles).

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Can anyone comment on whether or not the SodaStream makes water as carbonated as what you can buy in the store?  We considered one of these, quite seriously, then I read a bunch of reviews indicating it does carbonate water, but weakly.  Could these people be dealing with operator error?

Edited to add that our other consideration was picking up a small cylinder of CO2 from the Airgas guys on Route 1 and getting a screwtop adapter for 2 liter bottles.  There are tons of YouTube videos of people with this setup, and it is both very inexpensive and puts a lot of carbonation in the drinks.

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I just got a soda stream and am kinda excited about it, any tips, suggestions on how to rock it?

I drink a lot of seltzer, and have for years. I finally got a soda stream a month or so ago.

Seltzer with a dash of bitters - we have MANY MANY flavors of bitters here. It's the best. So head off to Ace, buy an assortment of bitters, and all will be well.

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The carbonation is the same as bottled, to me at least. 

Thanks to this thread for educating me about the existence of the SodaStream.  Based on the positive comments here, I purchased one a few days ago -- now that I'm grocery shopping on foot, the fewer bottles I have to schlep, the better.  I love this machine!  It is so easy to use and the carbonation is as good as, if not superior to, the store-bought seltzer water I had been drinking.  There are 3 levels of carbonation one can choose, light, medium and high.  I always go to the high setting and I love the results.  Just bought 2 more of the bottles so I can keep some already made in the fridge.  I am not using the flavors, so I can't comment on their quality.

I'm adding this bit because this thread has provoked a memory from when I was 19 and spent my junior year abroad in  France.  The very first time I went to an outdoor café with friends the waiter offered us l'eau gaseuse.  This was in the 70s and very few Americans were familiar with sparkling water.  My first thought was, "Gassy water?  Ewww."  We tried it anyway, and well, I've been drinking it ever since!

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