TechRadar Verdict
The Sodastream Spirit One Touch is a simple-to-use sparkling water maker that can carbonate tap water, helping you reduce your reliance on single-use plastics. It's versatile too, offering the ability to add flavors and syrups to the water to create other styles of fizzy drink. However, it’s expensive and comes with ongoing costs associated with the gas cylinder, but it’s worth the investment if you’re keen to do your bit for the environment.
Pros
- +
Compact
- +
Simple to use
- +
Reduces single-use plastic consumption
Cons
- -
Expensive
- -
Ongoing running cost
- -
Bottle isn’t dishwasher safe
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One-minute review
There’s nothing more refreshing than an ice-cold glass of sparkling water, or a flavored fizzy drink, straight from the fridge, but purchasing these drinks from the grocery store is contributing to the mountain of single-use plastic we’re generating.
According to research released as part of Earth Day 2018, Americans purchase about 50 billion water bottles per year – that’s the equivalent of 13 bottles per person per month, and many of these go to landfill if they’re not recycled – or, even worse, end up polluting oceans, lakes, and rivers.
This is where a Sodastream – the handy kitchen gadget that turns plain tap water into sparkling water at the touch of a button – can help. First launched in 1903, Sodstreams became popular during the 1970s and 1980s but fell out of fashion as juices and smoothies became more popular, leading to a surge in the best juicers and best blenders. However, they’re back in vogue again, less for their ability to create fizzy drinks, and more for the fact that they can dramatically reduce single-use plastic waste.
However, they’re back in vogue again, as much for the fact that they can dramatically reduce single-use plastic waste in this eco-conscious age as for their ability to create fizzy drinks.
Sodastream Spirit One Touch is the brand’s top-of-the-range carbonated water maker. The compact device is simple to use, and can make fizzy water with three different levels of carbonation: light, medium, or strong, depending on your mood
Sodastream also offers a range of flavorings that you can add to your carbonated water to create soft drinks, with brand names such as Pepsi and 7UP available alongside generic cola and tonic syrups, and Kom Bucha, ginger ale, and other fruit-based syrups.
At $129.99 / £129.99 / AU$149.99, the Sodastream is an expensive kitchen gadget, especially when you factor in the cost of additional gas cylinders, syrups and flavorings. However, we think for most people the cost is easily offset by the positive impact using a Sodastream has on the environment.
Sodastream Spirit One Touch price and availability
- List price $129.99 / £129.99 / AU$149.99
The Sodastream Spirit One Touch is priced at $129.99 / £129.99 / AU$149.99, and is available direct from Sodastream as well as through Amazon. This is a Starter Pack, which includes a carbonating cylinder, which is enough to create 15 gallons / 60 liters of sparkling water, and a 34fl oz / 1-liter reusable plastic bottle.
Additional bottles cost $19.99 / £19.99 / AU$21.95 for a twin pack, while a replacement gas cylinder will set you back $14.99 / £12.99 / AU$35. In the US and the UK you can also return your empty cylinders to Sodastream for free using the supplied box and label, although in the UK you will need to pay a £10 deposit, which will be refunded when the empty cylinder is received by Sodastream.
In Australia, empty cylinders can only be exchanged in stores.
Design
- Compact
- Removable gas cylinder
- 34fl oz / 1-litre plastic bottle included
The Sodastream Spirit One Touch is a tall but compact mains-powered appliance. It has a cylindrical design, and measures 16.88 x 5.5 x 7.8 inches / 42.9 x 14 x 19.8cm. With the gas cylinder attached it’s pretty heavy, weighing in at 7.7lb / 3.5kg. It comes in black or white finishes, and has a stylish pin-prick design on the front.
The back of the gadget houses the gas cylinder, which can carbonate up to 15 gallons / 60 liters of water. The 34fl oz / 1-liter plastic bottle that comes with the Spirit One Touch is filled with tap water and inserted at an angle into the cavity in the front, so that the carbonating tube sits in the water.
On the top of the device are three buttons surrounded by blue LED rings that enable you to select the level of carbonation. The water bottle is BPA-free, but can’t be cleaned in the dishwasher.
Performance
- Quick to use
- Bottle is easy to insert and remove
- Three levels of carbonation
The Sodastream Spirit One Touch is extremely simple to use. Once you’ve inserted the bottle, which needs to be pushed up and backwards so it locks into place, press any button to illuminate the bubble strength menu and then select the strength you require. The LED ring around the selected button pulses during carbonation, and flashes quickly three times when carbonation is completed.
Carbonation is automatic, unlike on some Sodastream models that require you to press a button several times, and on test we found that it took just nine seconds to carbonate water to the lowest strength, which resulted in five shots of gas being added to the water.
Six shots of gas, which create medium strength bubbles, took 11 seconds to be dispensed, while the strongest carbonation setting saw seven shots of gas added to the water in just 14 seconds. When the water is ready you simply pull the bottle towards you and down to release it.
Our decibel meter hit 71.1db during carbonation, a noise level similar to that of a dishwasher mid-cycle, which is more than acceptable.
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First reviewed: February 2022
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