Aarke Carbonator Pro, Sparkling Water Maker with Glass Bottle, Steel Finish

Product Information

I admit that I haven’t always been a fan of seltzer (I thought it tasted like boring soda), but at some point in my mid-20s everything changed. The LaCroix boom happened, and sparkling water suddenly burst onto the scene as a new, young, cutting-edge beverage. Now, in the age of spiked seltzer and CBD soda waters it’s hard to overstate the culture impact seltzer water has had, and I have to confess, I’ve started to love it, too. What could be a better pairing with any meal? A more invigorating drink on a swelteringly hot summer day? 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. The DrinkMate OmniFizz produced drinks with gentle, rolling bubbles. It was a bit like drinking white noise. You depress the button on top multiple times in short bursts to carbonate water (there’s a max amount of carbonation that is still relatively mild) before releasing the built-up pressure via the attached infuser. This is a manual machine, nice if you want to use it somewhere where you don’t have a plug handy. You depress the button on top until you hear a hissing noise (after only a second or two). Three pumps created a strong, fizzy drink, even with the user guide suggesting that five pumps was “strong fizz.” The soda machine can only be used to carbonate water. The glass bottle is dishwasher safe, so users can easily keep it clean, and the machine itself requires little to no cleaning.

The MySoda Woody produces the closest cousin to canned seltzer — assertive, rolling bubbles that hit the front of your tongue and you almost feel in your nose. First, I wouldn't feel comfortable taking this bottle out into the world, at least not without some kind of silicone sleeve for protection (which Aarke doesn't offer). It might be ideal for filling up and placing on the table during dinner, but it's less convenient for travel. Of course, you could always empty the sparkling water into a travel bottle of your choice, but that just adds one more item to the dirty dishes pile at the end of the day. I found pressing the button twice was optimal for immediate drinking, and three times was best when I wanted to save some of the water for later. With three presses, the water was still somewhat fizzy even after leaving it in the refrigerator overnight. You press the button to carbonate, and you can fine tune with a few extra squirts of CO 2 at the end. Honk honk and you're done. Aarke's carbonators even use the same CO 2 canisters as SodaStream, which makes swapping them out much easier. And like SodaStream, the company even has a convenient canister mail-in exchange program called the Cylinder Loop. It's also worth noting that the carbonated water it produced felt and tasted identical to what we've been making at home for years. Whether you're concerned about the environment or your health (or, in most cases, both), reducing plastic in any capacity is always a plus.

How’s the seltzer?

It was among the quietest models we tested. The DrinkMate OmniFizz comes with a 28-ounce bottle and 14-ounce bottle (nice if you’re looking to make a single serving of sparkling water) that are not dishwasher-safe. Please note: Recycled SodaStream Cylinders are only available when you return a used SodaStream cylinder. Used cylinders can be returned to any of our stores. Developed to work perfectly with Aarke carbonators, the brand’s Flavour Drops come in a variety of flavours, like sweet Wild Strawberry and refreshing Cucumber and Lime. Sugar free and made with natural flavourings, just add five drops of Aarke flavouring to a glass of freshly carbonated water and enjoy. Each 50ml recyclable bottle of Flavour Drops makes up to 40 litres of flavoured fizzy water, so you can save on those trips to the shops. Accessory appeal

The SodaStream Terra is the right blend of price and performance with an intuitive design and small profile that fits on a bar top or in a cabinet. It produced medium-sized, assertive bubbles — the kind of sparkling water that should suit people who are daily sparkling water drinkers. 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. For the home seltzer enthusiast, bubble structure — essentially, the type of fizziness the water holds — is undoubtedly a top priority. A loose bubble structure can feel like slightly larger bubbles, and give a less aggressive sensation of fizz, while a tight bubble structure features tiny bubbles, and a more prominent burn from the carbonation (think McDonald's Sprite). While there are merits to both, I prefer a tighter bubble structure (go big or go home, you know?) which I find more bracing, and also helps to better cleanse your palate between bites at mealtimes.The carbonation tank (you’ll need to buy a threaded 60-liter tank separately) is screwed into the tower after you lay the machine on its side, while the 27-ounce plastic bottle (that needs to be hand-washed) is likewise twisted onto the top. It was one of the easiest models to set up. The third generation of Aarke’s soda maker is even more efficient than its predecessors. The precisely tuned carbonation system ensures the perfect bubble size while keeping CO2 use to a minimum, so each gas cylinder lasts longer, and models are now fitted with even higher quality sustainable parts to withstand the test of time. The pressure release valve has been updated for a quieter, more refined sound and the interior tech has been modified for a more controlled release of pressure, too. All of this combines to give you an effortless experience every time you use your Aarke carbonator. Sleek style The Aqua Fizz comes with a threaded 60-liter carbonation tank and a pair of dishwasher-safe glass bottles, which means it’s not compatible with any of the plastic bottles from SodaStream.

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. The Carbonator Pro is a triumph of design, so the cons are minimal, but there are a few minor inconveniences to contend with. Chiefly, I was surprised at how large it turned out to be. At 51 centimeters tall and 17 centimeters wide, the Carbonator Pro is a significant presence on most countertops, and while it may not be wildly larger than many other carbonators on the market, its size can feel imposing nonetheless.Over the course of several months, we made sparkling water, sparkling juice and sparkling wine. We repeatedly attached and detached bottles to know if it was frustrating or simple to begin using a soda maker. With a press of the top button, the Aarke Carbonator Pro produced slightly smaller bubbles than the Aarke Carbonator 3 and the water had a slight minerality (likely the glass bottle allowing us to taste the mineral content of the tap water). The machine also had a tendency to drip slightly on the base tray when removing a bottle. Cleaning the machine is a snap too. It comes with a cleaning cloth to keep the metal fingerprint-free, and the glass bottle is dishwasher-safe. But you will need a good amount of counter space for the Carbonator. It’s cord-free (which I love, love, love), but it’s tall, measuring 20 inches high, 6.7 inches wide and 11.4 inches deep — and it won’t fit under standard kitchen cabinets. If you have a wet bar, though, this will become the star of your countertop. Thankfully, it’s not too heavy to move around if you’re short on space, weighing just over 8 pounds, and it looks great sitting on my kitchen island with no messy cords getting in the way. 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. Able to make 700ml of fizzy water at a time, the glass bottle is made from high-quality glass with a sleek polished steel lid to match your Carbonator Pro. It’s suitable for refrigeration, so you can make your soda water or fizzy flavours in advance and chill them to perfection until you’re ready to serve, and when you’ve supped all the delicious fizz inside, you can pop it straight into the dishwasher for an easy clean.