Sparkling water maker

A lot compared with branded water, hardly anything compared with cheap supermarket water. When you make it yourself, you mainly pay for the gas, about 10 to 20 cents per litre depending on the cylinder and machine. In Germany, cheap sparkling water costs around 20 cents per litre, branded water often 60 cents or more. But the real gain is this: you don't carry anything any more. The calculator shows how much it makes for you.

Yes. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland drinking water is one of the most strictly controlled foods, and its quality is good to very good. If the water has been standing in the pipes for more than four hours, for example overnight, let it run until it comes out of the tap noticeably cooler. That's what the German Environment Agency advises. How good it is where you live, your water supplier can tell you.

Glass can go in the dishwasher, doesn't age and tastes neutral. You use it as long as it has no cracks or chips. Plastic is more robust, but usually may only be washed by hand. Every plastic bottle has a date printed on it by which you have to replace it, because the material ages. That's what Stiftung Warentest says.

You hand in the empty cylinder at a shop and only pay for the new filling. You can swap empty SodaStream cylinders at many retailers that sell SodaStream. The retailer search on the SodaStream website shows you where. For machines with a screw thread like the Grohe Blue Fizz there are also swap cylinders from other providers, often cheaper. But watch out: some shops only swap their own brand.

There are two fittings. You screw in screw-in cylinders; the pink Quick Connect cylinders just click in. New SodaStream machines like the Crystal 3.0 need Quick Connect. The Grohe Blue Fizz takes screw-in cylinders, including from other brands, but no Quick Connect cylinders. Check the packaging when you buy.

In the Stiftung Warentest test the machines made 37 to 61 litres with one cylinder. How much it is for you depends on the machine and on how strongly you carbonate: the more fizz, the sooner the cylinder is empty.

Clean the nozzle regularly, otherwise slime-forming bacteria can settle there. Stiftung Warentest also advises pouring the sparkling water into a glass or a carafe to drink it, instead of drinking from the carbonating bottle. You just wipe the machine itself with a damp cloth; it doesn't belong in the dishwasher.

The stainless steel Aarke Carbonator 3 looks stylish and was also good at Stiftung Warentest (issue 7/2025). But it scored worse than the Grohe Blue Fizz and costs considerably more.