For anyone growing up in the 70s and 80s having a SodaStream was the kitchen sink equivalent of a magic show with the gadget up there with Swap Shop and E.T.
as a pop culture reference for the era.
At that time the coveted “fizzy-drinks maker” was proudly displayed on 40% of British kitchen counters, attracting the kind of awed attention that a spiraliser could only dream off today.
But SodaStream, which is listed on New York’s Nasdaq exchange, has seen its share price more than double in the past year after it started downplaying the “soda” that inspired its name, and repositioned itself as a green alternative to glugging cans of Coke and Pepsi.
In the UK, most people use them to make sparkling water.
Sales of refills are up 34% this year.
To get started you can buy a machine and plastic bottles for £50 after which gas refills – which make 60 litres – cost £12.99.
To make soft drinks you have to buy flavourings, increasing the cost from 21.6p a litre for sparkling water to 66p for a cola or lemonade.
What a SodaStream does offer though is a route to cutting down on your consumption of single use plastic bottles if you have a fizzy drink habit.
“It’s easy and economical to enjoy water and delicious sparkling drinks made from tap water at home and without having to pollute the planet,” says Birnbaum.