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

Product Information

The best place to start is to consider what you’re looking to carbonate, how often you’ll be using your soda maker and whether or not you’re pouring drinks for a crowd. Most soda makers only work with water, but there are a handful (Spärkel, Drinkmate OmniFizz, Sensei Soda Maker) that can add bubbles to your cider or chardonnay.

Want to turn normal tap water into sparkling water at the touch of a button? Aarke’s Carbonator Pro does exactly that, so you can enjoy fresh fizz in the comfort of your home without a disposable plastic bottle in sight. And with its sleek, stylish design and Polished Steel finish, it’s bound to look right at home on your kitchen worktop. 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. If you want to add fizz to lots of different drinks, this soda maker is worth a look. It works with any drink that doesn’t include pulp. And more importantly, trying to infuse whiskey or wine doesn’t violate the two-year warranty.

Cons of the Carbonator Pro

The Aarke Carbonator Pro is a luxurious take on the soda maker concept. It’s a more effective version of the design featured in the SodaStream Aqua Fizz, and carries the price to match, which — while it’s a good performer — makes it harder to recommend. 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. 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. After unboxing the Carbonator Pro and accompanying manual, it wasn't long before the gas cylinder was installed, the machine was buzzing, and I was drinking pleasantly sparkling seltzer—without opening a can or single-use bottle. The most time-consuming part of the process was probably filling the glass bottle with fresh water (which, as you might guess, didn't take long). The innovative design

Aarke soda makers are designed to be easy to use. Just insert a CO2 cylinder into the tower, add tap water up to the fill line of your carbonation bottle and screw it into the machine. Push the stainless steel lever down until you hear a buzz, then release the lever, unscrew the bottle and seal it. Canisters of CO2 are available separately and Aarke carbonators are compatible with the 60-litre SodaStream gas cylinders we sell online, and the recycled canisters we sell in store. Built to last 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. 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.Although sparkling water is undoubtedly an incredible beverage, it’s not always simple to procure; lugging those liter-sized bottles or a case of full cans from the grocery store is a pain, and delivery can be expensive. The environmental impact, too, can make it difficult to justify buying bottles of sparkling water. It’s hard to enjoy some nice bubbly water when you’re drinking it out of a single use plastic, or an aluminum can or glass bottle that may or may not get recycled.

That's why I was excited to learn that this product comes with a high-quality glass bottle that can hold up to 27 ounces of water and be tossed in the dishwasher without a second thought. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that Aarke's gas cylinder is made from 100% renewable CO2. Another environmentally friendly plus: Similar to its predecessor, the Carbonator Pro doesn't require batteries or electricity. So you can feel good about saving resources on that end, too. The easy set-up A Mashable Choice Award is a badge of honor, reserved for the absolute best stuff we’ve tested and loved.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. 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.

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. Whether you're concerned about the environment or your health (or, in most cases, both), reducing plastic in any capacity is always a plus.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. 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.