Spärkel Sparkling Water Maker Machine - Cherry Red Soda Stream Alternative, No CO2 Tank Needed, 5 Adjustable Carbonation Levels for Fresh Homemade Sparkling Water | Perfect for Kitchen, Office, Parties & Healthy Hydration

My boyfriend and I love our sparkel. It’s easy to use and does everything we need. I also like that I can infuse the water with fruits or veggies overnight before carbonating, since this machine allows flavorings and other additions in the bottle when adding the fizz. We have been using it multiple times a day since late October and haven’t had any issues.Longer review:When we both started to work from home in March 2020, my boyfriend and I noticed we were going through a lot of cans of sparkling water, and started to feel pretty bad about all of the cans we were recycling each week. I researched sparkling water machines, and was hoping to find a solution without CO2 cartridges. I’m so happy I found Sparkel.We started out with one machine and 2 bottles, and ended up upgrading to get 4 additional bottles. We keep all of the bottles filled with water chilling in the fridge (both pre and post carbonation). Sometimes we carbonate all 6 bottles and sometimes we carbonate on demand, it just depends on the day.Our tips:* Buy powders in bulk: I wasn’t a fan of throwing away the empty plastic sachets that were used to hold the powders each time I carbonated a bottle, so based on other reviews I switched to bulk bags of baking powder and citric acid. For ease of access I keep a mason jar filled with each by our machine. (See photo)* 2 tsp (10 ml) each: I measured one of each sachet that came with my initial order, and it came out to roughly 2.5 tsp of each one. However, Based on the waste water coming out after the carbonation, it looked like I might be able to reduce the amount and now use 2 tsp of each and haven’t noticed a difference. (Note: I live at 5,400 ft above sea level and use setting 4). I ended up buying a 10 ml coffee scoop from Amazon (shown in photo) which is super convenient. Now I just do a single scoop each of baking soda and citric acid. (Part of the reason I switched to 2 tsp instead of 2.5 was because I could only find a 2 tsp scoop and I only wanted to do one scoop of each powder)* funnel: I had a little metal funnel I got for refilling spice jars that fits the sparkel machine very nicely (also shown in my photo). After a few weeks I had noticed that it was hard to pour the powders exactly in the hole, and if there was any residual moisture from recent carbonation then I would get build up of crystallized powder around the opening (which is a little annoying to remove, but does dissolve with water and scrubbing). I prefer to use the funnel which greatly reduces buildup (especially since other household members are perhaps a little messy at adding powder !) I still get some buildup on the funnel but find that it’s so easy to clean by just running some hot water over it for a few seconds.* setting 4: My boyfriend and I both like pretty fizzy water, so we started out using setting 5. I don’t know how much is due to our elevation (5,400 ft above sea level) but we had to carefully release pressure from the top valve for quite awhile before opening a bottle, otherwise it would explode everywhere. We eventually realized that setting 4 was more convenient and still hits the spot. I can typically do just one quick tap of the release valve and then the bottle is ready to open. (Occasionally, depending on the mix-ins, I need to do a slightly longer release, but it’s still way better than setting 5).* If the “waste water” leftover from carbonation drips when you’re emptying the reservoir (or overflows because you forgot to check and empty it after making several bottles) my water usually has some excess baking soda or citric acid which will leave behind a white residue if you don’t wipe it up right away. Just something to be aware of when you decide where to plug-in your machine. It’s not hard to clean the residue if it does build up.Favorite mix-ins:* My go to is four slices of cucumber per bottle. If I’m feeling fancy, I might also add in ginger and or mint leaves that I crush/rub right before I put them in. It’s much better if they have a chance to sit for a few hours... if I put the slices in right before carbonation and drink it right away the taste is very faint. Overnight works well, but even a few hours is fine.* I also had great success with a jug of apple cider we got from a local farm this fall. I carbonated a few bottles over thanksgiving, and it felt like Martinellis :)On a final note, if you add fruits, veggies or herbs I think the carbonation process looks pretty cool. The backlighting makes it look almost like a lava lamp with food swirling around inside, lol.