We got a SodaStream soda maker several months ago and while I’ve enjoyed using it, I’ve wondered about SodaStream’s claims that it saves you money.
Does it? Probably not, or at least not for a long time.
Let’s assume you buy soda in the most economical way, in 2-liter bottles. You’ll probably pay about $1.50/2 liters. Assuming you buy CO2 refills at $15 and not $30 for a new CO2 bottle and you drink half a liter of soda a day, it will take you 2,376 days or 6.5 years to make back your investment in the SodaStream maker. Wow!
In fact, if you spent less than $1.33/2 liter on soda before, you’ll never make your money back.
However, there are other ways to decrease your cost per liter:
- Buy a SodaMod, which allows you to attach a paintball CO2 tank which is much more cheaply filled than what SodaStream charges. A similar product is the FreedomOne-PBI.
- Make your own syrup.
- Since Bed, Bath and Beyond sells SodaStream supplies, take advantage of all those coupons they send you and buy syrup and CO2 there.
- Buy one of the cheaper SodaStream models.
You can run your own calculations by making a copy of the Google Spreadsheet I used.
Nice. I use a SodaStream purely for fizzy water. At a liter a day, that gets me to break-even point in about three months.
Better still: not contributing to schlepping cases of Pellegrino from northern Italy to northern California gives me a feeling of moral self-satisfaction that is priceless.
Think of the sheer effort your recent ancestors had to make, to pump water out of the ground or lift it from a well, just to get enough to drink and maybe a strip-wash now and then. They must’ve STANK for a lack of bathwater.
Then the miracle comes of a clean, constant water supply that comes from taps all around your house, and you don’t need a kettle or a fire to warm it. If you can’t appreciate the luxury, try imagining the arse-pain of not having it.
Almost free, good water by the bathload. And people pay large amounts of money that they work for, to get a bottle full from a spring, like a medeival peasant.
If somebody really needs water from another continent for it’s “taste”, eating ordinary food must be unbearable for them! They must throw up as they walk past hot-dog stalls. And if you want minerals, lick a pebble.
BTW this comment aimed at unwise people who DO pay to have water delivered to them. Not Ferg.
I pay to have it delivered because I dont like water that tastes like boiled egg water.
I have been using my sodastream machine for 1 1/2 years and love it, we make 3 liters a day, I fill my own co2 costs about 2 dollars a bottle, I buy syrup in 5 gallon box, figure it cost me 10 cents per 12 oz. I put out about 300 dollars to start, I know have got my money back and now the big savings no returns and no lugging pop home.
Paul
I did the math on the energy drink and I have same money and save so much more on buying the redbull drink at $85 for the amouth of one $9.99 of energy drink sodastream, try doing the math and telling me wrong. this save me money in no time at all.
“Energy” drinks are an insane rip off. They’re just sodas with extra caffeine. If you just want caffeine, you can buy tablets for about 5 cents per 200mg.
I came here just to say this. This is absolutely true. But there are other items in an energy drink than just caffeine; guarana, taurine, etc.
And while they are certainly not good for you, you can break even on SodaStream MUCH quicker than with a regular soda machine. I like tonic water, and it’s hard to find in a 2 liter price, but SodaStream offers the flavor, and it is perfect.
Something else that people don’t realize, is you can also make your own flavors. Look at the kool-aid one. I was doing that before they made the syrup for it. A little warm water and some powder, and BAM! How about some mojito? Crystal Light has a bangin mojito. As a soda though, it is AMAZEBALLS!
And don’t even get me started on an Italian Creme soda!
So there’s more to SodaStream than just the fact that it DOES save money, there’s also the novelty, and potential health saving benefits of making your own thinner soda, or non-sugared non aspartame soda, or even just use some juice and make a juice soda.
Guarana is just another natural source of caffeine. Taurine has been tested to have no effect whatever on people. “Energy” drinks are just caffeine.
And caffeine is a dirty drug to use as a deliberate energy booster. In small doses in coffee, fine, but deliberately getting a buzz from it, not good. For your heart’s sake, you’re actually safer using an equivalent dose of amphetamine. Not that you should. But just stay away from caffeine, if you want energy, go to bed earlier. Horrible stuff. Makes you jumpy and jittery.
There seems to be an error in your spread sheet in cell C9 (Payoff Point).
It doesn’t include the amout of soda used per day (cell C6).
With out this it assumes 1 liter per day based on cell D8 (saving per liter)
So the Payoff point using 0.5 liter per day should be 2376.2 days or 6.51 years.
Or for those dringing 2 liter per day it would be 594.1 days or 1.63 years.
Note those who invest in a SodaMod adapter and a 20 oz paintball CO2 bottle.
These two items can be found on ebay or amazon. The lowest price I found was
about $30 for the Sodamod and $20 for a 20 oz paint ball co2 bottle.
The refills drop to about $3.00 and fill about 80 liters or ~ $.04 per liter.
This would net you about $.30 per liter savings but because of the higher cost.
The Payoff point would be about 505.6 days or 1.39 years assuming 1 liter per day.
This all assumes that you are only using SodaStream flavors and not making any
of your own or only making sparkling water.
Also there is a double accounting problem in the spreadsheet too: Jeff forgot to account for the fact that the machine comes with an initial supply of CO2. Therefore, the cost for the first 60L of soda is entirely in the flavoring. The easiest solution is to deduct the C02 refill cost from the initial SodaStream cost prior to dividing by the per liter cost when generating the payoff point. Doing so brings the pay off to 5.53 years based on all of Jeff’s prior assumptions. If one could did a similar adjustment for the free 12 flavors starting flavors, it brings the repayment time down slightly more to 5.21 years.
Jeff also omitted the cost of buying replacement carbonating bottles. They have a timed expiration (or presumably, a “total qty of liters carbonated” lifetime) of 2 years. At 0.5 liters per day ($10/bottle), they add $0.05 to the cost of every SodaStream drink–increasing the payback time dramatically to 18.66 years (from 6.51). Drinking more soda per day reduces the bottle replacement costs.
Other Brain Droppings:
I haven’t seen any mention of bottle deposits here either. I live in a state with a $0.05 deposit on every soda bottles which is tacked on in addition to the store list price. Jeff’s analysis inherently assumes that the bottles are being returned for deposit. If you’re not returning the bottles, the $0.05 bottle deposit raise the price enough on soda to reduce the payback time from 6.51 years to 5.02 years.
Water quality is an issue in some locations too. Some tap water simply tastes nasty & making soda out of bad tap water may not hide it sufficiently. If that’s the case, extra costs for water filtration/treatment would need to be added (reducing Sodastream’s apparent edge over conventional bottled soda).
Lastly, beer brewers carbonate beer all the time with C02. Food grade C02 is widely available in larger canisters for them & could probably be used as easily as paintball C02.
I would not recommend using paintball CO2 cylinders to make soda. There are different quality and purity requirements for something intended for human consumption as opposed to sports equipment.
The big assumption in your price comparison is that you are comparing to buying 2 L bottles. For someone who only drinks 0.5L a day, that 2L bottle is starting to get flat by day 4. This is one reason I preferred buying cans of soda before I got the sodamaker. While the 1L size is larger (equivalent to 2.8 cans of soda), it is small enough that I can finish off a bottle before it goes flat. Therefore when comparing to the cost of cans of soda, it does save you money.
With that said, I would not expect anyone to buy a soda maker purly to save money. It is just a different “fun” way to make soda, and it gives you a lot more flexibility in terms of how much syrup you mix in, mixing flavors, making your own syrups, or just making plain fizzy water (which would cut out the cost of the syrup making it much cheaper; I don’t know what store bought carbonated water sells for).
Forgot to mention, the soda maker also allows you to make drinks with more or less fizz. Some flavors that I did not previously like actually tasted better by adjusting the carbonation. However, don’t count on never buying store-bought soda again. While I enjoy the sodastream flavors for the most part, they all taste “different” to me than what they are mimicing. For some it does not taste any better or worse, just slightly different (Dr. Pete, Lemon-Lime, and Cream Soda are personal favorites). For others, I could never get it to taste good enough and so I end up buying a can of the “good stuff” once in awhile (Mountain Dew; also the Root Beer tastes more like Barqs and I always preferred A&W).
I guess it depends on what product you use with the sodastream machine. While soda is a really cheap beverage purchased at any store out there energy drinks are NOT! And that is precisely why we got this for my husband. He would pick up a monster every morning on the way to work and one at lunch. Thats like 8 bucks a day on those two drinks alone. Basically over 200 a month and after buying the soda stream he will buy maybe two of the mixes a month at 6 bucks a bottle and thats it. We spend less than 20 bucks a month compared to before. I have to say that is one reason that it WOULD save you a ton. For soda itself? Probably not much at all.
I forgot to mention the CO2 that he buys, you turn in the container to refill it for 15 bucks and even using it daily it lasts him more than a month to 2 months.
Save money on energy drinks by grinding caffeine tablets into soda water. Add cough medicine to taste.
There’s gonna be a heap of arrythmia patients turning up in about 15 years. Per equivalent dose, you’re safer off just drinking fruit juice and doing speed. Caffeine is worse for the heart and circulation.
To be fair, people tend to take a greater than equivalent dose of amphetamines than they would caffeine. But caffeine is a horrible drug. Nasty side-effects, horrible withdrawal. I wouldn’t drink it regularly. Innoculating it into drinks and calling it “energy” like it’s a good thing is crazy.
Right on, Greenaum… You make a compelling argument. I never understood why such drinks weren’t called jittery drinks. Three syllables – just like energy – but far less misleading, false, conniving and subversive propaganda. The energy in a cup of coffee and a cup of water is the same. There’s at least a million times more biologically accessible energy in a hot cup of water with a teaspoon of sugar in it – and perhaps a squirt of lemon.
As to the economics, people who buy SodaReam contraptions are not motivated by economics at the point of purchase. It’s a shiny lure – just like the ones fish bite. There’s nothing economical about paying $15 – $30 for fifty-cents worth of co2. I’m sorry. But SodaReam customer arguments supporting the economics of SodaReam ownership are desperate attempts to console themselves after having made an unwise purchase. Spending $100 for a contraption that allows you to buy co2 gas for $30/lb when it’s sold for 50-cents-a-pound. Heck, most grocery stores sell clean dry ice for $1/lb. An 8-g chip of it runs you about 1.8-cents – that’s a chunk about the size of a nickel. Drop it in a liter soda bottle filled with clean water ‘n cap it. If you’re afraid it’ll pop – sit it outside for 15-minutes. It’ll do no harm there. So there you have it – the soda bottle ‘n cap are free at your neighbor’s house. The water’s virtually free. And the co2’s under 2-cents at Harris Teeter. Go ahead ‘n splurge – buy a pound of it while you’re shopping. I know… I know… It’ll run U-a-buck, but you can make 160 single serving sized highly carbonated 12oz bottles of seltzer when U-get back home. That’ll last U a week or 2.
I don’t think people who buy sodastream are obvlious to the fact that it’s not cheap, but if you think there is no cost associated with buying/storying/using the dry ice, or the time associated with taking it from your neighbor’s garage (weird) then you’re the deluded one. In terms of convenience, which is really what so much modern food is about (why buy eggs when you can buy chickens! why buy vegetables when you can just tend to a garden!) the sodastream makes a lot more sense. If you are the type of person who sacrifices nothing by waiting 15 min every time you want a drink or is cool with a science experiment every time you want a drink then your time probably isn’t worth that much and you should go for it. If you just like club soda, at worst you’ll spend a little more and likely recoup the costs after some months/years – even by paying for the CO2 refills.
An inlenligett answer – no BS – which makes a pleasant change
I think you are absolutely right that the physical supply cost savings just aren’t really there for soda. But one big factor to consider, is that although the cost per serving isn’t really that different (for soda) with the soda stream we have been drinking WAY less soda because it takes more effort than grabbing a can out of the fridge drinking a sip and then letting it sit. I have found that in our household our soda costs have DRASTICALLY declined because now, if you want a soda… you have to take the time to make it. We went from…. 2-3+ cases per week to like 1 or 2 soda stream syrup bottles… now that’s a savings and interestingly enough it didn’t impact our lifestyle at all (except to save us money)
Note: (1-2 syrup bottles per month!!)
Funny you mentioned this because I haven’t been drinking as much soda either since buying it. That is a positive thing. Also, there is no aspartame in the products so that’s a huuuge benefit. I save tons of space in fridge as I used to lug those big 12 packs home and refrigerate.
You can get a FiZZ GiZ for under thirty-bucks online. You can use the tiny little disposable co2 cartridges with it. They are pricey, so you may wish to connect your FiZZ GiZ dispenser to any size co2 tank with a tube which constantly feeds it co2. FiZZ GiZ has connection hardware for small half-pound co2 tanks all the way up to five-foot tall 50-lb tanks. Just like swapping propane tanks for your gas grill, CO2 is sold the same way – take in your empty ‘n swap it for a full one for the price of the gas only. In the larger tanks, the gas is dirt cheap – so cheap, in fact, that a sodastream sized tank would only have about fifty-cents worth of CO2 gas in it. FiZZ GiZ is a North Carolina based mfr and all their products are mfd in High Point. U-can reach ’em at the website or by calling (409) FIZZ-GIZ.
This thread is about the economics of home soda making. So here: Name brand soda syrup 5-gallon BIB’s cost around $50 at the beverage distributor warehouse. 5-gallons of syrup is 640-fluid ounces. It takes 2oz of syrup to make a 12oz single serving sized drink – adding it to 10oz of water. So you can make 320 single serving sized drinks for your fifty bucks. That’s about 15-cents-a-bottle. The CO2 cost for each one is about half-a-cent. So making yourself a 6-pack of name brand soda runs you just under a dollar.
Just like my mother always taught me…………
1) theres a sucker born every second &
2) There is NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN (you cant sell that sucker)
I would ‘preciate someone who’s owned a sodastream for a year or so telling me…
i) are you happy with your purchase still?
ii) what are the 2 things you like most about it?
iii) what are the 2 things you don’t like about it?
Thanks!
I’ve owned mine for like 3 years. I am very happy with it and use it daily.
Happy:
1) convenience: I always have soda at home now. I keep extra syrup/flavor packets in the cupboard that take up a lot less space. I have 3 co2 cartridges so I go fill 2 when I put in the 3rd.
2) a lot less waste. I am a heavy soda drinker (3+) 16 oz bottles a day before soda stream. That was a lot of bottles. Yes I could easily drink a 2 liter by myself in a day. I just didn’t like big bottles. Id fill up my recycle can quickly.
Bad:
1) the cola flavored aren’t the same. I’ve drank coca cola since a child and sometimes I really crave it.
2) washing the bottles and lids. Mine said to not use hot water so no dishwasher 🙁 I hate doing dishes.
My husband and I are not heavy soda drinkers, but we use the Soda Stream carbonator ALL THE TIME! We have had it for 2 or 3 years and would buy another if it broke. I love fizzy water with lemon, my husband uses squirts of MIO water flavor (or the small cool aid liquids – lots to choose) in his, we make wine coolers in the summer and many cocktails are nice with a little fizz. We occasionally make a bottle of Dr. Pete using the Soda Stream syrup, but not often. We love the drinks, but even more important – all these comparisons show that it is not MORE expensive so shouldn’t we be doing it for the environment!
WOW, the Grinch is well at work here with this blog, look buying ya soda for .10cents a litre Ebenezer might make sense but really!, factor in not doing a shoulder tendon everytime you carry 6 x 2 litre bottles off the shelf, into the car into the house into the cupboard then into the fridge that is room hungry as it is. The bottles fizz lasts about as long as a litres worth so your drinking a litre of flat cola each time you feel to pour a comfort or scotch mixer. Dont you just hate that!.
Man really, I am shopping for a drink maker now, Kmart have the whole xmas kit for $69 syrups, maker, co2 bottle and pet bottle. $69 bucks to me is nothing, wont buy you a tank of gas anymore!, if I feel in a cola mood or anything else for that matter I can make it, it wil be fresh and I more or less have more confidence in whats going into it. Look Mr AMATIL or soda share holder, soda ripp off days are over, a bean counter with a spreadsheet, thats the evil of this world!, profiteering and materialism and such has bought so much bar humbug to this world, Ford and Holden employees now exactly what I’m on about. I will order my Soda Stream xmas unit on line now, and I wont even give the GOVT my 3WAYS tax, my GST or Excise on petrol tax to get it.
Anyway a realists perspective on the scenario, or is freedom of speech banned now in Australia.
The only flaw I see in your computations is that if you consume 1/2 a liter per day from a 2-liter bottle, your soda will go flat before you use it all. That means you’ll have wasted maybe half of your bottle. Soda Stream bottles have a rubber seal in the lid and will stay fizzy for 5-6 days.
Really? I’ve never had a bottle of soda go flat in less than a week.
Throwing soda away just because it has gone flat or throwing it away just because it has gotten warm? Neither are necessary. If it’s warm, you can stick it in the fridge to chill it fully. If it’s flat, you can use a FiZZ GiZ to recarbonate it fully. At under thirty-bucks, you should check it out (www.FizzGiz.com) or call (409) FIZZ-GIZ. Now, if someone drank your soda, it may be time to throw it away.
Now people can be funny about that sort of thing. I once had a roommate in college (NCSU). He would not eat ‘leftovers’. Fried chicken, grilled ribs, macaroni, spaghetti, seafood gumbo, rice, tacos… you get the idea. Once any leftovers hit the fridge, might as well have been the garbage can for all he was concerned. Never understood that about the guy.
Factor in that I crush my cans and sell them to the recyclers and its easier and cheaper to buy soda on sale. I can buy my fav soda for 4 bucks for a 24 pack case. I get back more on the aluminum than I save on Sodastream and I don’t have to worry about it breaking down, not working properly or cleaning it up. Its a novelty at best.
How much gas did you burn selling your cans to recyclers?
Ok, let’s do the numbers for me. I regularly bought 3 12 packs of cans on sale at the local grocery every week. So every month that would come out to $48 a month. Luckily in DE no sales tax. I’m glad I don’t live in a state that charges deposit fees for cans. I was drinking coke zero so no sugar, but aspertame. I wanted to stop consuming aspertame as much as possible. Over the course of a year that would come out to roughly $576.
So, let’s do the math here:
$576-$120 for sodastream maker leaves $456.
Spare container for CO2:
$456-$40.00=$416
Refills for CO2 for the year @$16.00/Refill:
$416-$192= $224
2 1L Bottle Refill Packs $20.00 each:
$224-$40.00=$184
Left over amount for flavor syrup for the year:
$184
You’ll probably break even in the first year or so if you’re someone like me who drank a lot of canned soda. Not to mention it is healthier, without all the added aspartame, and you’re not adding to landfills. You’re also using tap water which is regulated by state and federal law to be safe. Bottled water is not regulated to the extent tap water is. I use a Brita pitcher to filter it, so add in the cost of filters every 2 months. If you’re someone who is a casual soda drinker, it’s probably not going to save you money. I don’t drink coffee. For me it’s a personal preference.
Cut the refill down by a lot by refilling your self with dry ice. $4.00 to refill 2 !
I hate that your page comes up when I search for SodaStream because you’re just wrong. If you were paying over $3/1L bottle of Voss or other imported water like we were, and easily going through 3L a day at least (on average) during the cooler months, say nothing of when things heat up, then yes, this little thing saved us a lot of money. What finally pushed me to buy it was the ridiculous amount of bottles we’d go through in a day, week…the pile up and guilt was too much.
That’s why I included a spreadsheet so you can do your own calculations based on how much soda you drink.
Thanks for the spreadsheet, I bought a sodastream to stave off my growing redbull sugar free addiction. It confirms my payback. But I agree for regular soda’s it isn’t worth it.
The math is wrong, because of misleading sodastream marketing. It’s far more expensive than you listed because a 60L carbonator implies 60L. In reality, you only get 32 or 33 liters with a full 60L carbonator.
Not if you refill them yourself with dry ice which is just frozen co2. Takes maybe 10 min. They do make more then.
Don’t see much activity on this blog lately, but thought I would post this anyway. If a main concern is the Aspertame that is used in most diet sodas… Pepsi has just come out with Aspertame-free diet (with Splenda). My wife has been drinking Caffiene-free Diet SodaStream for several years now. I have had the duty of making a couple of bottles of it every day, as she has chronic pain in her arms, and can’t do it easily. And it does get very tedious. I did a “blind taste test” with her, and she couldn’t tell the difference. All they had available was 12-oz cans, which came out to $0.25 each, so not a lot of difference in cost. But should be cheaper if they come out with liters. So… it’s Goodbye SodaStream for us!
Refill your own co2 bottles using dry ice. Under 4.00 to fill 2!
When I quit drinking alcohol, I switched to seltzer – 1 -2 liters per day. Suddenly I was creating barrels of plastic to recycle. Couldn’t do it any more. I’d rather lose money than create so much post consumer wate.
That was the best comment so far. People go out for dinner, spent like a hundred bucks a weekend and complain about spending a few more cents per liter. At the same time they do not consider the amount of plastic waste.
I couldn’t agree more with this sentiment. Personally I use the Fizzini Hamilton Beach portable soda maker because it fit my needs a little better, but just knowing I’m not outputting all of that waste is enough for me to be okay with canister prices. Plus I just add fresh fruit instead of soda mixers, saves a ton.
I have had the Sodastream for almost a year and consider it an extremely worthwhile purchase. I use it solely for sparkling water, but may try out a syrup one of these days. Prior to the Sodastream I would lug 20 kilos of sparking water home at a time. I live in a 16th floor condo so that was no small feat. Then there is the hassle of storing them, not to mention all the extra recycling. Not to mention the environmental impact of the commercial production and transport of these bottles versus a relatively small CO2 cylinder.
I have read some of the posts on here that analyze the savings down to the penny. I don’t think you can justify the Sodastream solely on cost. For me, as a busy professional, it is the fact that I ALWAYS have sparkling water on hand and I don’t have to shoehorn in a trip to the local grocery store just to resupply when it might not be convenient to do so.
In short, if your time is worth something, then there is no question that the Sodastream is the way to go. If you have a surplus of free time to put into some of the suggested methodologies above, then perhaps you should steer clear. I think that is the principal deciding factor. Some people use their surplus time to save a dollar, others look for ways to turn their surplus time into more income. Neither is inherently wrong, just a matter of preference!
We only use our soda stream for sparkling water. We have excellent well water that makes really nice tasting sparkling water. I find their flavors for soda to be pretty disgusting. The last CO2 refill we got has a foul odor though so we are bringing it back. Has anyone else had the problem with nasty smelling (and tasting) refills?
This is an old post that I came across while looking about threads concerning the expiration date on the Soda Stream bottles. To me, this is a scam (same a cycling helmet expiration dates) , as the bottles do not lose their function over time, do not leach dangerous chemicals over time, and, even if they lost their structural integrity (which they do not), they wouldn’t pose an “explosion hazard.” The pressure isn’t great enough to blow the bottle apart. You might be struck with a stream of water (like taking a shot from your child’s water gun), but an explosion? I don’t think so.
As for refilling the co2 canisters, since discovering that I could do this, I now do it all the time. I have the larger canisters, so spend buy about $2.00 worth of dry ice per bottle. This is more than recommended, but I have experienced no problems, and a refill lasts a long time (I fill about six bottles at a time, and can go through them all in a week).
You cannot “overfill” the canister, because both the canister and the machine have relief valves that expel co2 if the pressure is too high (I have never had my canister expel c02 from overfilling).
As for the source of dry ice, I go to a local beer distributor for mine. While I haven’t had it formally analyzed, I am confident that it contains no impurities. My water always tastes fine.
I read more than one article about Soda Stream recalling bottles that presented an explosion hazard, a great advertising scam if you ask me. There is not one recorded incident of a bottle exploding, and if one did, there would be no injuries (unless you store your water next to an expensive electronic component).
“Why take chance?” the “advertisement” teases.
I wonder how many bottles they have replaced and what their return on that costs has netted them in profits from selling replacement bottles.
I bought my machine from the same company when it was marketed as Soda Club. The machine and the bottles are still going strong. While I have purchased additional bottles, I have only had to replace one because I left it in my car full of carbonated water on a very hot day. The bottle didn’t explode and looked fine, but the heat and pressure must have deformed the threads of the bottle ever so slightly such that it would no longer fit properly on the carbonating machine.
Happy carbonating.
JC
Great product, but not all that cost effective. In reality, the 60 liter cartridges (if you like a lot of fizz) makes about 25 of those bottles that come with sodastream. Those bottles are actually about 4/5 full after carbonation.. You can find Canada Dry seltzer in 2 liter bottles for about $1.50 easily in most places. So, even if you buy 12 two-liter seltzer bottles (equivalent to more than 25 sodastream bottles), that is about $18. If you can’t find the sodastream cartridges for less than $18, you are better off buying 2 liter seltzer in the store. Not to mention you do have to wash out the sodastream bottles every now and then. Also, store bought water is filtered water as opposed to if you use sodastream from the tap. So, you would need to fill the sodastream bottles using a Brita pitcher or equivalent.