Any Carbonated Water Experts out there

[Ambiance]

We are passionate about our favorite drink...Tito's Vodka (handmade) and sparkling water.

And, the more carbonated and fizzy the water the better.

I have been searching to find a water with the ultimate level of carbonation.

Anyone know?

[annagranfors]

I know this doesn't speak to the question, but isn't Tito's THE BOMB? I never liked vodka until I had Tito's, and it's become a regular in my liquor cabinet (err--top of the refrigerator, that is).

[JeremyEG]

How do you think it compares to Kettle One or Belvedere? I love the bottle too as well as the idea of having a liquor made in the US!
JeremyEG
HomeCookLocavore.com

[Ambiance]

Well, since my grandparents were Russian and Polish....I have always been very snooty and chauvinistic A bartender tipped me off to it.. Said it was great and cheap. I was totally skeptical, but then I read the reviews by Wall St Journal and CNN (who knew they cared). It beat out all of the great vodkas. With one caveat.. "it is so smooth, it is meant for sipping."

I think I just got hooked after my first drink..it is pure and mild...but packs the same wallop. But, if you like vodka with a strong bite (like Grey Goose) this is not it. But the taste, IMHO, is superb. And I am kind of into a buy local attitude. Of course, the price....$27 for a half gallon doesn't hurt.

Same with olive oil....I have switched to California olive oil. Mainly because I read that the real value in olive oil is it's freshness and Italian oil takes too long to get here and that most borders on being rancid. who knew!

[Miri1]

If you live near a kosher market, you might be able to get a brand out of NY called Mayim Chayim. I bought 2 cases of it for Passover but I'd swear it's the fizziest I've ever had. I have to open the bottles a little at a time or they will shpritz everywhere!

[Ambiance]

thanks for the tip on Mayim Chayim....I'll look for it.

[ryback]

Try Topo Chico from Mexico. It is dirt cheap and the fizziest water I have ever seen. The bottles practically are grenades.

[Ambiance]

LOL....grendade. I've seen it and will give it a shot...thanx

[GraydonCarter]

I wonder if you could carbonate the vodka (rather than adding carbonated water)? Vodka's alkalinity is about 7.2, so it seems reasonable.

[alanbarnes]

Yes. Yes, you can.

[paprkutr]

I have the soda stream, which you can now buy at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, using your 20% coupon. Williams Sonoma also sells them, they have 2 the soda stream one, and the penquin, both made by the same people. By the soda stream, you can make your own soda and put as much as or as little carbonation as you like it. I used to buy crystal keyser at trader joes, but now I save a lot of money, and I don't have the bottles.

[Ambiance]

thanks Windy and Paprkutr ! Think I will look into one of those....But I do like the thought of the high mineral content naturally carbonated sparkling waters.

[Windy]

Northern California tap water has plenty of naturally occurring minerals in it.

[JeremyEG]

I enjoy serving seltzer at dinner parties from my siphon. I live in NYC and the water is great to begin with so the seltzer is delicious as well. I buy the cartridges when they go on sale on Amazon and they are less than a dollar.
JeremyEG
HomeCookLocavore.com

[jumpingmonk]

Off the top of my head the most heavily carbonated mineral water I have bumped into is Souroti, from Greece (probaby due to the fact that the water is artificially carbonated on top of being naturally carbonated) The bottles are blue, and look a little like those Ty Nant uses.

[Ambiance]

thanks JM, I will look for that. bet you are right...I have read that the naturally carbonated waters are not very fizzy.

[jumpingmonk]

Sometimes they are sometimes they aren't. From what I understand in this case it's a relic from the old time marketing and bottling. The place where the Soroti was bottled was some distance from the actual spring (and the pipe system was not top notch) so that the water lost a lot of it's effervesence by the time it had gotten into the bottle so they re-carbonated it at the bottling plant, now the system is a lot more efficient so that most of the natural carbonation is still there, but they havent toned down the artificial to compensate (maybe people have gotten used to the hypercarbonation).
I almost forgot if waht you are looking for is highly mineralized waters, you may want to try Borjomi or Nabgevani, both from Gerogia (the country not the state) they are probably the most highly mineralized waters I can think off. One fair warning though, as the first of those minerals is sodium (if usually is in mineralized water) both of these are very much aquired tastes, to people who are not used to it, it tastes unbearably salty.

[Robert Lauriston]

The Sodastream costs $80 and refills are $30-50?

Seltzer siphon bottles cost $15-45 and cartridges are under a dollar.

[c oliver]

Holy cow!!!

We went to a restaurant in Seattle this past week and you get free flat or sparkling water (unlimited). I loved that.

[Robert Lauriston]

Sodastream refills are much larger than seltzer cartridges, so it's not clear which would be cheaper in the long run.

Free house-sparkled filtered water is pretty trendy around here.

[Aromatherapy]

I'm hooked on Sodastream. Much better carbonation than any cartridge system I've ever tried.

[c oliver]

Definitely THAT kinda place. We had the "chef's menu" which was eight !!! starters, three mains and three desserts. That sparkling water was MUCH appreciated.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Sodastream cartridges are $15 when you exchange an empty cartridge (if you buy w/o exchanging, they're around $30); each cartridge carbonates ~60 liters of water, depending on how much fizz you add.

ETA: There are several threads on the Cookware board discussing Sodastream/Soda Club and alternatives.

[paprkutr]

You're right and if you use BBB coupon for 20% off they come out too about $12. They say you get about 80 bottles out of each cartridge. I love the Sodastream, and it is very easy to use, and clean. I leave several bottles of water in the fridge and make it when i want. I ususally go throught one or two bottles a day. I like plain, but I can adjust the fizz.. I think it is very economical.

[alanbarnes]

That's still $0.25 per liter. If you buy CO2 in a bulk tank it's less than $0.01 per liter.

[thew]

not exactly. refill are about 15 , if you are returning a cartridge. so it's only if you need more than one (e.g. you don't live near a palce that does the exchanges in person, so you need to send it back and forth, so you want a full one while sending the empty back) that you need a cartridge other than the one it came with. so refills are $15 not $30 - 40. and each refill is good for about 60 gallons of water. 60 gallons for $15. thats 7,680 oz. thats 240 under-a-dollar soda syphon charges.

[alanbarnes]

>>"each refill is good for about 60 gallons of water"<<

Not according to SodaStream. They claim that each refill is good for about 60 liters of water. That's 60 under-a-dollar soda syphon charges, not 240.

[thew]

perhaps i misremembered.

still 15 < 50

and one def has more control over how bubbly the water is,and i use it more than i ever used my syphon

[alanbarnes]

And .05 < 15.

I just don't like proprietary systems; my CO2 tank and carbonator cap provide total control, and a five-pound tank carbonates about 500 liters to a very high level of fizziness for $21.50 (refill price). Can't beat that.

[Windy]

Have you tried buying a seltzer bottle with replaceable chargers? The chargers are usually sold at hardware stores. Those are bigger bubbles than I like personally, but sounds like it might be to your taste.

http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&n...

Vastly better than a plastic bottle, which loses its fizz after you open it.

[bbulkow]

I have one of these, and have a protip. Don't overfill with water. Live in a hetch-hetchy water area. After charging the bottle, put in your fridge for 3-4 hours. If you sample the water right after you charge it, while it's warm, it's only moderately fizzy. When it's cold after a few hours, it's very fizzy.

[wolfe]

Talk to the Seltzer Sisters.
http://www.seltzersisters.com/

[Ambiance]

Thanks. Unfortunately, I don't live within their delivery area. Wish I did

[wolfe]

The fresher the better, DIY. I love this one.
http://www.wikihow.com/Carbonate-a-Be...