For years, almost every restaurant has offered "still" or "sparkling" water. Today, more and more eateries are producing the sparkling in-house with their own soda systems. This trend has grown at homes too, and because I am a lover of all things cold and sparkling, I decided it was time to join the bubble bandwagon. So I bought a Sodastream. This system lets you make soda at home just as you want it: plain or flavored, extra-bubbly or slightly sparkling, room temperature, or cold. For indecisive people (that would be me), you can keep testing until you get it just right.
There are 20 syrups ranging in flavor from traditional lemon-lime and diet-cola to a couple of more interesting blends such as cranberry-apple and orange-mango. The diet flavors are sweetened with sucralose, so there is little aftertaste. My favorite is pink grapefruit. Make it light with only half the recommended syrup (you can always add more) so that it's refreshing and not too sweet but more interesting than just plain old water.