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Why Your SodaStream Tastes Bad and How to Fix It?

glass of sparkling water

Nothing is worse than preparing a new bottle of custom soda, only to find that it appears rotten, leaving a bad soda stream taste in your mouth or taste buds.

But before you start lamenting the loss of your machine, consider where you think the sour flavor or foul taste is coming from.

So why does SodaStream taste weird, and how can you fix it?

Your soda might taste bad from any number of issues, but five significant reasons cause most problems.

You probably have a dirty machine, poor carbonated water or CO2 quality, a bad plastic bottle, or bad or expired flavorings. Let me explain further.

How to Make SodaStream Taste Better?

why does my SodaStream taste flat

Why does my SodaStream taste flat?

In any of these cases, fixing them requires an individual solution that targets the source of the bad taste.

In most cases, you won’t have to throw out your SodaStream machine entirely, thankfully.

(check out my Sodastream Models ultimate guide here).

Most times, it’s just a matter of cleanliness and ensuring that you’re using equipment or ingredients that haven’t expired or been overused.

The key to getting a great-tasting soda is   regular cleaning and maintenance

The SodaStream is a marvelous machine, but it only goes so far in delivering good flavor.

You must keep it working in good order and supply it with good ingredients to get the best results.

Dirty SodaStream Machine

SodaStream tastes flat

SodaStream tastes flat

Right off the bat, many SodaStream users don’t maintain their machines to the degree necessary for good taste. The carbonation nozzle, in particular, is a place where bacteria and other particulates can collect.

Once you stick your water into the nozzle, you might find that these particulates have contaminated your soda.

It may give a Metallic taste instead of a real taste.

This is especially true if you try to re-carbonate flat soda or if you try to carbonate something other than regular water.

Anything that has a flavored element can leave residue on the carbonation nozzle or splatter elsewhere on the custom favorite soda machine .   If you fail to wash your machine between uses, you might find remnants of your last beverage infecting your current one. 

Fixing this issue is pretty easy, thankfully. All you have to do is remember to wash your SodaStream each time you use it. Even if you only use plain and cold water, you should wipe down the carbonation nozzle and the rest of the machine with a warm washcloth.

It’s also worthwhile to take your machine apart now and again and eliminate any gunk you see.

You never know how that stuff can work its way into your fizzy drinks. Your instruction manual should have some maintenance suggestions or instructions so you can maintain a good level of cleanliness for as long as you use it.

Water Impurities

Water impurities are another familiar taste modifier among custom soda beverages, and this is easy enough to understand. After all, if you use water from your tap, anything in that tap water will be mixed with your new regular soda.

drinking water purity level   Properly-filtered water is always the way to go.   This is more complicated than it might seem, depending on your tap water status.

Some cities or counties have well-filtered tap water that doesn’t taste off or odd.

You should feel free to use that water without additional filtering methods in these cases.

However, if your tap water consistently tastes odd or dirty, you might be wise to add a water pitcher filter to your kitchen repertoire.

These filters are installed right on the inside of your water pitcher and filter tap water as it collects at the bottom.

The water you pour out will be purer and taste better than before. Then poor water is gone. 

Naturally, this will make your soda taste better for your taste buds.

Overall, be prepared to take steps to filter your water better or eliminate contaminants that might be affecting its taste.

Check the faucet of your kitchen sink to see if your tap water is supposed to be filtered well already.

There might be gunk or food debris collected on the rim of the faucet, and this stuff might be affecting the taste of the water that comes out.

You may also need to call a plumber if your water or favorite Soda still tastes terrible, even after filtration. It might be more of a problem with your home’s pipes than anything else.

Expired/Damaged SodaStream Plastic Bottles

The SodaStream plastic bottles are made of a rigid, durable plastic material that isn’t supposed to leave any taste or residue in your soda beverages.

But this is only true so long as the plastic is in good condition.

Plastic exposed to heat, such as after being put into a dishwasher, will lose its structural integrity.

The plastic will start to blend in with the soda or Bubbly Beverage you make inside the bottle. Not only does this taste bad, but it also can lead to adverse health effects.

are you sodastream bottles damaged  Plastic bottles that have passed their expiration date  also have a high chance of bleeding plastic chemical particulates into soda. This is why changing your expired bottles for new ones is so important.

You’ll know if the plastic bottle is the source of your taste issues if your soda starts to taste like plastic.

There isn’t anything else that is likely to cause such a foul taste. Thankfully, the solution is just as simple.

All you need to do is replace your current plastic bottles with new ones. These can be purchased on the SodaStream website, or you can get them from many familiar retailers.

The new bottles won’t bleed plastic into your soda and you should immediately experience a big difference in taste quality.

Glass bottles don’t suffer from this issue, of course.

They can still deliver a bad taste if they haven’t been washed thoroughly, but they won’t be heated to such a degree that they’ll inject a new flavor into your soda beverage.

It would be best if you still were careful about damaging or overheating them, of course, but this is more to keep the bottle functioning than out of worry about it changing any flavor.

When I first had this issue, it turned out to be one of my bottles, actually, and I just used a bottle brush to give it a proper good scrub.

The brush helped eradicate that taste compared to how I had been washing and rinsing previously.   It’s such a quick win, and then they don’t cost much at all   – You can pick a new brush-up on amazon for not a lot at all.

Expired/Bad Flavor SodaStream Syrup Bottles

SodaStream and other familiar retailers also sell the flavor bottles you should use in conjunction with carbonated, cold water. However, these flavor bottles have expiration dates of their own.

lemonade sodastream syrupThe expiration dates aren’t just suggestions for you; they are calculated periods the manufacturer recommends due to product degradation or ingredient failure. Over time, any food or drink ingredient will degrade in quality and overall healthiness.

Expired flavor bottles will likely have some of their products go wrong.

  This can lead to a bad taste in your next soda.  Replacing the flavor bottles with a fresh batch should solve this problem, provided they are within date.

However, you might also get unlucky and have a bad batch.

Sometimes manufacturing errors happen, and a batch of flavorings might be made incorrectly. Once again, the solution is to get a new set of herbs.

You should be able to tell if this is the problem just from tasting the soda.

The typical flavor should be well-known to you, and if the sugary part of the soda tastes off or the flavoring doesn’t fully dissolve in the water, it’s a good sign that the flavor packet is the real problem with the taste of your soda.

You may also be able to tell ahead of mixing just from smelling the flavor packet with your nose.

Examine the box where you’ve stored the bottles and ensure that rodents or insects didn’t open them. Sugar exposed to the air can ferment and go bad very quickly.

You should only ever use sealed flavor bottles for your SodaStream beverages.

Carbon Dioxide Impurities In Your SodaStream

why SodaStream is bad

Why SodaStream is bad?

Finally, this rare happening might also be impacting your soda’s flavor.

The    CO2 you use for your soda machine   could have any number of impurities that can affect its taste.

While this is unlikely if you rely on disposable SodaStream bottles, this can still happen, and it’s more likely to occur if you hook your machine into a larger tank.

In this case, you should examine the inside of your CO2 tank and check for any residue or impurities on the surface.

Look for oil, dirt, or debris mixing with the CO2 as it becomes a gas and channels down to your SodaStream.

If you do find something, cleaning it with regular soap and water and thoroughly rinsing it should do the trick.

If you think the problem is with your disposable SodaStream CO2 bottle, cleaning the tank is likely more complex than simply buying and trying a new bottle. You can also examine the machine’s CO2 tube for dirt and debris.

 In any case, CO2 can become contaminated and laced with byproducts from exposure to the air or a bad cleaning job the last time. 

This will alter the flavor of the CO2 put into your soda and, thus, the soda itself. Amazon is the answer here, and it worked for me.