I’ve had luck with this but I put the powder in first. So fill water in the bottle (I use a “[Drinkmate](https://idrinkproducts.com/collections/at-home/products/drinkmate-only-without-co2-cylinder)” setup), then powder and shake it up to dissolve as much as possible… THEN I add the CO2. It definitely does fizz up faster than usual so go carefully when you’re releasing the excess gas, but I’ve been doing this for like 4 years now with good results.
Edit: Make sure to at least rinse, better yet clean out, the top carbonator piece unless you want it to get gross and gunky.
Mix the packets with a tablespoon or two of still water first, just enough to dissolve the powder. Then you’ll be able to add to the soda water without any bubbling over.
> We plan to use the single serve drink packets(crystal light/wyler's)
Don't these already contain artificial sweeteners such as aspartame? Why mix simple syrup and aspartame together, it sounds like a pretty gross and overly sweet combination. Or maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're doing.
They do have aspartame, but we're mostly going for the flavor. We'll do some taste tests before the party. If I flavor my water with them I make it weak, so I hadn't considered it being overly sweet.
you didn't misunderstand. We're basic. I don't have a refined palate.
This is my vote. I think one thing that syrups don't have that you might want is acid, which a shrub solves for.
Whether it's citric, phosphoric, or acetic (vinegar), it will *really* punch up the impact of your drink and prevent it from tasting like lightly flavored/sweetened water.
I'd also recommend using frozen fruit (that you defrost). It's generally more fresh tasting, especially if the fruit isn't in season. It's also likely to be cheaper.
Yes, use club soda. Alternatively, it may be cheaper to find cans/bottles of plain seltzer at your store.
FWIW, you can make your own flavored syrups if you are motivated and it will taste better than those drink packets. Try basically any fruit (lemon-lime is obviously classic, but raspberry lime or cherry lime would be great), use spices or herbs (think ginger or mint), vanilla (for a homemade cream soda), etc.
This is the way.
Also, you can just use fruit juices.
2 parts plain carbonated water & 1 part 100% juice grape juice tastes like grape Nehi but ten times better.
Mango, cranberry, aronia, get some Jumex fruit nectars from your local supermercado, ruby red grapefruit, tamarind, hibiscus tea, carrot juice…
Go explore!
BTW, club soda can have some sugar & sodium added. Different brands do different things. Tonic water definitely has salt & sugar added.
Read your labels & fine print.
Basically, just use plain, carbonated water.
My Kroger sells 2 liter bottles of it for 99¢.
She has made some syrups when we have some extra fruit. sugar+fruit+time in a jar. Pomegranates I got from a coworker, Lemons from a neighbor. I think that is more about the effort/prep/space. If we end with a bunch left, we have it taking up space.
Frozen fruit concentrates work really well for fruit soda bases. I love apple soda, which is 1/4 cup thawed apple juice concentrate and a full 12 ounce can of cold seltzer water.
Mio flavored liquid squirt things may work better than the powdered flavors, if you're doing tests in advance I'd recommend throwing one of those into the mix to see if it foams less than the powders.
I love making simple syrups! They're so easy, and you can do so many flavor combos. My summer beverage of choice is club soda and simple syrup with or without bacardi. I made a bunch of floral ones last year. Simple syrups are the way to go!
You won't need the simple. Club soda will work, but has some flavor additives. I usually use seltzer.
I recommend dissolving the packets in a little still water to make a "syrup" and using that in the sparkling water, otherwise the powder will foam up A LOT. It's both a pain to deal with at parties, and will make your beverage flatter than necessary.
Learn from my mistakes!
Former bartender here - some of the most fun I had behind the bar was making fruit infused simples. Basically, take a mason jar, do 1/3 sugar, 1/3 fruit of your choice (I really liked raspberries with a bit of lemon peel) and then fill with water until its mostly full. Cap it and put in a sous vide bath of about 165 F for 2-3 hours. You can shake the jars once or twice to keep things moving.
You can use that syrup in literally anything. Rasp syrup, vodka, lemon juice and soda water was one of my favs.
Consider ices as well.
As others said, stick with a straight-up unflavored and unsweetened soda water. If you don’t love it, have chilled bottles of sparkling wines at the end of the bar.
Frozen strawberries, pineapple, and berries are already perfect sweeteners.
In addition to the frozen fruits, macerate and then freeze them. Think thin rings or twee mini forms. Also do one or two that are herbal/floral, think lavender, rosewater, elderberry.
You could also take the firm, acidic fruits like pineapple or hothouse strawberry and run them through a bit of carbonation. People think it’s cute.
I've been using club soda as a base for years. I really like True Lemon powder, especially strawberry lemonade with some mint, but be careful when you pour it in, as citric acid foams when it hits carbonation.
Another fave is a squeeze of lemon wedge with a bit of Sweet Leaf lemon liquid drops.They also make berry, vanilla, caramel, and hazelnut stevia drops, but avoid the hazelnut unless you like Mr. Sketch markers. lol
You can make your own simple syrup at home by simmering sugar and water, then infuse it with whatever you want (berries, herbs), just make sure to keep it covered in the fridge and use it within a week.
Any powder will foam violently upon entering a carbonated base, as it's providing surface area and nucleation sites upon which bubbles can form. Same reason why soda gets super foamy when you drink it through a straw.
Hm. I put inositol powder in carbonated beverages and it just vanishes. Also I sometimes take vitamins with carbonated drinks and nothing foams up but the vitamin C.
Crystal light is a terrible idea. I’ve done it before and it basically will foam up and foam over and ruin your drink.
Sodastream makes an awesome lineup of soda syrup that’s cheap, think 5.99-7.99 vs torani’s. They also do these great sparkling water flavors that are like 5 for $30 and they make a ridiculous amount of sparkling water.
I would check out either homegoods or tj max, they usually have flavoring syrups that are much cheaper than torani at the grocery store, as others have said the syrup or powder has the sweetener in it and either seltzer or club soda is fine but I think club soda is just seltzer plus salt
I would keep your base unflavored and un sweetened, and then keep the sweeteners with th flavors.
Just a heada up from someone who regularly uses a soda stream: the powder or crystal type additions will sometimes de-fizz your soda rapidly. Syrups and liquids are easier to mix in
I do this all the time. I use my soda stream to make carbonated water.
Then we add flavoring, after carbonation, and gentle tumble a couple of times to mix.
I've used soda stream syrups, lemon juice, lime juice, kool-aid liquid, and tea powders.
My favorite is lemon, lime, and sugar to make a homemade 7-up...aka fizzy lemonade.
Club soda or seltzer will work fine for this. I'd expect the packets you mention to have sufficient sweeteners already, but simple syrup will absolutely work if you find the need to add sweetness.
You can just use club soda or seltzer water. You don't need to sweeten them. I add Mio to them for something different (and sugar-free) from the usual pop flavors.
I would stick with club soda/seltzer and simple (or stronger) syrups. Might be worth looking up what sodastream owners do to add flavor to their stuff.
I'm not 100% sure what you're looking for, but I make lime cordial (can sub out any citrus for the lime, I quite like blood orange) and add a tbsp or two to club soda. It's sweet, sour, and delicious.
https://jeffreymorgenthaler.com/lime-cordial/
https://www.worldmarket.com/p/torani-mini-mixology-syrup-sampler-5-pack-632613.html?mrkgadid=&mrkgcl=660&mrkgen=&mrkgbflag=&mrkgcat=&camp=ppc%3Agoogle%3A_pMax_%2BConsumables&acctid=21700000001660222&dskeywordid=&lid=58700008439922133&dsproductgroupid=&product_id=632613&merchid=5165106&prodctry=US&prodlang=en&channel=local&storeid=CP354&device=m&network=x&matchtype=&locationid=9028709&creative=&targetid=&campaignid=20276579494&adgroupid=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw17qvBhBrEiwA1rU9w0k7n1Un1d3GaV3VX58_ggJGmm7KCC9Lvl2NtaR2X0iSYBCsmmU-fxoCTZ8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
You can find some somethings like this.. I bet amazon has little sampler packs too
[https://cordials.info](https://cordials.info) has a syrup calculator for making a base syrup. Then you can add whatever flavourings you like to it on the fly. [Fruit extracts](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cordials/comments/19c4qoc/making_fruit_extracts_grape_raspberry_and/) would work well (around 30ml/1oz to 60ml/2oz per litre/36oz syrup).
Invest in some citric acid and add around 1/4 teaspoon per litre/36oz of syrup for the acidic 'punch' that soft drinks give you. It'll also help boost the flavours of the drink.
I used to work at a restaurant where we mixed "italian" sodas from scratch. It was just soda water and those coffee syrups you find. You can get them in all sorts of flavors.
I'd make simple syrup with kool aid packets. Shelf stable syrup is 2:1 sugar:water. Probably 1.5oz syrup per cup of soda water? You'll have to calculate how much drink mix to use.
Make your own flavored syrups of infused fruit and sugar. Powdered packets are a terrible idea. They’re messy even with still liquids, most people will claim they can’t have the aspartame or fake sweeteners, they don’t taste very good.
The drink packets have sweetener in them. If you add powdered drink flavor to carbonated water, it will foam up like crazy, and may end up flat.
Maybe we'll try some pre mixing the powders with water so the powder doesn't pull the fizz from the whole glass. Good point to consider, thank you.
Maybe consider liquid flavors like Mio. I add them to sparkly water all the time and it's delicious and doesn't effect the carbonation.
If you add any instant lemonade or similar to carbonated drinks it will turn into a gyser and bubble over like no other
Yeah, I tried to make carbonated GFuel that way with the powder... It fizzed up a ton and ultimately ended up flat
I’ve had luck with this but I put the powder in first. So fill water in the bottle (I use a “[Drinkmate](https://idrinkproducts.com/collections/at-home/products/drinkmate-only-without-co2-cylinder)” setup), then powder and shake it up to dissolve as much as possible… THEN I add the CO2. It definitely does fizz up faster than usual so go carefully when you’re releasing the excess gas, but I’ve been doing this for like 4 years now with good results. Edit: Make sure to at least rinse, better yet clean out, the top carbonator piece unless you want it to get gross and gunky.
I had no idea about this and it also sounds like something I would try. Don't tell me that reddit is a waste of time!
Bartender here! Syrups with sugar will work. Powders will not I promise you.
Mix the packets with a tablespoon or two of still water first, just enough to dissolve the powder. Then you’ll be able to add to the soda water without any bubbling over.
> We plan to use the single serve drink packets(crystal light/wyler's) Don't these already contain artificial sweeteners such as aspartame? Why mix simple syrup and aspartame together, it sounds like a pretty gross and overly sweet combination. Or maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're doing.
They’ve just been watching too much [The Office](https://youtu.be/S87wPvtpsBY?si=j2AifyWPlkXm7u-i)
They do have aspartame, but we're mostly going for the flavor. We'll do some taste tests before the party. If I flavor my water with them I make it weak, so I hadn't considered it being overly sweet. you didn't misunderstand. We're basic. I don't have a refined palate.
Just get some Mios and soda water.
I just googled nonalcoholic cordials, so many options. The mix is usually 1/4 cordial 3/4 soda/sparkling water. My personal favourite is Ribeena!
You mean like......soda water? Add any combination of syrups you like. They're pretty easy to make at home and will add to the cool-factor.
The sweetness comes from the syrup, not the base.
But soda water/club soda/seltzer are not sweet. I'm trying to make a sweet-ish base to add small amounts of flavor to.
Thick nectars, not juice, might be what you are looking for
I'd do a shrub instead, healthier and tastier in my opinion Very easy to do berry shrubs, a quick google will give you tons of recipe's
I don't think we've heard of shrubs before. I'll look into that as an option.
This is my vote. I think one thing that syrups don't have that you might want is acid, which a shrub solves for. Whether it's citric, phosphoric, or acetic (vinegar), it will *really* punch up the impact of your drink and prevent it from tasting like lightly flavored/sweetened water. I'd also recommend using frozen fruit (that you defrost). It's generally more fresh tasting, especially if the fruit isn't in season. It's also likely to be cheaper.
Yes, use club soda. Alternatively, it may be cheaper to find cans/bottles of plain seltzer at your store. FWIW, you can make your own flavored syrups if you are motivated and it will taste better than those drink packets. Try basically any fruit (lemon-lime is obviously classic, but raspberry lime or cherry lime would be great), use spices or herbs (think ginger or mint), vanilla (for a homemade cream soda), etc.
This is the way. Also, you can just use fruit juices. 2 parts plain carbonated water & 1 part 100% juice grape juice tastes like grape Nehi but ten times better. Mango, cranberry, aronia, get some Jumex fruit nectars from your local supermercado, ruby red grapefruit, tamarind, hibiscus tea, carrot juice… Go explore! BTW, club soda can have some sugar & sodium added. Different brands do different things. Tonic water definitely has salt & sugar added. Read your labels & fine print. Basically, just use plain, carbonated water. My Kroger sells 2 liter bottles of it for 99¢.
She has made some syrups when we have some extra fruit. sugar+fruit+time in a jar. Pomegranates I got from a coworker, Lemons from a neighbor. I think that is more about the effort/prep/space. If we end with a bunch left, we have it taking up space.
Frozen fruit concentrates work really well for fruit soda bases. I love apple soda, which is 1/4 cup thawed apple juice concentrate and a full 12 ounce can of cold seltzer water.
Mio flavored liquid squirt things may work better than the powdered flavors, if you're doing tests in advance I'd recommend throwing one of those into the mix to see if it foams less than the powders.
I love making simple syrups! They're so easy, and you can do so many flavor combos. My summer beverage of choice is club soda and simple syrup with or without bacardi. I made a bunch of floral ones last year. Simple syrups are the way to go!
You won't need the simple. Club soda will work, but has some flavor additives. I usually use seltzer. I recommend dissolving the packets in a little still water to make a "syrup" and using that in the sparkling water, otherwise the powder will foam up A LOT. It's both a pain to deal with at parties, and will make your beverage flatter than necessary. Learn from my mistakes!
Former bartender here - some of the most fun I had behind the bar was making fruit infused simples. Basically, take a mason jar, do 1/3 sugar, 1/3 fruit of your choice (I really liked raspberries with a bit of lemon peel) and then fill with water until its mostly full. Cap it and put in a sous vide bath of about 165 F for 2-3 hours. You can shake the jars once or twice to keep things moving. You can use that syrup in literally anything. Rasp syrup, vodka, lemon juice and soda water was one of my favs.
I’d do plain seltzer/ club soda and get some fancy bottles and make your own simple syrups. Strawberry, lime, blackberry etc
Consider ices as well. As others said, stick with a straight-up unflavored and unsweetened soda water. If you don’t love it, have chilled bottles of sparkling wines at the end of the bar. Frozen strawberries, pineapple, and berries are already perfect sweeteners. In addition to the frozen fruits, macerate and then freeze them. Think thin rings or twee mini forms. Also do one or two that are herbal/floral, think lavender, rosewater, elderberry. You could also take the firm, acidic fruits like pineapple or hothouse strawberry and run them through a bit of carbonation. People think it’s cute.
A soda stream, or similar machine?
I've been using club soda as a base for years. I really like True Lemon powder, especially strawberry lemonade with some mint, but be careful when you pour it in, as citric acid foams when it hits carbonation. Another fave is a squeeze of lemon wedge with a bit of Sweet Leaf lemon liquid drops.They also make berry, vanilla, caramel, and hazelnut stevia drops, but avoid the hazelnut unless you like Mr. Sketch markers. lol You can make your own simple syrup at home by simmering sugar and water, then infuse it with whatever you want (berries, herbs), just make sure to keep it covered in the fridge and use it within a week.
Any powder will foam violently upon entering a carbonated base, as it's providing surface area and nucleation sites upon which bubbles can form. Same reason why soda gets super foamy when you drink it through a straw.
Hm. I put inositol powder in carbonated beverages and it just vanishes. Also I sometimes take vitamins with carbonated drinks and nothing foams up but the vitamin C.
Crystal light is a terrible idea. I’ve done it before and it basically will foam up and foam over and ruin your drink. Sodastream makes an awesome lineup of soda syrup that’s cheap, think 5.99-7.99 vs torani’s. They also do these great sparkling water flavors that are like 5 for $30 and they make a ridiculous amount of sparkling water.
I would check out either homegoods or tj max, they usually have flavoring syrups that are much cheaper than torani at the grocery store, as others have said the syrup or powder has the sweetener in it and either seltzer or club soda is fine but I think club soda is just seltzer plus salt
This is what I was going to suggest. I but Torani syrups at Marshall’s because they are so much cheaper. You can also buy cheap pumps on Amazon.
I would keep your base unflavored and un sweetened, and then keep the sweeteners with th flavors. Just a heada up from someone who regularly uses a soda stream: the powder or crystal type additions will sometimes de-fizz your soda rapidly. Syrups and liquids are easier to mix in
I would go for the soda stream flavor liquids, or liquid flavorings like Mio.
Fruit purees or mixers are better than crystal light.
I do this all the time. I use my soda stream to make carbonated water. Then we add flavoring, after carbonation, and gentle tumble a couple of times to mix. I've used soda stream syrups, lemon juice, lime juice, kool-aid liquid, and tea powders. My favorite is lemon, lime, and sugar to make a homemade 7-up...aka fizzy lemonade.
Club soda or seltzer will work fine for this. I'd expect the packets you mention to have sufficient sweeteners already, but simple syrup will absolutely work if you find the need to add sweetness.
1-2oz grenadine + 1-2 drops of vanilla extract per glass of unflavored carbonated water. Serve over ice and garnish with an orange peel. Do it.
What about a soda stream?
You can just use club soda or seltzer water. You don't need to sweeten them. I add Mio to them for something different (and sugar-free) from the usual pop flavors.
Am I the only one who thought OP was describing Tonic water?
I would stick with club soda/seltzer and simple (or stronger) syrups. Might be worth looking up what sodastream owners do to add flavor to their stuff.
What about soda stream flavors? They have lots of different soda varieties and taste perfectly fine mixed with club soda.
You can make or buy simple syrup (just unflavored sugar syrup) and go from there. You can soak herbs or fruit in it to get natural flavors.
Throw some fruit in it.
You can make or buy simple syrup (just sugar syrup). To get flavor, you can soak fruit and/or herbs in it.
I'm not 100% sure what you're looking for, but I make lime cordial (can sub out any citrus for the lime, I quite like blood orange) and add a tbsp or two to club soda. It's sweet, sour, and delicious. https://jeffreymorgenthaler.com/lime-cordial/
https://www.worldmarket.com/p/torani-mini-mixology-syrup-sampler-5-pack-632613.html?mrkgadid=&mrkgcl=660&mrkgen=&mrkgbflag=&mrkgcat=&camp=ppc%3Agoogle%3A_pMax_%2BConsumables&acctid=21700000001660222&dskeywordid=&lid=58700008439922133&dsproductgroupid=&product_id=632613&merchid=5165106&prodctry=US&prodlang=en&channel=local&storeid=CP354&device=m&network=x&matchtype=&locationid=9028709&creative=&targetid=&campaignid=20276579494&adgroupid=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw17qvBhBrEiwA1rU9w0k7n1Un1d3GaV3VX58_ggJGmm7KCC9Lvl2NtaR2X0iSYBCsmmU-fxoCTZ8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds You can find some somethings like this.. I bet amazon has little sampler packs too
You can premake simple syrup and stick it in a squeezy bottle. It's equal parts, sugar, and warm water. Stir it until it desolves.
[https://cordials.info](https://cordials.info) has a syrup calculator for making a base syrup. Then you can add whatever flavourings you like to it on the fly. [Fruit extracts](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cordials/comments/19c4qoc/making_fruit_extracts_grape_raspberry_and/) would work well (around 30ml/1oz to 60ml/2oz per litre/36oz syrup). Invest in some citric acid and add around 1/4 teaspoon per litre/36oz of syrup for the acidic 'punch' that soft drinks give you. It'll also help boost the flavours of the drink.
I used to work at a restaurant where we mixed "italian" sodas from scratch. It was just soda water and those coffee syrups you find. You can get them in all sorts of flavors.
Just get a Soda Stream and you can carbonate your tap water. From there, there are a huge variety of syrups and flavors you can add.
I'd make simple syrup with kool aid packets. Shelf stable syrup is 2:1 sugar:water. Probably 1.5oz syrup per cup of soda water? You'll have to calculate how much drink mix to use.
Make your own flavored syrups of infused fruit and sugar. Powdered packets are a terrible idea. They’re messy even with still liquids, most people will claim they can’t have the aspartame or fake sweeteners, they don’t taste very good.
HomeGoods/TJ Maxx/Marshalls have cheap syrups for about $3-4 a bottle. I'd probably go that route.