In one look
Expert rating
Benefits
- Carbonate anything
- Revives flat drinks
- Save money on flavors
The inconvenients
- Trial and error operation
- Limited instructions
- Plastic construction
Our opinion
The Drinkmate OmniFizz does exactly what it promises and carbonates almost any liquid you’d want to drink – and a lot you wouldn’t. It is much more versatile than competing products and much more powerful as well.
Best Prices Today: Drinkmate OmniFizz
$142.99
What sets the Drinkmate OmniFizz apart from the SodaStream, or more common sparkling water makers, is that you can use it to carbonate anything.
Anything? Well, I wouldn’t try ketchup or paint – but Drinkmate’s suggestions include tea and wine. Here’s what happened when we tested it.
Design and build
- Simple operation
- thin machine
- Vented carbonation lid
The OmniFizz looks and functions much like a SodaStream. Unlike the SodaStream E-Terra, which we recently reviewed, it’s not a plug-in device and it doesn’t have extra features to rival the E-Terra’s blue lighting.
The OmniFizz is tall and a bit deeper than it is wide (40 x 19 x 12 cm/ 16 x 7.5 x 4.7 inches) but it’s a slim device that will be easy to find on a kitchen counter.
It is almost entirely made of matte plastic, which does not add much aesthetically, at least in black. However, there are three other color options – red, white and arctic blue – that would bring a fun pop of color to a bar or kitchen counter.
There is no need to buy mixers or cordials. You can carbonate the juices or squash you have at home
The design of the machine itself is simple. Although it lacks stylistic flourishes, it has a pleasingly curved shape. Its only control is a big silver button on top, which you press for carbonation.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The back panel easily folds out so you can screw in a gas cylinder. And at the front is the carbonating bottle attachment, which you tilt to insert it into the bottle.
The bottle is where you’ll notice a design difference from SodaStream machines – and it’s the one that’s key to the Drinkmate’s claim to be able to carbonate any drink. Instead of attaching the bottle directly into the machine, you first attach the carbonation lid.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The lid is equipped with a pressure valve, which will allow you to carbonate more viscous, alcoholic or sugary liquids without damaging the machine or creating a Mentos-and-Coke style volcano. When you remove the bottle from the machine, you then open the pressure valve to release some of the carbonation gas before removing the lid.
The vent cover is kind of awesome, and it really works.
I tested the $142.99/£109.99 Drinkmate with a set of cylinders. So, in the box, along with the machine itself, I received a 1 liter plastic bottle and lid and a 60 liter carbonation cylinder.
Performance
- Powerful carbonation
- trial and error
- Use with cold liquid
The first thing to say about using the Drinkmate is that there is quite a bit of trial and error involved. That’s partly because it’s far more powerful than its rivals, with every press delivering a serious CO2 hit.
However, if you only carbonate water, you will quickly know how many times to press the button and for how long.
But any other liquid you use will require a different amount of carbonation. The Drinkmate is light on instructions, but there are some helpful hints in the troubleshooting section of the manual.
The first is to use cold liquids (up to 5.5°C) for best results. So refrigerate any drinks you want to carbonate. The second tip is to use short pumps of the button when trying new drinks. It’s also a good idea to wait ten seconds after carbonating before releasing the pressure, to give the CO2 the best chance to mix with the liquid.
The vent cover is kinda awesome, and it really works
And it’s best not to fill the bottle more than halfway, especially if you’re carbonated alcoholic beverages.
What’s great is that there is no need to buy mixers or cords. You can also carbonate any juices or squashes you have at home, directly in the bottle. You should, however, use pulp-free juices.
But if you like a specific flavor, you can still use it with the OmniFizz, and you can even add it before carbonating.
You can also use the OmniFizz to re-energize flat mixers. And you can go further. In fact, one of the suggested drinks to add bubbly to is wine, which means you can revive old Prosecco to use in cocktails.
But you can also use it to create more experimental drinks. So I did.
I made a teapot as usual, then added sugar and lemon and put it in the fridge. Once cooled, I poured it into the Drinkmate’s carbonating bottle and fizzed it.
The resulting tea was most definitely carbonated and not quite awful. I added ice and lemon and pretended to like it.
The next drink to get the treat was flat coke. If you can revive all the dead drinks in your fridge, that’s a really good reason to buy the Drinkmate. And that East It’s possible to return the fizz to Coke, but it’s tricky – and you have to be careful not to overfill the bottle or overdo the carbonation.
After that I tried a glass of wine. Ideally, I would revive flat Prosecco or Champagne, but what I had was a Pinot Grigio blush, so that’s what I carbonated.
On my first try, the carbonation process gave it a head of foam similar to an improperly poured pint. My second attempt was better and produced a lightly sparkling glass of wine which, although it would almost certainly earn me a lifetime ban from entering France, was perfectly drinkable.
That’s when my thirst for knowledge took precedence over my scruples (“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could that they didn’t stop to think if they had to” etc) and I took a jug of milk out of the fridge.
Can you carbonate milk? It turns out you can. The milk carbonates very well, with a rich layer of cloud-like froth covering the bubbly liquid.
But you shouldn’t. Nobody should ever do that again. It’s hard to properly describe the unpleasantness of creamy, fizzy milk against the tongue. Consider yourself savvy.
Price and availability
If you’re in the US, you can buy the OmniFizz with a cylinder and gas bottle for $142.99. It is available direct from Drinkmate or Amazon.
This makes it a more expensive option than SodaStream’s base model, the Terra, but cheaper than most other models.
In the UK, the Drinkmate OmniFizz is available direct from the brand for £109.99 for the machine, bottle and a bottle of gas, but there are other bundled options which may prove more cost effective.
You can also buy it from Amazon and Lakeland, but keep in mind that the latter is only cheaper because you won’t get a gas bottle with it. There is no price advantage to buying from a retailer at this point.
In the UK it’s cheaper than SodaStream’s current base model, the Terra, which is available for £109.99 – although there is a bundle offer at the time of writing which will get you a bottle of spare and two bottles of aroma for £79.99.
The Drinkmate is a much more powerful and versatile option than competing sparkling water makers
Replacement cylinders cost $59.99 / £45.98 for a pair. This makes them more expensive than SodaStream cylinders, which cost $16.99 each in the US and £22.99 each in the UK. They get a little cheaper if you buy a four-pack, but not by much.
But they gain in value if you return your used gas cylinders. It’s a fairly simple process. In the United States, you can return them directly to Drinkmate. You can find out more on the Drinkmate website.
In the UK you’ll need to print a returns label from the Drinkmate website and then take your used bottles – you’ll need at least two – to one of the 10,000 UK stores offering a Collect+ service. Drinkmate will also accept threaded SodaStream cylinders (but not the new easy insert cylinders).
When your bottles arrive with Drinkmate, the company will send you a coupon for more bottles. The amount of the voucher is significant, relative to the cost of the bottles in the first place.
Send in two cylinders and you’ll get a $20/£16 voucher, three will get you $35/£25 off and four will get you a $55/£36 coupon. This will reduce the price of a cylinder to around $19.99 / £14.99. It’s still a bit more expensive than SodaStream but not by much. And, since you won’t be forced to buy branded flavors, it’s probably the most economical option overall.
Verdict
The Drinkmate is a much more powerful and versatile option than competing sparkling water makers. While its plastic build isn’t the most attractive option on the market, its performance more than makes up for it. It’s extremely powerful and the smart vent lid means you can carbonate anything from apple juice to still beer.
Remember to use her powers for good and stay away from milk.
For another sparkling water making option, take a look at our review of the SodaStream E-Terra.
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