The wfi team has a refreshing combination to suit any occasion, so break out the blender.
Back in the days of tight, stonewashed jeans, multicoloured leg warmers and Sam Fox haircuts, a fizzy drinks craze swept the nation with almost the same gusto as the Rubik's Cube. The effervescent trendsetter was called SodaStream, and the parents of every child in my class succumbed to their whining offspring and bought one. Well, every child but one - in our household, the old 'Everyone else has one so why can't I?' argument failed to persuade my mother that a SodaStream was as
essential as a fridge or a kettle. "In our day we had to make do with
Corporation pop," argued my mother. Not realising that she was referring to tap
water, of course, made the situation seem even more unfair.
Although SodaStream is most often associated with the Eighties, it actually dates back to 1903, when it was launched by Guy Gilbey of London Gin Distillers. Gilbey sold the machines, which add sparkle to tap water via a pressurised carbon dioxide
cylinder, to Britain's wealthier households. So in vogue were they with the
well-to-do that even the royal household bought one. In the Twenties, popular
flavour concentrates were introduced, such as Cherry Ciderette and Sasparilla.
The following decade the firm launched its Vantas model, also known as 'The
Penny Monster', which was sold to shopkeepers to make drinks for their
customers.
SodaStream took its first steps into advertising during the Seventies, when, in a series of commercials, Tommy Cooper prepared fizzy drinks 'Just like that.' This paved the way for the Eighties, where just about everyone (except my mother) got
'Busy with the fizzy.'
In the Nineties, SodaStream continued to promote its
brand by enlisting milkmen to deliver its products door-to-door and signing up
Lenny Henry to promote its new flavours. Alas, perhaps because of a growing
demand for healthy beverages or the convenience of canned drinks, more and more
of the machines began to pop up at car boot sales. Then, in 1998, the brand was
bought by the Soda-Club group, "the world's largest supplier of in-home
carbonation systems", and SodaStream was introduced to the rest of the world.
Yet despite its contemporary design and modern flavours such as Orange &
Mango, to me the SodaStream remains a forbidden fruit of childhood. And anyway,
these days I'm more likely to crave fresh orange juice or even some cool,
filtered Corporation pop.