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Water and coffee are the most consumed beverages on the planet, with most people drinking multiple cups of both drinks daily.
And that's why soda makers and coffee makers are designed to give us healthier and better-tasting homemade beverages. But which of these beverage makers will be a better buy for your home is the reason for this soda maker vs coffee maker debate.
To help you make the right purchasing decision, we’ll explore the coffee maker vs soda maker debate.
Let’s find out the differences between a soda maker and a coffee maker.
What Are the Main Differences Between A Soda Maker and a Coffee Maker?
The main difference between a soda maker and a coffee maker is in their function.
A soda maker is a countertop appliance used for adding carbon dioxide to water to make a homemade bubbly drink known as soda water, also called carbonated water. While a coffee maker is a kitchen appliance used for brewing homemade coffee by extracting coffee from coffee grounds.
The second main difference between a soda maker and a coffee maker is in the time it takes to brew the beverages.
It takes soda makers around 10 seconds to carbonate 1 liter of bottled water while it takes coffee makers 5 to 10 minutes to give you a cup of freshly brewed coffee.
We’ll now delve into the topic to better understand which of these brewing machines will be great for making the best homemade drinks for you.
What is a soda maker? A soda maker is an appliance for making homemade soda water or carbonated drinks by adding carbon dioxide under high pressure to water or other beverages such as fruit juice.
These carbonated drinks (also called sparkling water, seltzer, soda water, or fizzy water) have more health benefits than regular soda as they contain fewer carbs and calories.
Another important feature of soda makers is their environmental impact. Brewing homemade soda using soda makers reduces the use of plastic bottles, thereby reducing the amount of plastic waste.
A soda machine is great for people that love drinking soda as it’s more cost-effective than buying soda. Instead of buying different types of soda, you can buy a variety of flavors for your homemade brew. These are cheap and will last you longer: a soda mix can produce 32 cans of soda.
Also, instead of getting more soda bottles, you can simply refill your bottle. Furthermore, it’s cheap and eco-friendly to refill the canister’s CO2.
It will take a soda maker like SodaStream approximately 10 seconds to carbonate 1 liter of bottled water: although it’ll take longer than 10 seconds for the CO2 canister to carbonate drinks as the unit ages.
Also, drinking sparkling water is more filling than drinking regular bottled water.
What is a coffee maker? A coffee maker, also called a coffee machine, is a countertop appliance that uses either a manual or an automatic filtration process to brew coffee from coffee beans.
Basically, a drip coffee maker is made up of a hot plate, filter basket, glass carafe, and water reservoir.
After grinding coffee beans with a coffee grinder, it can take a drip coffee maker between 5 and 10 minutes to brew coffee grounds. But when the extraction process is over, you’ll be left with several cups of high-quality coffee that’ll serve you all day long.
Home-brewed coffee usually has a richer and more concentrated taste than instant coffee because of the use of fresh coffee beans. This makes drip coffee machines great for people that love to enjoy multiple servings of freshly ground coffee.
Another important feature of drip coffee makers is that they’re easy and convenient to use as you can set them to automatically brew coffee to give you a fresh burst of energy in the mornings. Also, coffee machines can keep your brew hot for several hours, so you don’t have to reheat or brew more batches of beverage each time you need a cup.
What are the advantages of a soda maker over a coffee maker?
The advantages of a soda maker, when compared to a coffee maker, are that it’s a cheap, versatile, and environmentally-friendly appliance for making healthy beverages such as seltzer.
More versatile
When compared to a coffee maker, a soda maker is more versatile in the types of beverages it can brew.
A soda maker isn’t only used to make carbonated water, it can make cocktails and fizzy drinks out of your fruit juice and alcohol. Secondly, you can get a variety of flavors to mix with the carbonated water and enjoy all sorts of flavored drinks.
A coffee maker, on the other hand, is designed to mostly brew coffee.
Sustainability impact
One of the major advantages of owning a soda maker is that it reduces the use of single-user plastic and therefore, the number of plastic wastes. While you can get more PET bottles for yourself and your family and friends, you’ll mostly be reusing your bottles. You can use one reusable bottle for up to 3 years: thereby saving hundreds (possibly thousands of bottles every year). Also, refilling your CO2 canister is eco-friendly.
Furthermore, most soda makers aren’t powered by electricity, and it takes them around 10 seconds to make 1 liter of seltzer.
As for coffee makers, unless you’re using a French press or making a cold brew, electric coffee makers consume a lot of electricity – approximately 0.083 KWh for a coffee pot. Added to the unsustainable coffee farming practices, consuming coffee isn’t so good for the environment.
Cheaper price
When compared to a drip coffee maker, a soda maker is a cheaper beverage maker. The price for a soda maker ranges between $20 and $250 while a coffee maker costs between $50 and $350.
Healthier beverage
Soda machines are used in making soda water which is a healthy and natural alternative to commercial sodas containing lots of sugar. Secondly, drinking sparkling water instead of soda can save you 100,000 calories per year: so it helps for weight-loss..
Also, aside from quenching thirst, seltzer can help relieve stomach upsets and reduce constipation. While coffee makers have some health benefits, there are a number of warning bells signaling it’s harmful to the body.
Great for soda drinkers
If you love to drink soda often, having a soda maker to make your seltzer or soda water will be a worthy investment. You won’t only be saving the planet, you’ll be saving on the cost of buying soda, and you’ll have soda available every time and anytime.
What are the advantages of a coffee maker over a soda maker?
The advantages of a coffee maker, when compared to a soda maker, are that it helps you become creative in making a variety of coffee drinks at home. Plus it increases your energy levels and productivity.
Great for coffee lovers
Coffee lovers like having their coffee anytime they desire a cup, and the best decision they can make is to get a coffee machine. This will save you the cost and time of buying multiple cups of coffee daily.
Secondly, coffee makers allow you to make a variety of coffee drinks from the comfort of your home. You can make a cappuccino, an espresso, or a macchiato.
Also, their portability means that you can take them to the office. Hotels can install them in their rooms, and you can use them anywhere you like.
Promotes creativity
A coffee maker allows you to come up with your unique blend of coffee by mixing a variety of coffees. You can also experiment with other ingredients such as cream, chocolate, caramel, and cinnamon. You’re in charge of whatever texture and taste you want.
And you don’t have to be a barista to be able to create a perfectly brewed special blend.
Convenient to use
When compared to soda makers, coffee makers are more convenient to use.
Using a coffee maker is as simple as adding water to the reservoir and adding your coffee grinds to the filter. You can then push a button for the machine to automatically brew your coffee for 10 minutes while you attend to other chores around the house.
However, using a soda maker is a more manual process, and you’ll have to be involved in every bit of it.
Improves energy levels and productivity
Unlike seltzer, coffee contains caffeine which is a stimulant known to increase energy levels.
A cup of coffee helps people (including those working from home) increase their energy levels, efficiency, and productivity. Also, it makes them more active in the morning and when the post-lunch blues sets in.
Which One is more Usable in a Kitchen between A Soda Maker and A Coffee Maker?
A coffee maker is more usable in the kitchen despite a soda maker being more versatile. This is because coffee is the second most consumed beverage after water, and more people tend to be interested in drinking coffee than soda or any other beverage.
And if you’re asking, “Is a soda maker the same as a coffee maker?” No, they’re different appliances even though they’re both used to make popular homemade beverages.
A soda maker is an appliance for making fizzy, sparkling water by injecting carbon dioxide into water under high pressure. While a coffee maker is an appliance for making homemade coffee brew.
What beverages can you make in a soda maker?
A soda maker is versatile in carbonating a variety of drinks to make awesome cocktails. Here are some of the cocktails you can make and the other beverages you can carbonate with your soda maker;
- Water
- Coffee
- Wine: generally, alcohol doesn’t carbonate well but you can carbonate whiskey and vodka.
- Orange juice
- Rhubarb
- Tea
- Hemingway
- Bourbon lemonade
- Celery
- Raspberry grapefruit
- Licorice
- Chocolate
- Margarita
- Cantaloupe
- Cranberry
- Bloody Mary
You can find more of the other uses of a soda maker here.
What beverages can you make in a coffee maker?
A coffee maker doesn’t only brew coffee. You can make a couple of delicious blends like a barista using your coffee maker. And here are some of them;
- Espresso
- Cappuccino
- Macchiato
- Mocha
- Café latte
- Espresso Romano
- Espresso macchiato
- Spanish coffee
- Irish coffee
- Americano
- Latte macchiato
- Chocolate coffee
- Breve coffee
- Coffee soda
- Café au lait
- Cortado
Keep in mind that some of these can be iced to give a more refreshing taste. Here are the other uses of a coffee maker.
Can a soda maker and a coffee maker be used together?
Yes, you can pair a soda maker and a coffee maker in your kitchen as they perform different tasks.
Soda makers make fizzy drinks out of water and other beverages while coffee makers brew delicious-tasting coffee. Here’s how to use a soda maker.
What are the instances where you can use a soda maker and a coffee maker together?
When you’re entertaining guests, you can make a variety of fizzy cocktails for them using your soda maker while brewing other coffee-derived drinks for your coffee-loving friends. Here’s how to use a coffee maker.
What are the instances where a soda maker and a coffee maker should never be used?
If you seldom drink coffee, you shouldn’t consider having a coffee maker alongside your soda maker.
What to Consider when Buying A Soda Maker or A Coffee Maker?
Here are the top factors you should consider when getting a soda maker or a coffee maker.
What type of beverage maker should I get?
There are two types of soda makers; the manual and automatic soda makers
The manual soda maker is the most common, and they offer you versatility. They have varying prices, too. While you can get very cheap models, there are also premium expensive models.
The automatic soda makers, on the other hand, are less common and more expensive. They offer you a better user experience and provide you the option of pushing a button to choose your preferred carbonating setting.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are 11 types of coffee makers; drip coffee maker, French press coffee maker, thermal coffee maker, single-serve coffee maker, pour-over coffee maker, percolator, cold brew coffee maker, etc. They all have their strong points as well as disadvantages.
What are the best soda-making and coffee brewing styles?
There are two popular carbonation styles. The first and most common carbonation style involves using CO2 canisters to carbonate water and other beverages under high pressure. The other carbonation method is the one used by electric soda makers: they use internal motors rather than CO2 canisters.
There are also a variety of coffee brewing styles; it all comes down to preference. The kind of coffee that drip coffee makers brew is different from that made by a French press and a cold brew.
Also, an espresso coffee maker will produce high-quality espresso, but when you use it to brew a cappuccino, the result may not be great. You can also go for a hybrid coffee maker as it’s more versatile and can save you countertop space.
So determine how you’d like your coffee before buying a coffee maker.
How much beverage do you drink?
First, have it in mind that some soda machines only allow you to carbonate water. However, some others allow for carbonating fruit juice and alcohol.
Secondly, when considering the capacity of your soda machine, check the capacity of the carbonator and that of the bottle. The canister’s capacity represents the quantity of soda it can make before it can be refilled: this is usually around 30 to 60 liters.
While the bottle capacity shows you the quantity of drink you can brew at a time. For most soda machines, you can make a drink once and use the fizzy drink a few times with your flavors. But there are also larger bottles that can be used to make fizzy cocktails for parties.
If you’re not an avid coffee drinker, you may want to go for a single-serving model or one with a small pot that can hold around 5 cups.
If you can barely go a day without drinking multiple cups of coffee, then consider getting a coffee machine with a large pot (one that can hold up to 12 cups). They’re more expensive, but they’ll be worth your while since they’ll save you from brewing coffee each time you need a drink.
How much does a soda maker or coffee maker cost?
Both soda makers and coffee makers are great buys especially when you consider how long they’ll last you, the quality of drinks they can make, and the convenience they afford you.
The cost of a soda maker ranges between $20 and $25, while prices for coffee makers begin from $50 to $350.
What Are the Best Brands for Soda Makers?
The five best brands making the best soda makers include SodaStream, Drinkmate, Mysoda, Aarke, and Spärkel.
SodaStream
SodaStream is the best brand when it comes to making soda makers. Their products are easy to use as you can get sparkling water with just the push of a button. They have both manual and automatic sparkling water makers.
Drinkmate
Drinkmate is also another popular brand making some of the best soda machines. Their models don’t only make water bubbly, they’re also capable of adding fizz to fruit juice, tea, cocktails, and alcohol. Another outstanding feature of Drinkmate soda makers is that they’re compatible with SodaStream CO2 canisters.
Mysoda
Mysoda is one of the top brands making quality soda machines. They’re highly efficient in producing crisp sparkling water. And unlike many other soda makers that are made of plastic, Mysoda makes their units from a renewable material.
Aarke
Aarke is one of the top premium brands making the best soda makers. Their units have eye-catching and stylish designs that will blend with most kitchen interior decoration. They’re also easy to use, but very expensive.
Spärkel
Spärkel is one of the premium brands making the best soda machines. Their units are quite expensive but they’re great value for your money. Aside from carbonating water, they carbonate other drinks including wine and fruit juice.
What Are the Best Brands for Coffee Makers?
The five best brands making the best coffee makers include Cuisinart, Breville, Ninja, Hamilton Beach, and Keurig.
