The Fizziest Soda Water For Your Drinks

“Soda toh soda hai. What’s to review in this?” is what we heard over and over again when we pitched the idea. Contrary to what you may believe, the simplest-looking products are the toughest to review. And, often the ones you end up without a thought – despite the fact that such products may have significant usage across millions of households. These are the reviews that require intense research that is backed by science and experience. 

Sodas are a pantry staple that is meant to add fizz to your beverages. They are often considered tasteless and no one really compares them and buys whatever is available. With this review of ours, you are about to change the way you pick your fizz.

We picked up five brands of soda water from the regular segment and two brands from the premium segment. A rigorous time test and taste test revealed that Catch Soda Water is the fizziest, crispiest soda water in India. We also recommend Schweppes Soda Water. In the premium section, Svami Soda Water won the title of the best soda water brand in India.

Here’s our detailed review with some more on the science behind carbonation, thanks to our expert for this review Nitin Tewari – one of India’s leading mixologists and an Industry veteran who enjoys going into the whats, whys, and hows of putting together a drink. 

Here is all the information about the contenders at a glance.

In this section we will discuss the Soda Water Brands, quantities available, and the price range.

1. Type

We picked popularly available brands in India under two segments – Regular and Premium.

Regular category means the readily available soda brands which are relatively easy on the pocket as well. In this category we picked five brands – 

• Catch
• Bisleri
• Kinley
• Lehar
• Schweppes

In the premium section, we picked two Indian-origin brands –

• Jade Forest
• Svami

2. Available Quantities

The sodas are available between 200 to 250 ml in the premium segment. The regular segment sodas are available in 200, 500, or 750 ml-sized bottles.  

3. Price Range

Both our contenders in the premium segment are priced higher than the others. They range between Rupees 55-75 for 200 ml.

The regular soda waters are priced between Rs 20-Rs 25/- for 750 ml.

Related Reading – 10 Best Soft Drink Brands in India

Very often, soda water is confused with seltzers and sparkling water. But did you know that they are not the same thing? 

Here is the basic difference between soda water, seltzer, and sparkling water:  are different. While they are fizzy drinks, the method of processing and compounds added differ. This results in them tasting vastly different.

Soda water is water that has been carbonated by injecting carbon dioxide gas and has added minerals. Seltzers on the other hand don’t have any added minerals, giving it a more ‘true water’ flavor. Sparkling mineral water is naturally carbonated via a spring well or any other natural water body.

Here are our review parameters to gauge all the soda water brands –

1. Fizz

The most crucial part of the review was gauging the fizz of the soda. The amount of fizz changes the taste and mouthfeel of the soda water. 

We also time-tested all the contenders to check which brands of soda water retained their fizz for the longest time.

2. Taste

What does soda water taste like on its own? When carbon dioxide reacts with water, it produces carbonic acid. Due to the presence of carbonic acid, soda waters taste slightly bitter.

Higher the CO2 level, more accentuated is the ‘crisp’ taste of soda water.

The carbon dioxide levels vary in every soda water brand which also alters the taste of the soda. The ‘crisp’ mouthfeel of the soda water is what we were looking for.

3. Value For Money

How value for money is the soda water? 

We divided our review process into two broad stages post discussions with our expert, Nitin Tewari, Founder, #BarTrender Company (mr.bartrender). His extensive knowledge about soda waters and how it is supposed to be tested helped us design a  skeleton for this review.

The two stages are – 

1. Time Test

• For this we took seven identical glasses and marked them at the same point (see picture).
• Seven members of our team popped open the soda water at the same time to ensure standardization of the process.
• We poured all the soda waters in their respective glasses up to the indicated point.
• We then started the timer and noted down the changes in the bubbles and fizz.
• The timer continued till 60 minutes and we noted down the changes in each glass after an interval of 5 minutes.
• While some remained fizzy and crisp till the end, some lost the fizz in under 30 minutes.
• This process was repeated several times.

2. Taste Test

• The taste test was done from a different bottle. This was done to test the fresh fizz of a bottle.
• Before we tasted the soda waters, we chilled them in the refrigerator and tasted cold. Temperature is a crucial part of this review. “Anything which is aerated can never be served hot. The reason for this is because it gives you the best mouthfeel. This gives you the fizziness without hitting the back of your throat.”, said Nitin.
• We tasted all the brands opening them one by one.
• From these, we shortlisted the ones that had the crispiest taste.
• Round two of the tasting included the Top 5 shortlisted contenders. From those, we picked our winners in both categories.

Why did we give so much weightage to the temperature of the sodas? 

Soda water is made by forcing CO2 to dissolve in water via pressure. It is also a proven fact that CO2 dissolves better in cold water than in warm or room temperature water. Our research indicated that carbonated drinks lose out on substantial amounts of fizz at higher temperatures. This is why testing and tasting of the sodas were done with refrigerated, cold soda waters.

Regular Soda Water Brands

Catch Club Soda comes in a plastic bottle that is recyclable. A 750 ml bottle is priced at Rs 25/-. 

During our time-test, Catch Soda Water retained the fizz the longest. Even after the 60-minute mark, this was the fizziest in the regular category.

In our taste test, we found this to have the crispest mouthfeel, both these indicators made us select Catch Soda as our Top Pick.

Schweppes Soda can fall in the middle segment, price-wise, but because this is more readily available now at local grocery stores, we chose to add it to the regular category. 

Schweppes soda comes in a can and is also recommended because it lasted the same time as our Top Pick in the time test. This also had a crisp mouthfeel, closest to our Top Pick.

The tasting revealed that the crisp mouthfeel of the soda was much lesser than our winners. In a comparative stage, Bisleri’s soda did not retain the fizz as long as the others and did not taste as crisp.

Kinley’s Soda water did not do well in either of the tests. The fizzy punch we noticed in our winners was missing. On a comparative scale, this was even less fizzy than Bisleri. 

Lehar Club Soda comes in a plastic bottle. It is priced at Rs 20/- for a 750 ml bottle. Unfortunately, Lehar’s Club Soda lacks that fizz and crisp mouthfeel we were looking for. The fizz fell flat the earliest in Lehar (under 30 minutes).

Premium Soda Water Brands

Svami Soda Water is an Indian brand founded by Sahil Jatana, Rahul Mehra, and Aneesh Bhasin who have created mixers for the Indian market like 3 Cal tonic waters, Non-Alcoholic Rum And Cola, Ginger Ale and more.

Svami’s Soda Water comes in a glass bottle, and you need a bottle opener to pop it open. During our time-test and taste test, Svami’s soda performed extremely well. The fizz did not die down even after 60 minutes and it had a crisp taste which the review team loved and agreed on unanimously.

Founded by Shuchir Suri and Punweet Singh, Jade Forest is an Indian brand that offers tonic waters, ginger ale, and club soda. While Jade Forest Club Soda performed well in our taste test and time test, it was just a notch down, fizz-wise and the crisp taste we were looking for.

Quick Read:

Check out the best soda makers to get that fizzy soda.

Why did we choose Catch Soda (regular category) and Svami Soda Water (premium category) as our Top Pick? Why do we Also Recommend Schweppes Soda Water?

Crisp tasting, fizzy sodas!

Catch Soda and Schweppes Soda Water, both, performed the best in our time-test in the regular category. The fizz remained intact the longest. They also tasted the most crisp in our taste test and the slight bitterness was the most well-rounded.

Svami’s Soda Water retained fizz for a long time, and also has the best crisp-mouth feel in the premium segment. 

Did you know that we should not freeze carbonated water? Here’s why! Yes, it’s true that cold water holds more carbon dioxide. But ice and cold water aren’t particularly the same. Carbon dioxide is not soluble in ice, so when you freeze a soda water bottle, and the water turns into ice, the CO2 creates a huge pressure which can sometimes lead to the bursting of the bottle. 

We tested seven brands of soda waters over 3-4 days in our review lab – conducting taste and time tests. After following a standardized procedure for all the brands, we concluded that Catch Soda Water is the fizziest, most crisp-tasting soda water in the regular segment and Svami Soda Water in the premium category. We also recommend Schweppes Soda Water.

What do you like adding soda water to? Let us know about your preferred soda-based drinks in the comment section below.

Our reviews are unbiased and all samples used during the reviews were paid for by us. Read our entire ethics statement here.