Water used to be the least interesting thing on the table. Though for something so ordinary, it’s had a surprising number of iterations. Over the decades, we have carried it in obnoxiously large bottles in pursuit of hitting our hydration goals; we have infused it with flavour droplets or electrolytes; and we have repeatedly rebranded this basic, boring biological requirement as a curated, daily accessory.
Our latest fixation is sparkling water. As we mature away from sugary soft drinks and turn towards healthier beverage options, sparkling water has become the fastest-growing category in the UK water market. These days, we search for that crisp, palate-cleansing bite that makes the simple act of hydration exciting. Now, carbonated water has become a firm fixture of everyday English life; it is the backbone of our drinking habits, from our daily water intake to our favourite cocktails.
Image courtesy of Hans Ott via Unsplash
This summer, our demand for fizz peaked with its essential role in the Hugo Spritz. What was once a niche Alpine cocktail from South Tyrol is now the drink of the summer, dethroning the famous Aperol Spritz. Retailers like Waitrose report searches for Hugo Spritz ingredients have quadrupled, and hospitality venues have reported a 300% increase in serves. The cocktail now appears on menus everywhere, from luxury hotel bars like Claridge’s to local neighbourhood pubs like Wetherspoons.
It’s no wonder, really, when you look at the numbers. According to the Bacardi Cocktail Trends Report, the Spritz has officially become the number one cocktail choice for Gen Z in the UK, with nearly half of 18–29-year-olds expressing a particular preference for the Hugo Spritz. And while the drink may be considered Italian, its defining elderflower note isn’t foreign to British tastes either. Elder has grown here for thousands of years, with a history stretching back to the Druids who revered the tree for its medicinal properties before it found its place in a cocktail glass.
Naturally, this surge in bar ordering had us all rushing to recreate the Hugo in our own kitchens. Our search for bar-quality fizz at home lined up perfectly with a new era of at home-carbonation, led by devices like The Bubbla—CO2 YOU’s sleek new countertop sparkling water maker.
However, behind our growing love for elderflower and effervescence lies a strange British paradox.
The British Paradox
While our obsession with sparkling water may seem relatively new, the UK boasts the largest sparkling water market in Europe, generating hundreds of millions of pounds annually. Even with this insatiable thirst, only 8% of UK households currently own a home carbonation device. Compare that to Germany, where more than half the population carbonates at home, or the Nordics, where it’s closer to 80%. Over there, home carbonation devices are about as commonplace as a toaster or the humble kettle.
So then, why do we buy millions of plastic bottles at the supermarket while most of Europe carbonates at home? Because in the UK, we have historically perceived home carbonation as an inconvenient, out-of-the-way errand, due to the dreaded cylinder “refill run”. This hassle was large enough that we capitulated and continued to buy masses of single-use plastic bottles every week, paying a markup, and dragging heavy water home just to avoid the friction of sourcing the gas that powers the machine.
Ditching the Refill Run
Fortunately, Marcus O’Donovan, founder of CO2 YOU, spotted this barrier and built Bubbla with convenience as the first priority. Instead of making retail errands obligatory, O’Donovan applied a modern milkman model to at home-carbonation: CO2 YOU delivers 100% food-grade, renewable CO2 cylinders straight to your door and collects your empty ones at the same time, with free shipping both ways. Each cylinder yields the equivalent of 120 single-use 500ml bottles, feeding back into a circular, closed-loop exchange system. Crucially, the delivery service is brand-agnostic, supplying refills compatible with major machine brands including SodaStream, Aarke, Quooker, and Sage. No special trip, no searching for somewhere to exchange it, and no growing collection of empty cylinders under the sink.
NEW: Bubble SOS
This convenience-first thinking is now moving beyond the kitchen with CO2 YOU’s new Bubble SOS service: a service bringing sparkling water (without the plastic) directly to you at parks all across East London.
Behind the initiative lies a rather uncomfortable truth about Brits and our littering habits. New research commissioned by Bubbla found that nearly half of Brits admit to having left rubbish behind in a public outdoor space at least once. While in London it is even worse, with almost two-thirds of Londoners admitting they’ve left rubbish outdoors. It is no revelation that we’ve all seen plastic bottles abandoned in the park, particularly once the sun comes out and our green spaces begin filling up with people and their inevitable plastic trail.
Yet, rather than making the futile and overdone effort of simply telling people not to litter, Bubbla is trying to prevent those bottles from entering the park in the first place by making the reusable option just as convenient.
All park-goers need to do this weekend (August 15–16) is to send a quick WhatsApp message to CO2 YOU with their live location. From there, a “Bubble Bike”—an electric delivery bike blowing bubbles as it rides—will head straight to your picnic spot to top up existing bottles or provide a fresh reusable one. 
Designed to Display
Back in the kitchen, convenience only solved part of the problem. What is arguably equally as important as easy carbonation was the task of manufacturing a device handsome enough that you would actually want to sit permanently on your kitchen counter. Fatigued by cheap plastic gadgets, the Bubbla is precision-engineered from heavy, solid metal. Dressed in an understated, matt Carbon Black finish with metallic accents, the device feels like a minimalist piece of kitchen architecture built to sit adjacent to high-end espresso machines.
Accompanied by a BPA-free, one-litre bottle in Carbon Black, Bubbly Blue or Sparkling Ivory, the Bubbla costs £120 outright, or £60 when paired with its doorstep refill subscription. Empty cylinders are simply exchanged for full ones at your door, keeping the whole process thoughtless and uncomplicated.
The New Domestic Luxury
The sudden rise of home carbonation isn’t fuelled solely by sustainability, though eliminating hundreds of throwaway plastic bottles a year is an undeniable bonus. It also reflects how even the simplest habits at home have become something worth investing in.
When hosting friends for a summer Hugo Spritz or pouring a crisp glass for dinner, the experience at home now matches what we expect from our favourite bars. Much like the explosion of artisanal espresso machines that turned our morning coffee from a vital caffeine fix into a small pleasure built into our daily routine, devices like The Bubbla bring that same mindset to water. With the hardware finally catching up with Britain’s appetite for sparkling water, perhaps the days of dragging multipacks of it home from the supermarket are beginning to look a little unnecessary.
Discover more on The Bubbla at CO2 YOU
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Images courtesy of CO2 YOU.