Ever since I was a child, I’ve been drawn to flowers, plants, fruits, and herbs, their beauty and unpredictability my ultimate comfort zone. I grew up not far from Tel Aviv, in a rundown town that had a low-tech magic all its own. There was one street, one bus, one bank, no supermarket, and dozens of ethnic restaurants serving honest, delicious food.

Out of my tiny, postage stamp-sized shop in Tel Aviv, surrounded by an ever-growing apothecary derived from nature’s bounty, I have developed a cultish culture around the fizzy power of bubbles. Every day, hundreds of people from all over the world approach the counter and order a glass of gazoz—a gorgeous, aromatic, colorful, zero-proof and altogether tantalizing beverage of fruit, fizz, flora, and fermentation—liquid magic whose name is derived from the Turkish word for “gas.”

Seltzer, soda water, bubbly water—whatever you call it—is having a moment. In the past few years seltzer has become incredibly popular, and (in my very biased opinion) for very good reason. Lacking the artificial coloring and flavoring of conventional sodas and other beverages, clear, crisp seltzer and seltzer-based drinks are lighter, healthier, and more balanced than their conventional alternatives. Refreshing, caffeine-free, nonalcoholic, and fun, seltzer-based drinks are something anyone of any age can enjoy at any time of the day.

The gazoz drinks that I make in my shop—and that I am sharing with you here—let you ride this current wave of seltzer love. By combining seltzer, ice, fruit, homemade syrups, fermentations, and other flavorings in a tall glass, you can elevate a glass fizz into a custom creation that speaks to your individual tastes and allows you to flex your creative muscle.

With gazoz you can always customize—picking the fruit, level of sweetness, and variety of flavors—to get the drink you want to have at the moment you want to drink it. And you will want to drink gazoz all the time. Especially when it’s hot…but not only. We should all increase the amount of water we drink each day and a glass of gazoz gets you there. Kids want a soda? Give them a colorful, flavor-filled gazoz instead. Looking for a five-o-clock-somewhere treat but not interested in a buzz? The answer is gazoz.