Turkish Gazoz & Sodas: A Fizzy Guide

Ask anyone who grew up in Turkey about gazoz and watch their face change. This lightly sweet, intensely fizzy soda is pure nostalgia: glass bottles sweating in a corner-shop fridge, summer evenings, the hiss of a metal cap. Gazoz is not quite lemonade and not quite cream soda — it is its own gentle, floral-citrus thing, and the good news is that the classic brands are easy to order in the UK. Here is your guide to Turkey's fizzy drinks aisle.

What Exactly Is Gazoz?

The word comes from the French gazeuse, and gazoz arrived in the Ottoman era as a carbonated, lightly flavoured sugar drink. Unlike Western lemonade it is not sharply citric; a classic gazoz tastes softly sweet with a whisper of lemon blossom and a very fine, aggressive fizz. It is traditionally served ice-cold, straight from the bottle, and pairs beautifully with tost (grilled sandwiches), simit or a plate of borek.

Uludag: The King of the Mountain

Named after the mountain above Bursa, Uludag has been bottling spring-water gazoz since 1930 and is the brand every Turk names first. Alongside the classic, their orange gazoz is a cult favourite — look for the 250ml orange-flavoured carbonated bottles or the larger 330ml orange gazoz soda cans. Uludag Frutti-style fruit sodas in 250ml bottles are the fruitier, brighter side of the range, and the same house bottles a crisp 200ml natural mineral water when you want the fizz without the sugar.

Beypazari and Camlica: The Challengers

Beypazari, from the mineral-rich springs near Ankara, is best known for maden suyu (natural sparkling mineral water) but its 200ml gazoz is a beautifully old-fashioned bottle with a clean, light sweetness. Camlica is the other nostalgic giant: its lemon soft drink in 200ml bottles is the taste of Istanbul picnics, and the orange version is just as loved. Camlica also comes in large family bottles for gatherings, which disappear alarmingly fast at a barbecue.

Flavoured Mineral Waters: The Grown-Up Fizz

Somewhere between gazoz and plain sparkling water sits Turkey's booming meyveli maden suyu category: real mineral water with fruit flavour and far less sugar than soda. Beypazari's lemon mineral water is the classic, while the cherry-flavoured version is arguably the best introduction for newcomers — sour cherry and sharp minerality is a very Turkish combination. These little 200ml bottles are perfect lunchbox size and a smarter everyday choice if you are watching sugar.

How to Serve Gazoz Like a Turk

Gazoz demands to be cold — properly, painfully cold — and drunk from the bottle or a small glass with no ice, which would dull the fizz. Try it alongside a kasarli tost, use orange gazoz as a mixer for a Turkish take on a spritz, or pour lemon gazoz over a scoop of vanilla ice cream for an instant ice cream float that Turkish kids have loved for generations. Order a mixed case from Turkish Online Market, chill the lot, and let everyone find their favourite — that first hiss of the cap sounds like summer in Turkey.