- It's kind of like bubble wrap happening on your tongue.
- Like a little person dancing and popping the bubble wrap.
These people are drinking seltzer and they are very not alone.
Here's a chart. Seltzer then, seltzer now.
- It's harder to swallow than regular water. But in a good way.
These people are drinking seltzer because it's 2018,
and in the United States, people are drinking more seltzer than ever.
Here's another chart. That's seltzer, that's soda.
Seltzer wins.
- It's almost got a slight, like, bitter edge to it?
- And it's clean and crisp. It's just pure.
This guy makes seltzer at his factory, where it looks like 1950, but it's 2018.
- The seltzer business in general is on an incline.
Yes it is.
- It's like on the inside of the cheeks.
- It's hitting your mouth, it's making you think, Oh, I'm drinking something!
- That's the "rrrrrr," that's the grip of it.
This guy wrote a book about the history of seltzer.
- The first book ever written about seltzer.
That's Barry. He has a good shirt.
It's 2018 and seltzer is most certainly a very big deal.
Here are some questions people have about seltzer:
Why do Americans suddenly like seltzer?
Why does anyone drink seltzer?
Is seltzer not the same thing as sparkling water?
Is seltzer bad for you?
Good questions.
All over the world, there are mineral springs.
The water that they produce contains stuff like salts, calcium, sulfur, magnesium...
It tastes mineral-y.
And sometimes, it has bubbles.
This is mineral water.
The first sort-of seltzer.
- Back then, seltzer was all about health.
That mineral spring water is considered medicinal if you drink or bathe in it.
And that makes it valuable. The towns where it comes out of the ground start to bottle and sell it.
But no one knows how to make bubbly water. So those "spa towns" have a monopoly on it.
One of those towns is actually called Spa, In Belgium. That's where we get the word "spa."
Another one, in Germany, is called Niederselters. Which is important for one reason:
That's where we get the word "seltzer."
- For some reason, water from Selters became the name for all water like that. But I don't know why!
That's okay, I think it's still interesting.
Bubbles feel good in our mouth because of science.
The CO2 reacts with enzymes in our tongue, which activates pain and coolness in our nerves.
And if it's science, that means we can make it.
1772. Joseph Priestley is a British philosopher.
And a grammar scholar.
And a chemist.
Because it's the 1700s, and having multiple professions is considered "dope."
- Other people know him as the man who brought Unitarianism to the United States.
That too. Priestley wants to make bubbly mineral water.
He figures out a way.
He realizes that if you force carbon dioxide into water, it'll dissolve in the water.
He calls this "impregnating the water."
His method uses an animal bladder. So it sort of tastes like pee.
Still, this is the first time anyone has made artificially carbonated water, and it's a huge deal.
And now that we can make it, we're about to make a lot of it.
- Within a few years, we have a Swiss watchmaker by the name of Schweppe,
who thought, hmm, maybe I can make a company around this.
By the 1800s, Europe is all about manufactured bubbly mineral water.
But then Americans develop a taste for a new drink:
Bubbly water that doesn't have minerals.
Non-mineralized carbonated water, or:
Seltzer.
Americans reject that European idea that minerals make water healthy.
They want their water pure.
"Water has minerals, which we must remove, or neutralize. So we run it through filters."
So now there are two kinds of sparkling water.
It either has minerals, or it's seltzer.
Today, most of the world drinks mineral water.
And seltzer, for the most part, is for Americans.
- How would I personally describe the taste of mineral water over regular seltzer? Gross! I can't stand it.
So now it's the 20th century.
And at your local soda fountain, seltzer is the base for tasty drinks.
Or a truck can deliver plain seltzer to your home, in a glass bottle like this.
Most of that seltzer gets made at these small factories called "seltzer works."
Very few of those seltzer works will survive to the present day.
But some of them will.
- My name is Alex Gomberg and I'm a seltzer man.
- My great-grandfather Moe Gomberg opened up Gomberg Seltzer Works.
In 1919, all alcohol in the US is banned, and seltzer becomes even more popular.
And then it isn't.
The people who drink seltzer start moving from the city to the suburbs.
- Soda shops are being replaced by diners.
Instead of getting stuff brought to them by a deliveryman, people start getting stuff at the supermarket.
- We start changing how people get their beverages.
And all those fancy, seltzer-based, sweet soda fountain drinks start to get replaced.
- Cola becomes the taste of what it means to be be American.
Seltzer is not cool anymore.
But then...
First, rich people in the US...
- They were called "yuppies."
...start drinking Perrier.
"The carbonation's natural."
Perrier is mineral water. But it's a start.
Then, in the 80s,
lots of people get hooked on this pre-flavored seltzer brand called Original New York Seltzer.
Their commercials are extremely good.
Their founder jumps off a building.
He's okay.
"La Croix Boy..."
La Croix.
It doesn't call itself seltzer. But it ain't got minerals.
(Which means it's seltzer.)
Here's the stock of the company that makes La Croix.
Wow.
La Croix is a phenomenon. But it's also just a symptom of a larger trend.
From 2012 to 2017, sales of carbonated water in the US go up almost 70%.
More people are drinking it than ever before.
"Seltzer: More people are drinking it today than ever before."
You said it man.
Anyway, seltzer's back. Everyone suddenly wakes up from the 20th century and realizes that sugary soda is terrible for you,
and that diet soda, while maybe not as bad, is still technically syrupy garbage compared to what I will call,
"the good stuff."
Barry's happy. - What a time to be drinking seltzer!
Some of the old seltzer works get back on their feet.
Alex joins the family business, and business is good.
- We use the same old-fashioned bottles.
- The only difference is, now we
- have a computer.
So now we're all drinking seltzer.
But we are not done yet.
Because there is this question:
Starting around 2015, there are suddenly all these articles saying that seltzer might be bad for you.
And it is very scary.
But it's a little less scary if you understand it. So:
The main claim a lot of these articles make is that all seltzer has acid in it,
and that that acid can erode the enamel in your teeth.
And that is based mostly on this study, from 2007.
But most headlines about that study get something wrong.
The acid that's in all sparkling water is a natural byproduct of carbonation called "carbonic acid."
And carbonic acid is not a problem for your teeth or for your health.
The actual problem is with some flavored seltzers -- the study doesn't say which -- that are flavored using citric acid.
And it's the combined acidity of carbonic and citric acid, that you find in some flavored seltzers,
that has the potential to be bad for your teeth.
But dental experts -- some of whom are quoted in these same articles! -- say that risk has to be put in context.
Seltzer that's flavored using citric acid is worse for your teeth than unflavored seltzer. But:
It doesn't have the artificial sweeteners and sugars that are in soda, or energy drinks, or even juice.
So the correct takeaway here is not that you should stop drinking flavored seltzer.
It's that you shouldn't be drinking flavored seltzer instead of water.
Does that make sense?
And remember, all this is just about FLAVORED seltzer.
Because you know what is totally okay to drink?
What all the studies on the subject say is fine for you?
And what some might argue (me) is even better than water?
Plain,
pure,
beautiful,
clean,
pour yourself a glass,
drink it from the can,
get it at the bar,
hold it in your hand,
listen to the fizz,
life is pretty good,
have a special day,
plain seltzer.
Listen to Alex.
- Seltzer's not bad for you. Seltzer's good for you.