Ranking 15 Store-Bought Orange Juices From Worst to Best

Close your eyes and think about your dream breakfast spread. Are there waffles and French toast, mounds of fresh eggs, and crispy bacon? More importantly, what are you drinking? While coffee is a staple for many, including myself, so is a glass of orange juice. Its acidity is a great foil to the heavy dishes on your table, and it has the perfect refreshing flavor to recenter your palate. And without it, we wouldn’t have craveable mimosas — which are just as integral to a Sunday brunch as any sweet or savory breakfast fare. 

I’ve never been picky about my orange juice, just because it’s not a beverage that I think too hard about. But that made me wonder: What sets all of the grocery store OJs apart from one another, and can you truly taste the difference between one that’s made from concentrate and one that isn’t? In order to decide, I sampled an array of pulp-free orange juices, including low-sugar, from-concentrate, and frozen concentrate varieties, to decide which one delivered the best balance of acidity and tang as well as the most refreshing mouthfeel.

I will start off with this: I did not grow up in a SunnyD household. Kids around me drank it growing up, but I did not partake in such activities. As such, I wasn’t shocked that I felt compelled to run to the sink and spit this “juice” out as soon as I took a swig of it. 

Who is marketing this stuff as “orange juice?” It has more in common with a Gatorade knock-off than anything involving fruit. The second ingredient listed on the label is high fructose corn syrup – and that’s all I could taste here. It was thin and sports drink-like, and its flavor just screamed flat, watered-down orange soda. If I went to someone’s house, was offered OJ, and received a glass of this, I think I would riot. It’s positively awful, and it’s one of the few products I’ve tasted for a review about which I have nothing positive to say. 

I think it’s fantastic that companies offer lower-sugar options for their customers, like this Simply Light orange juice. It has about 50% less calories and sugar than the brand’s original juice, which I also sampled for this ranking. It achieves its low-sugar status thanks to the addition of stevia leaf extract. 

I think that the concept of adding stevia as a sugar substitute would work for Simply’s other beverages, like its light lemonade, which is designed to be a little more watery and less juice-forward. Part of the experience of drinking orange juice is indulging in that thick and almost foamy mouthfeel, and I think that texture was wholly lost here. It tastes and feels watery on the palate. Moreover, the stevia is overwhelmingly cloying and its artificial flavor eclipses any notes of “real orange.” I drank about two sips before I had to put this one down. 

I included the Nature’s Nectar light orange juice beverage in this ranking to go head-to-head with the Simply Light variety. And honestly, I struggled deciding which one would come out on top. On one hand, this tangerine-colored liquid from Aldi’s in-house brand had a slightly stronger orange flavor than Simply Light, though I would say it’s about twice as sweet — and not in a good way. Aldi could have probably added about half of the sweeteners to this beverage and still come out with something tasty. As it stands, it’s not at all balanced. 

Both Nature’s Nectar and Simply Light were very juice-like, meaning that they had a more watery mouthfeel compared to the higher-ranking, creamy orange juices on this list. I ultimately placed Nature’s Nectar higher because of its slightly lower price, and the fact that it tasted a little more like orange juice than the Gatorade-esque Simply Light did. 

If there was one orange juice I was excited to try for this ranking, it was Uncle Matt’s. My Stop & Shop sold this bottle for a whopping $9.29 (yes, almost $10 for a bottle of orange juice). Was this liquid gold? Or just a marketing fluke? 

After taking a few sips of this orange juice, I can confirm that the latter is the case. As I sipped, I thought to myself, “There’s something off about this orange juice.” I sipped, swirled, and swallowed my way through a glass, only to realize that it tasted like cheap, from-concentrate orange juice. There was a strong sweetness to it that almost made it taste a little more like clementine juice rather than orange juice, which was, if anything, a little odd. It put a subtle tang on the back of the palate, but it lacked that robustness that I’ve come to expect with a good and refreshing glass of OJ. Plus, it was twice as expensive as any of the other brands on this list, which is why it was a shoo-in for a bottom spot. However, it wasn’t as unpalatable as the lower-ranked beverages. 

This Stop & Shop offering was one of the most disappointing selections that I tried from any brand. When I poured it out of the container, I was initially excited to see that it was very thick and came out like a coursing orange torrent. I started to lose faith when I took a whiff and could really smell that concentrated orange flavor, which made it very clear that this was orange juice from concentrate. 

The “from concentrate” sentiment also came through when I sipped on this OJ and immediately puckered my lips. It had a plasticky flavor that coated my mouth and was a little too sweet for my liking. While there was a fair amount of tartness to this orange juice, I couldn’t get past its stale flavor profile — like it had been sitting in its container for months, mixing with whatever plastics may be in the lining of the carton. 

The color of this orange juice container was the first thing that I noticed about it. Normally, orange juice has a beautiful, bright orange color. This one looks more like burnished gold, which makes it exude anything but freshness. 

I couldn’t tell if this color was from the container, which may have been accidentally colored by the liquid inside of it, or the orange juice itself. I’m leaning towards the latter, as the bottle became more translucent the longer it sat out on my counter. Like the other Great Value juice, it poured easily out of the container and was super thick. While it is technically made from concentrate, it didn’t have the same cheap, artificial flavor as the Stop & Shop orange juice. Instead, its flavor was moderately fresh with a bit more of a balance between the tang and sweetness. However, it still presents with staleness on the backend, which pushes it below some of the fresher-tasting orange juice brands. 

I tried several different offerings from Great Value, including a shelf-stable OJ (which I found in the apple juice section), a frozen concentrate, and this refrigerated orange juice. The first major difference I noticed between this offering and the shelf-stable bottle was that this one was much thinner, almost on par with the higher-ranked brands on this list. Like Great Value’s other orange juice products, this is made from concentrate. On the nose, it smells like your standard, cheap orange juice. There’s nothing uniquely floral or citrusy about it. 

When I sipped, I noticed that its mouthfeel was a little lighter, and almost less syrupy, than the lower-ranked shelf-stable juice. There was good balance of sweetness and tartness, though it still had that cheap, clearly-from-concentrate flavor that lingered on my palate and almost turned bitter. If I could describe it in one word, I would have to go with “pithy.”

If you mixed this orange juice into a smoothie or — dare I say — jungle juice, it probably wouldn’t taste half bad. But, it’s not a carton I would serve to brunch guests. 

Prior to this ranking, I had never prepared frozen orange juice. Luckily, the instructions on this can made it quite simple. For Great Value’s, I just had to pull the lid off the concentrate, nuke it in the microwave for about 90 seconds, and combine it in a bowl with three containers’ worth of water. 

This orange juice tasted the most like Great Value’s shelf-stable product, just with extra steps involved. It wasn’t particularly fresh or exciting, nor did its aroma offer anything unique, punchy, or powerful. It definitely had a thin mouthfeel and that all-too-common staleness that plagued the lower-ranked brands. However, I didn’t find its flavor to be as pithy as Great Value’s normal orange juice, which is why I placed it ever so slightly higher on this list. It’s just sweet enough, though I would have liked to see a little more tang. 

Tropicana’s orange juice was the first one I sipped on for this ranking. Unlike many of the other containers, it came in a relatively small package, though my local Walmart also carried larger sizes of it. When I gave the bottle a sniff, I noticed that there was a stale aroma to it. It didn’t pop with freshness, nor did it really exude anything besides “bottled orange juice.” And while that’s fine, I wished there was something a little more enticing to it. 

This beverage wasn’t completely satisfying, as it lacked the sweetness that I’ve come to expect from orange juice. It was certainly tangy and orange-tasting, but it didn’t have that light note on the palate to help elevate it a little more. Because it came up short in the sweetness department, it tasted stale after a few sips. I didn’t finish a glass of it. 

Since Tropicana is one of the more premium brands on this list, at least in terms of price, I expected that it would have a more refreshing flavor. But as it stands, it’s still one of the more flavor-balanced options on this list, which earned it a spot in the middle of the ranking. 

When I did this ranking, I tried to sample similarly-priced brands close together so that I could try to discern the small differences between them, and rank them accordingly. Next up — after Tropicana and Simply Orange — was another popular pick: Florida’s Natural. There was very little aroma on the nose from this juice, which set it apart from its more fragrant competitors. Its flavor was also a nod in the right direction, though I didn’t feel as if Florida’s Natural really went wholeheartedly into tangy territory. 

This orange juice was sweet, surely, but it lacked the subtle tang that I was looking for from a good orange juice. Its mouthfeel was also quite thin, similar to that of Simply Orange, which left me wanting a little more from it. I don’t think this orange juice would hold its own in something like a mimosa or a spritzer, though I think that you could use it for something like a smoothie — that way, you could hide its lackluster flavor. 

If there’s one thing I hate, it’s confusing directions on food products. And this Minute Maid frozen concentrate and I clearly have something to sort out. Unlike Great Value’s brand, this one directed me to put contents of the can — fully frozen — into a bowl with three cans’ worth of water. Since it had to be left frozen, and the can was partially metal, I couldn’t heat it up in the microwave to get the contents out. So, I was left chiseling out the concentrate with a knife, frozen fingers and all. What else was I supposed to do? 

Because the contents were frozen, it took a long time and a ton of mixing to get the orange juice to become, well, orange juice. The consistency was still thin, though its flavor had a good balance of sweet and tang compared to some of the lower-ranked options on this list. However, I would still just recommend buying a pre-made container of OJ and saving yourself the hassle. 

Although Stop & Shop’s frozen concentrate is leaps and bounds above its prepared orange juice, it still has a ways to go. Its aroma was much fresher and more acidic than the pre-made beverage, and its flavor was far deeper and richer, which I liked sipping on. While it did have about the same acidity as the Minute Maid frozen beverage, it was priced a little cheaper, which is ultimately why I placed the store brand above the name-brand selection.

I would recommend adding two parts water to the one part concentrate instead of the recommended three, or swapping out the water with soda for a flavorful punch or seltzer for your new fizzy favorite. This product isn’t anything cosmic, and I would still rather be able to pull a carton of OJ from the fridge and sip on a small glass, instead of needing to make a whole container of concentrate and freeze my fingers off.

The first thing that I noticed about Simply Orange when I poured it from the container into the glass was that it lacked the same viscosity and texture as some of the other brands I sampled. This orange juice was almost thin and watery, which did not give me a good feeling about the taste that was to come. 

However, I was honestly pleasantly surprised by this pulp-free option. It had a brighter, more enticing citrus-forward smell than Tropicana. Its slightly sweeter flavor, tanginess, and punchiness was definitely leaps and bounds above its competitor. I also didn’t encounter the same stale flavor that some of my lower-ranked brands had. However, I was still left craving a thicker mouthfeel. I would recommend opting for a pulpier Simply Orange to see if that fits the bill. While I wouldn’t buy this Simply Orange pulp-free product again, I could foresee other people genuinely enjoying it. 

Aldi is one of the most affordable grocery stores for staple goods, and that includes products like its Nature’s Nectar orange juice. While I will say its price is not drastically different than other brands that I sampled for this ranking, including premium offerings from Tropicana, Simply Nature, and the like, it still offers a slightly cheaper alternative. 

This was one of the more enticingly fragrant orange juices out of the brands that I sampled, which spelled good news for Aldi. It had a slightly sweet and fresh profile, which could not be said for many of the lower-ranked brands on this list. I also felt that it brought a good bit of tang with every swig, as well as a sweetness that wasn’t too overpowering. I felt compelled to continue sipping on it, which was a good sign. It could have been a little thicker, though. 

The big question for this orange juice experiment, at least for me, was: How much do people actually sit and think about their OJ? This Aldi product is relatively inexpensive and fits the bill, and I doubt anyone out there is swirling their orange juice in their mouth like they’re at a fine whiskey tasting. This one is passable but not perfect, which is why it ranked higher than many of the others. 

This orange juice offering from Minute Maid boasted a fresh aroma that really drove home those citrusy notes and made me intrigued to take a sip of it. As I sipped, I immediately noticed that it had a fuller mouthfeel than my lower-ranked brands, including the likes of Simply Orange and Florida’s Natural. Its taste had a solid balance between a bright, tangy orange flavor and a subtle sweetness. It also left behind a beautiful orangey aftertaste that was very reminiscent of the orange juices I remember from my childhood. 

The only reason why Minute Maid scored above Aldi is because, despite the fact that it’s slightly more expensive, it’s available at a wider range of stores, thus making it more accessible than a product that’s only sold at one grocer. I could also foresee using this brand for a variety of things, whether you’re whipping up mimosas or looking to pacify a kiddo on a road trip. 

There are a lot more orange juice options out there than I thought. In order to narrow things down, and to give each of these brands a fair assessment, I only tried pulp-free orange juice. While it’s admittedly not my favorite type of orange juice, it was easier than having to interpret every brand’s definition of “some pulp” or “the pulpiest.” 

As I sipped on each of these orange juices — prepared according to the directions on the package in the case of the frozen concentrates — I considered both the flavor and mouthfeel of the juice. Orange juice should be refreshing, like the fruit just came off the tree and was juiced in front of you. There needs to be a delicate balance between sweet and tart notes, without too much of that pithy staleness that makes it tiresome to drink after a few swigs. The top-performing juices were also quite versatile, meaning that they could be used for mimosas and punches, or sipped straight from the glass.