Drinks are undergoing a massive overhaul at McDonald’s. Coke at McDonald’s tastes different now and the free coffee deal McDonald’s had is now gone. Even the straws at McDonald’s are changing, and customers are noticing. Now lemonade is the next thing getting changed at McDonald’s.
At the start of April 2025, McDonald’s announced that a new version of lemonade would be rolling out on a national level. Instead of using Minute Maid Lemonade, McDonald’s now has Premium Lemonade. Other than being different in name, this new lemonade tastes more like real, fresh lemonade. This is likely due to the lack of additives like high fructose corn syrup, modified food starch, and Yellow 5, all of which was present in Minute Maid Lemonade. On top of less additives, McDonald’s Premium Lemonade is now made with real lemon juice and real cane sugar. Overall, it’s a better tasting and better for you drink option than what was previously available.
This change didn’t come about suddenly, either. McDonald’s initially put out a test run of this new lemonade back in March 2023 at select locations. Even early on, the new drink was well received by many. Praise for the new lemonade quickly hit online forums like Reddit, where people praised its taste and called it better than Minute Maid’s Lemonade.
The transition to a new lemonade
Although McDonald’s hasn’t given a precise reason behind the change in lemonade, it would appear to be in a bid to have a better quality drink. McDonald’s has had a longstanding working relationship with Minute Maid, and in a way still does, as Minute Maid’s Orange Juice is still on the menu. However, Minute Maid’s lemonade is notorious for being made primarily of water rather than real fruit juice, as well as being chock full of extra ingredients, including several chemicals like glycerol ester of wood rosin, which doesn’t exactly sound appetizing.
In direct contrast, the new lemonade is only made with five ingredients: water, cane sugar, lemon juice from concentrate, lemon pulp, and natural flavors. This is nearly half the amount of ingredients in comparison to Minute Maid, which uses nine ingredients. McDonald’s Premium Lemonade also has no additives, artificial colors, or high fructose corn syrup.
The new lemonade continued to rollout with building hype. Customers and employees alike took to Reddit last year to discuss the new drink, and while some were skeptical of the new lemonade being all that different, others continued to praise its quality. It would appear that McDonald’s took the public’s response to heart, introducing the new lemonade on a national level and advertising its use of real lemon juice, marking a new, healthier chapter for drinks at McDonald’s.
