5 Best And 6 Worst Store-Bought Orange Juices

Brand commitment is strong in my house. Soda, hot sauce, and even orange juices have a defined brand we purchase. But how were these brand decisions made? It wasn't through testing each option and choosing the best one. Instead, I find brand loyalties are passed down. I'll admit I've never given much thought to our chosen brand of orange juice and how it compares to others. That is, until now. After a thorough tasting of a wide variety of brands, I can report that not all orange juices are the same — and it may be time to switch our allegiances. (Gasp!)

There are many brands and types of orange juice lining the juice coolers of every grocery store chain in America. Not to mention, within each brand, there's a slew of decisions revolving around concentrate, pulp, and pasteurization — let alone the design of the bottle. But since it's the most perfect choice as part of your complete breakfast, an ingredient in a bubbly cocktail, or the perfect drink for hosting brunch during the holidays, sorting through all those options is worth it to select the best juice you can find.

For this tasting, and to help aid in your future orange juice shopping endeavors, I selected orange juices covering a swath of options. Then, with the help of my husband, I conducted a blind taste test, deciding — based on flavor — which juices were enjoyable and which weren't my favorite. Along the way, I may have stumbled onto a new favorite brand.

When it comes to private labels at grocery stores, more often than not, I've been impressed by the quality of the individual items. However, the Good & Gather brand of orange juice wasn't only forgettable, it was disappointing and actively not enjoyable to drink. It tasted something like cheap orange juice you might find in an elementary school cafeteria served out of cardboard cartons.

In much the same way as a cheap orange juice, it reminded me of the Tang I once drank while in after-school care. Although Tang was a much less substantive drink than this orange juice from concentrate, the thinness of the two beverages was similar. Good & Gather's orange juice didn't win any points in taste or my overall pleasure of the juice.

Curiously, this was also the lowest vitamin C percentage juice in all of the samples I tried. Where many of the juices scored at least 100% or above for your daily recommended vitamin C, this one only had 80%. Admittedly, in most of the concentrates, I found the juice had 90% or less, so this tracked with other concentrates I sampled, even if it was a touch lower.

The most basic of all the juices I sampled was Simply Orange. Granted, this was the brand of juice my family had typically been stocking and drinking before this tasting, so it was familiar on that front. Although it didn't come from a concentrate, I still got a mild amount of metallic taste — though it was much heavier in the other juices made from concentrates, so this was exceptionally minimal in comparison.

With a name like Simply Orange, I should have expected that it was, well, simply orange juice, and it certainly delivered on that promise. Flavor wise, it didn't surprise me in any way, and if I continued regularly serving this for breakfast or even as an ingredient for a mimosa, my family wouldn't think anything of it.

While the taste or experience of the juice wasn't different or surprising in any way, something on the label did jump out at me. Even though I considered it one of the best juices you can buy at the grocery store, it still had only 90% of your daily dose of vitamin C. This was the same amount the concentrates regularly had, so seeing it here felt out of the ordinary. I anticipated it would be at least 100%, like other not-from-concentrate juices.

When you see a brand called Florida Natural, you might imagine, as I did, that the oranges come from Florida — according to the bottle, however, the oranges come from Florida and Mexico. Florida Natural was a not from concentrate orange juice, but based on how it tasted, this was awfully hard to believe.

Other concentrate juices had a weird metallic taste to them that was bitter, and Florida Natural had this same feature, but on top of that bitterness, I also got a strange, smoky flavor. This was the only juice that had a smokiness to it, and I was unsure exactly how it would get into the orange juice. Nevertheless, the smoky flavor persisted over the next couple of sips.

I appreciate Florida Natural's close ties with farmers in order to harvest and market a quality product — but it's misleading that Florida isn't the only source of oranges. From the taste of the juice and the fact that sourcing of the oranges was different from what the marketing would have you believe, I ranked this one very low overall.

One of my favorite orange juices came from Indian River. I found that it tasted sweeter than others and that any bitterness was exceptionally mild, though still present. Like Simply Orange, I found it to be basic and middle of the road. This juice, though a smaller brand, sells its product in many large grocery stores around the United States, like Winn-Dixie, Kroger, Walmart, and Publix.

The flavor was similar to others I tried — but while I sipped, I noticed the texture was different from those brands. Although there was no visible pulp, it tasted like there was still pulp, almost like it had been blended instead of being removed. A closer look at the bottle revealed the juice was, in fact, blended, which led to a thicker texture. Indian Creek advertises that it's gluten-free, which isn't something I imagined might be an issue with orange juice, but for those that need this reassurance, it's mentioned right on the bottle.

This Publix orange juice was the first I tried in this sampling process. My initial thought was that it tasted very bitter. After subsequent concentrate tastings, I learned that the super metallic, bitter taste meant the juice came from concentrate. The flavor is as if the juice includes the rinds of the oranges. Like other concentrates I sampled, the juice concentrate offered 90% of your daily serving of vitamin C.

While I generally find store brands are less expensive than others, the half-gallon of juice I purchased cost $4.99, and other juices tasted better and cost less. It doesn't make sense to pay more for something with a less attractive label that didn't even come close to tasting like a juicy, satisfying orange juice.

I'm a total sucker for good labeling and marketing, and the Coral Reef juice bottle was just so fun and chill. It features flip-flops and a sunny beach, and it gave me all those fabulous Florida feels. It also advertised that the juice was from the sweetest oranges. While this was one of my favorite orange juices I tried, I didn't notice that it was exceptionally sweet compared to some of the others. Instead, it's a basic juice.

Anything I considered very middle of the road in this taste test, I rated a five, and this was one of those juices. There's just a touch of that bitterness, but the rest of the juice was sweet enough to compensate. Maybe that's what the brand means by the sweetest oranges — in this case, however, it made for a good orange juice, so it was easy to recommend Coral Reef for more than just a pretty label.

I've tried Natalie's orange juice before, and at the time, I didn't like it. It's only when I tasted it beside other juices that I saw the reason why. Natalie's orange juice tasted strangely like a mix of tangerine and oranges together. Perhaps it was a different type of orange that I'm not used to enjoying as juice, but I didn't like the flavor. My husband enjoyed this one more than me, and we imagined it must come down to flavor preference. To him, it tasted more handmade, like something we might have picked up at a farm stand.

Rather than tasting like vibrant oranges, though, I got a watery taste out of it. That isn't to say it had a watery feel. The texture of the juice was exactly what you'd expect, but the flavor itself tasted loose and unappetizing. I couldn't quite get there with this juice, as much as I wanted to. For $8.99 a bottle, there's some excellent orange juices out there that cost quite a bit less than Natalie's — and delivered far more flavor.

In my blind taste test, this was the second juice I sampled. Coming off the heels of the Publix concentrate, it was such a breath of fresh air. Tropicana has a cleaner, fruitier taste. It was so much like fresh orange juice that it reminded me of the days when I would visit my grandmother and watch her juicing oranges with her crystal juicer.

There was nothing to complain about with Tropicana juice, and if I drank it every day with breakfast, I'd be pleased. It also cost less than some of my favorite juices, which made it a real steal for the flavor it had. I paid $4.29 for my container. Tropicana was about as good as you can get without purchasing a juice too out of the ordinary or unique. The label proudly advertised that it tasted like it was fresh-squeezed — and I agree with that 100%.

GreenWise is a private label brand for Publix. And while I've been generally impressed with GreenWise (it also sells organic foods), that wasn't the case with the orange juice. Basic Publix brand orange juice didn't impress me, and neither did this.

In my sampling, I noticed there's something going on with the GreenWise juice. The flavor was hard to pin down, but from what I could tell, it seemed like a different variety of orange. It didn't taste like the oranges I had tasted in the other juices. It was marginally better than the basic Publix concentrate, purely because it wasn't from a concentrate, but it wasn't tasty by any means. Overall, I was left with this feeling: It didn't taste like orange juice should.

As was true with many brands of orange juice I tried, the Uncle Matt's logo was really exciting. The graphic design with the sketchy style of oranges on the front was different enough to jump off the shelf and feel unique.

Upon sipping my glass of this juice, the first word that I thought of is "juicy." Like one of my other favorites, Tropicana, it had that freshly squeezed feel with a bright burst of flavor. It tasted so fresh that even though I chose the variety that had its pulp removed, there was a sense that pulp had been there more than other juices that I sampled. I felt like I could taste the essence of the pulp as it was left behind. There was no bitterness, and the natural sweetness was abundant.

This was my favorite orange juice of the brands I tried, and I imagine it's going to become the staple orange juice for my family. Short of purchasing one of the best juicers out there and making my own, this may be the best option.

Looking at the bottle, it was unclear what exactly this orange juice brand was. Labeled proudly as cold pressed made it confusing, because that's a process for making juice, not a brand. When I turned the bottle over, I noticed it was distributed by Perricone Juices. It was interesting to me the brand wasn't displayed in big bold letters, so I did some digging. I discovered that Perricone Juices had a private label program. That is, other brands could source the juice from Perricone and put a different label on it. 

This was yet another orange juice that tasted more like tangerine. I could obviously tell it wasn't from a concentrate, but it was still disappointing in flavor. It had an overwhelming flavor that was too robust. I would far prefer a juice that reminds me of real orange juice, but not one that is trying to be something completely different. In general, my husband and I both thought this juice was simply trying too hard, both in avoiding its true labeling and in flavor. This juice made me wonder if I could use my French press to make my own cold pressed juice.

My husband and I love orange juice, so for this tasting, he helped me conduct a blind taste test in which he handed me a glass of juice without indicating its brand. I would note my feelings on it and the flavors, and then he would reveal the brand. This allowed me to have minimal sway based on branding, to allow the flavors to really dictate my overall rankings.

As I tasted each juice, I gave it a rating from one to 10. Typical juices fell somewhere in the middle, and more exceptional ones were higher. Juices I didn't enjoy as much fell below five. In general, if I gave the juice a five or higher, I ranked it as one of the best — if I gave it lower than five, I ranked it among the worst. My numbering decisions were based largely on flavor and if the juice was enjoyable to drink. 

Although I could have chosen to consider pulp as part of my decision-making, I know this is such a personal preference that I opted to go pulp-free wherever I could to help eliminate this component from swaying my opinion. That said, there were a few juices that I didn't have the option to go pulp-free, so I worked with what I had. All that's left is to wonder how long orange juice will last now that it's been opened and I have a fully stocked fridge.