We Taste-Tested 6 Orange Juices—Here Are Our Favorites

I can’t remember the last time I had a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. It may have been several years ago, when I tried squeezing my own juice at home. I was shocked at how many oranges I needed—at least three medium navel oranges—for a full eight-ounce glass. The juice was fresh and pulpy, with a bright hint of sweetness. As delicious as it was, I simply could not justify the cost, time, and labor required for a single serving, and I went back to the bottled stuff for all but the most special of occasions. 

While there are plenty of options available at grocery stores, they aren’t always good—I am frequently disappointed by the bitter, one-dimensional flavor of some commercial juices. Still, I like sipping on a refreshing glass of juice from time to time, and I wanted to find the best store-bought option for when I just can’t be bothered with squeezing it fresh. To find the very best store-bought orange juice, we tasted six different juices you’re likely to find at your local supermarket.

For this test, we focused on pulp-free juices. We didn’t even consider from-concentrate juices, though we did include one as a control and it scored the lowest with all our staffers. This is not surprising, as from-concentrate juice has been filtered, dried, and pasteurized, then reconstituted with water. You can tell that it once came from an orange, but has gone through so much processing that you can’t be fooled into thinking its intense, faux-tasting liquid is freshly squeezed.

Once we narrowed down the field to six not-from-concentrate, pulp-free orange juices, we had our tasters sample them without knowing which brands they were trying, and after battling through the heartburn that comes with downing six glasses of orange juice on an empty stomach, we found an overall winner we’d be happy to sip on its own at home or mix up into drinks such as a green smoothie or boozy sangrita.

The Criteria

Whether fresh or store-bought, orange juice should be balanced: It should be sweet but not artificially so, and it should not be overly sour. It should be pleasantly tangy and not bitter, and should taste like it was freshly squeezed from actual fruit. For many orange juice manufacturers, this may be a tough ask. Commercial fruit juice is pasteurized, and while this process eliminates dangerous bacteria and extends the juice’s shelf life, it also removes much of the flavor. 

In her book Squeezed, which dives into the history of orange juice, the journalist Alissa Hamilton explains how commercial orange juice is made. According to Hamilton, brands add a “flavor pack”—oils and essences derived from oranges that are then blended by a flavor manufacturer—to pasteurized juice to help restore the flavor and aroma of the freshly squeezed stuff. By the time the juice has made its way to the grocery store, any “fresh” taste you detect is completely manufactured, which is simply how commercial orange juice has to be made and sold. With this in mind, you could say this taste test’s goal was to identify the brand of orange juice with a flavor pack that tastes the most like freshly squeezed juice.

Overall Winner

Wegmans Premium No Pulp Orange Juice

Our editors liked that this juice had a touch of tartness without being overly sour. “Sweet and no bitter aftertaste,” our associate editorial director, Megan, wrote. Though our editorial director, Daniel, found it a “a tiny bit viscous,” everyone else thought this had what our associate visuals director, Amanda, described as the “expected texture and body” of commercial orange juice. “It’s good,” Megan noted. “I would drink it on purpose.” (After the testing was complete and her top pick was revealed, she did take home the rest of the bottle!)

Runner Up

Simply Orange Pulp Free Orange Juice

Opinions were divided here: Those who did not enjoy this juice, including our senior social media editor, Kelli, and our art director, Sabrina, thought it was slightly too sour and bitter. Megan and Daniel, however, both enjoyed the citrus-forward flavor of this juice. According to Simply Orange’s label, their juice is made with 100% orange juice from Brazil, Mexico, and the United States. “Not 100% like fresh squeezed but it’s in the zone,” Daniel wrote. “I can drink this.” Megan liked the juice’s “good bold orange flavor,” which she described as “sweet with a tart finish.”

The Contenders

• 365 Organic Orange Juice No Pulp
• Florida’s Natural 100% Premium Florida Orange Juice No Pulp
• Simply Orange Simply Pulp Free Orange Juice
• Tropicana Pure Premium 100% Orange Juice Original, No Pulp, No Sugar Added
• Uncle Matt’s Organic Pulp Free Orange Juice
• Wegman’s Premium No Pulp Orange Juice

In Conclusion

Based on the taste test results, the main conclusion I can come to is: Our editors far prefer freshly squeezed orange juice to commercially produced orange juice, even if it means squeezing citrus by hand. The juices we did like, however, were not from concentrate and did not taste like they were from concentrate. For juice that tastes fresh, buy or make your own freshly squeezed. But if neither are an option, then Wegmans and Simply Orange are both good options.

Our Testing Methodology

All taste tests are conducted with brands completely hidden and without discussion. Tasters taste samples in random order. For example, taster A may taste sample 1 first, while taster B will taste sample 6 first. This is to prevent palate fatigue from unfairly giving any one sample an advantage. Tasters are asked to fill out tasting sheets ranking the samples for various criteria. All data is tabulated and results are calculated with no editorial input in order to give us the most impartial representation possible.