The Best Orange Juice: Which Supermarket Brand Takes All?

If you thirst for a glass of orange juice first thing in the morning, this is the taste test for you. Of course, most people prefer the fresh-squeezed variety, but the truth is that many of us succumb to the convenience and ease of the Tropicanas and Minute Maids of the world. So to find the very best of those, we tested 10 popular supermarket brands of mass-produced orange juice -- pulp-free, original flavored only.

What did we find out? Well, we did note some slight differences in flavor and texture -- creamy vs. watery, acidic vs. sweet, natural vs. unnatural, and good vs. bad aftertastes. But as dull as this may sound, we were surprised to discover they're all marginally decent. None of us jumped for joy about any particular brand, but we wouldn't turn down a glass, either. The orange juice industry's process has become so homogenized that there's not much differentiation between one brand and another (despite the fact that, as you'll notice in our slideshow below, some companies source their oranges from Florida and others go as far as Brazil!).

So for the picky among you, our guide will help you narrow your options at the store. But for the rest of you? We challenge you to change up the brand you normally buy and see how much of a difference you can really taste. We'd love to hear all about it.

Let us know how your favorite ranked in the comments section below.

As always, the brands included in this taste test are in no way involved with or sponsoring this article.

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Comments

[SuzanneDevlin]

02:20 PM on 11/28/2011

I grew up in San Dimas, Calif. when most "citrus ranches" (that's what they were called) were in Southern California and in fact, San Dimas was the heart of the "Citrus Belt" and I lived two blocks away from two orange and lemon packing houses. We kids used to go down with big grocery bags and collect the oranges and lemons that would fall off the truck as they were being loaded. Yes, that was allowed. Florida's Natural is the best and the oranges "all" come from the USA. Thank you, Florida!
Buy "Made in the USA".

[AbsoluteTruthiness]

02:16 PM on 11/28/2011

You know, I'm constantly amazed at these little 'surveys'. They NEVER take into account fresh, home-squeezed. Instead the promote procesed items that have hardly any nutritive value left at all.

Buy your own fresh organic oranges, wash them well and squeeze it yourself. OR if you must buy at the store, try something like Orchid Island.

Remember - you are what you eat and you get what you pay for.

[Helmi5]

01:52 PM on 11/28/2011

Who participated in this survey anyway? Florida's Natural is still the best tasting, undiluted, AFFORDABLE OJ next to freshly squeezed, of course, and the oranges come from Florida only!
So, Minute Maid, go and re-invent yourself, you are not a winner!

[verse187]

02:06 PM on 11/28/2011

Definitely, why buy any juice that had to traverse thousands of miles, polluting all the way...when we have a great source right here in Florida. Whoever wrote this article needs to be fired for not taking environmental and economical impact into consideration. Buy local people, support your local economy by purchasing goods/products made, manufactured and mined in the USA. This article should be retracted

[Helmi5]

02:28 PM on 11/28/2011

I so agree! I am all for taking Minute Maid off that list. I certainly will never buy it, even if it is the last OJ on the shelf. I will just do without. I mean, why should I buy something that is mostly water, when water is STILL free.

[hralph]

01:48 PM on 11/28/2011

I don't care to much about orange juice because it is to acidic.But will drink some sunny D and that is not that ofen

[Maryann Amato]

01:42 PM on 11/28/2011

Florida's natural is the best, and made with oranges from the USA.. YAY...

[puzzlenutty]

01:32 PM on 11/28/2011

I don't agree with the NO PULP. For us the more pulp the better.

[maddmikee]

01:30 PM on 11/28/2011

I personally like Florida's Natural the best. It even costs less and it's GREAT tasting!!!
2nd is Tropicana.

[kalmanizer]

01:19 PM on 11/28/2011

Simply Orange Juice is my FAVORITE Orange Juice!! You should try Simply Apple. It's simply AMAZING!! :)

[rldd76]

01:13 PM on 11/28/2011

Looks like the article is worng when it comes to real people voting...It appears Florida's Natural has more votes from real OJ drinkers !!!

[rldd76]

01:06 PM on 11/28/2011

I like and drink only Florida Natural orange juice. It's from Florida oranges only !!!

[rafa2design]

01:02 PM on 11/28/2011

I have always been serious about orange juice. Have made it myself from grove picked oranges and nothing beats fresh squeezed, but if buying from the store the very best I have ever tasted has been Indian River. Comes straight from Florida, and tastes very close to fresh squeezed oranges. Try it. I promise once you do you'll find Simply Orange and Tropicana as being too watered down.

[gammie30]

12:53 PM on 11/28/2011

The "testers" should have investigated "how" orange juice is produced. There are many varieties of oranges which effect the taste. Also, "from concentrate" and "not from concentrate" should have been tested seperately. From concentrate is the same as someone buying frozen juice and adding water at home. Many store brands are the same as name brands. The plant simply changes the label. Some brands have their own groves so the variety may be different making the taste somewhat different. Florida's Natural is still the best commercial juice.

[Jillibeans3]

12:39 PM on 11/28/2011

My #1 orange juice vote would go to The Fresh Market's!
Whole Food's 365 should be ranked higher.

[condokinghhi]

12:13 PM on 11/28/2011

simply orange with lots of pulp is the very best OJ i've ever tasted, by far!

[Jonathan Lawson]

11:44 AM on 11/28/2011

How convinient that minute maid launches its new simply orange clone ( container and all ) and it magically tops this "unbiased" taste test. Looks like a commercial disguised as a taste comparison.