The 6 Best And 6 Worst Orange Juice Brands

Which came first, orange the color or orange the fruit? According to Mental Floss, the color orange wasn't used until the 1400s, while we have records of the fruit dating back at least 100 years before that. Oranges were first found in tropical Asia, and since then the citrusy fruit and subsequent juice have found their way around the world. Unfortunately, not all orange juices are created equally.

Making orange juice in a factory is a multi-step process. First, the fruit is washed and sent through a machine that removes the peel and extracts the juice. Next, it's filtered, and other ingredients, like sugar, are added to enhance the taste. Then, excess oils and gasses are removed. Some brands also pasteurize and homogenize their juices before packaging. If the juice is from concentrate, water is removed and what remains is transported to another location where water will be added back in and the juice will be pasteurized before packaging. All these different aspects can affect the flavor of the orange juice, so we've done a taste test to determine the six best and six worst orange juices on shelves today.

Dole sells many different types of produce, but it's maybe best known for pineapple and the Dole Whip treats you can find at Disney parks. The company was the subject of the 2009 documentary "Bananas!*," in which it was alleged that pesticides used by the company made Nicaraguan banana plantation workers sterile — just another controversy in the surprisingly dark history of bananas. Today, the brand sells four flavors of juice: orange, apple, grapefruit, and tropical fruit punch.

According to the juice carton, Dole's no-pulp orange juice is made from concentrate and contains 75% juice plus other natural flavors. The juice is pasteurized, with added vitamin C but no added sugar. Unfortunately, this may be the juice's downfall.

Dole's orange juice is a pretty yellow-orange color, but that's about where the positives end. The scent is just a little off, smelling slightly bitter and not what you'd expect from something so fragrant and tropical. At first, the taste is pleasant, a little sweet and a little sour, but it's immediately followed by a bitter aftertaste that makes this brand one of the worst.

Florida's Natural is an agricultural cooperative first founded in Florida in 1933. The company was responsible for creating orange juice concentrate, which allowed it to ship orange juice to troops overseas during World War II. Florida's Natural currently offers a line of orange juices, a line of grapefruit juices, a line of lemonades, and a line of juice cocktails.

The company offers orange juice with no pulp, pulp, or "most pulp," and the no pulp and pulp options are also available with added calcium and vitamin D. All types are made from concentrate. According to the carton, the classic, no-pulp juice is made from oranges grown in Florida, Mexico, and Brazil. The juice is non-GMO certified and the packaging is certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.

The juice contains no added sugars, but in this case, it works. It's a little tart, but also sweet and doesn't include the bitterness that the Dole juice had. It smells delightfully citrusy, like orange juice should, and has a pretty yellow-orange color. Despite being from concentrate, the drink doesn't taste watered down, and the texture is smooth without being thin.

Great Value is Walmart's primary store brand for food and basic household items like cleaning supplies and toilet paper. There are several flavors of Great Value juices, including orange, grape, cranberry, and tomato, as well as juice cocktails. The brand has three types of orange juice: original, "country style," which has pulp, and one fortified with calcium and vitamin D.

The original orange juice is pasteurized, made from concentrate, and doesn't have any pulp. It's made with oranges from Belize, Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, and the United States, and doesn't have any added sugars. Once again, this isn't necessarily an advantage.

The Great Value orange juice isn't the worst on this list, but it doesn't make it into the best category either. It's very tart with a slightly bitter aftertaste. It's not as thick and smooth as Florida's Natural juice and feels extremely acidic in the mouth. That being said, it's passable, the kind of juice you'd expect to find at a hotel's continental breakfast, and isn't as bad as these other foods you should never buy at Walmart.

Target has three in-store grocery brands, but the largest is Good & Gather, which offers everything from meat and produce to dairy items and pantry staples. This includes juices, like apple juice, cranberry juice, tomato juice, and orange juice. There are two different Good & Gather orange juices to choose from: the original orange juice and one with calcium and Vitamin D added.

Both juices are pulp-free, made from concentrate, and have no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. The carton declares it to be 100% juice, as there's no added sugar, either. While this causes the drink to be a little tart, it's not nearly as sour as the Great Value orange juice. Despite being from concentrate, it's bursting with orange flavor without the bitter aftertaste of some of the other brands, like Dole. The drink is smooth, a little thicker than Great Value's OJ, and has a light but pleasant citrus scent. The Good &and Gather orange juice is the best store brand on this list, and a great option if you're on a budget.

One thing you need to know before your first trip to Aldi is that Aldi has many in-house brands. That includes a handful of juice brands, but the primary one is Nature's Nectar. Nature's Nectar offers a variety of juices, including refrigerated juices, shelf-stable juices, and juice boxes. The line has a few orange juice options, including a no-pulp option, a high-pulp option, one fortified with calcium and Vitamin D, and one from concentrate, plus an orange-pineapple blend and an orange-mango blend.

The original, pulp-free, not-from-concentrate option is labeled as 100% juice. It's pasteurized and contains no added sugars. The bottle says the oranges used come from Brazil and the United States.

While Aldi brands are often comparable to name brands, Nature's Nectar orange juice falls short. The drink smells wonderful, but the taste is incredibly sour. There's very little sweetness in the juice at all, and it ends up with almost a bitter aftertaste, not as strong as the Dole juice, but bitter nonetheless. The one benefit is that it's not from concentrate, resulting in a smoother, slightly thicker texture.

Kemps is a highly popular milk brand primarily known for its dairy products, which, in addition to milk, also include ice cream, sour cream, cottage cheese, and yogurt. As a result, it was a little surprising to find out they also make juice. Juice is pretty much the only non-dairy item the company makes, and they offer just two kinds: apple juice and orange juice.

The brand's orange juice is 100% orange juice and made from concentrate. It's pasteurized and contains no additional sugars. While not labeled as such, the orange juice doesn't contain pulp.

Despite being a dairy company, Kemps' orange juice is pretty tasty. It's still tart but is also sweet, and isn't nearly as sour as the Nature's Nectar brand. It has a slightly darker orange color than some of the other brands, and its texture is smooth. The one drawback is that the juice has a slightly metallic taste. According to a 2013 study published in the Journal of Sensory Studies, a metallic or bitter taste in orange juice can be caused by the compounds limonin and nomilin, which can be stronger in fruits affected by certain diseases or conditions.

Old Orchard was founded nearly 40 years ago out of an apple orchard in Michigan. The brand specializes in juice and is probably best known for its apple juice, but also offers cranberry, cherry, grape, and orange juice, as well as juice blends and juice cocktails. Juices are available in bottles or cans of juice concentrate.

While the Old Orchard website lists bottled orange juice, I couldn't find it anywhere near me. I opted for the concentrated, frozen option instead, which is the type of juice we had in my house when I was a kid. The package recommends defrosting the container in the microwave for about a minute and then mixing its contents with 36 ounces of water. It doesn't take long, but it still takes more time than just pouring juice from a container. 

The condensed juice is labeled as 100% juice. There's no added sugar and it contains just a tiny bit of pulp. The metallic taste is very strong, much stronger than it was in the Kemps, but the juice is sweeter. However, that creates a strange overall flavor with the metallic tones. That being said, it has a pleasant smell and doesn't taste watered down, like you might expect from a frozen concentrate.

Minute Maid is one of Coca-Cola's brands, and like Old Orchard, primarily produces juice. The company was founded at the end of World War II and initially specialized in powdered and frozen concentrate orange juice. Today, orange juice is still probably their best-known product, but they also offer lemonades and fruit punch, as well as juice boxes. Some drinks are still offered as frozen concentrate, but most are in cartons. Of the carton orange juice, there's a low-pulp option, a pulp-free option, a low-pulp option fortified with calcium and vitamin D, and a Kids+ option fortified with vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and calcium.

The pulp-free option is made from 100% orange juice from concentrate. The juice is pasteurized and non-GMO verified and has no added sugar. Oranges for the juice come from Brazil, Costa Rica, and the United States.

Minute Maid's orange juice is packed with flavor and is a little bit tart and a little bit sweet. The taste is strong; you'd never know it was made from concentrate. There's no awkward metallic flavor and no bitter aftertaste. The juice is smooth and has a very sweet orange scent.

Trader Joe's is known for being a unique, somewhat quirky grocery store. It specializes in organic and non-GMO products, and, like Aldi, it pretty much only sells products under its store label. The brand offers several juice options, including orange juice, lemonade, juice blends, and juice smoothies. There are a few different orange juices, including a no-pulp option, a fresh-squeezed option, an orange peach mango juice, and an orange strawberry banana juice.

The fresh-squeezed option is labeled as 100% juice. A word of warning: it is unpasteurized, meaning that small children and those with weakened immune systems should stay away. Pasteurization is the act of heating the juice to kill harmful microbes. In 1996, E.coli in unpasteurized apple juice sickened dozens, leading to one of the biggest recalls in U.S. history.

You might be better off just avoiding this option altogether because Trader Joe's fresh-squeezed orange juice is not good. It's sour and bitter and has a strange smell, not quite chemically but just...off. It has a nice, rich color, but should definitely be added to the list of items you should never buy at Trader Joe's.

Like Minute Maid, Simply is another arm of the Coca-Cola beverage conglomerate. The brand is dedicated to offering juices that aren't made from concentrate and don't include artificial flavors or preservatives, packaged in the company's signature carafe. Though orange juice is the brand's big seller, it also sells lemonade and other types of juices like strawberry, mango, pineapple, and fruit punch.

Since orange juice is the company's best-seller, it's no surprise that several different variations are available: without pulp, medium pulp, high pulp, low acid, with calcium and vitamin D added, low calorie, and juice blends like orange mango and orange pineapple (my personal favorite). The pulp-free option is made from 100%, not-from-concentrate juice and has no added sugar.

Coca-Cola might be known for soda, but its juice brands really nail their orange juice. Simply Orange is bright and full of flavor. It's a little tart, but not overwhelmingly so, and just a touch sweet, with no bitter or metallic aftertaste. The drink is delightfully fragrant, smooth, and not too thin or watery.

Tropicana is practically synonymous with citrus; the company was founded in Florida in 1947 to provide fresh fruit to the masses. Orange juice is what the brand is best known for, but it also sells lemonades and juice blends. The company is so committed to offering all-natural options that they were selling misspelled orange juice bottles on purpose as part of a marketing campaign. The bottles removed the letters "I" and "A" from the company name to represent "100% juice, 0% AI."

As a company primarily focused on orange juice, there are several types of Tropicana orange juice available, including those with no pulp, some pulp, lots of pulp, those fortified with calcium and vitamin D, those fortified with vitamin C and zinc, and a low-acid orange juice. The no-pulp option is 100% juice, not from concentrate, non-GMO verified, and contains no added sugar.

Although Tropicana is one of the most well-known orange juice brands, it unfortunately doesn't measure up. The juice is very sour and leaves a bitter aftertaste. It's lacking a sweetness that options like Kemp and Simply have. While it has a nice presentation overall, with a pretty color, both the smell and taste are off-putting.

Uncle Matt's Organic was founded 25 years ago with the vision of selling juice made from 100% organically-grown fruit that is free from pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. Today they sell both juice and teas, including orange juice, lemonade, grapefruit juice, and juice blends. For orange juice, they offer a no-pulp and with-pulp option, as well as one fortified with calcium and vitamin D.

The no-pulp orange juice is 100% juice that's pasteurized and not from concentrate. It's certified USDA-organic and also certified glyphosate residue-free. The juice contains no added sugars or flavors. The brand says they delay their harvests slightly so the oranges are picked when their sugars are highest and the acidity is low.

While Uncle Matt's organic orange juice is a little bit tart, it has enough sweetness to balance the flavors. The juice has a rich, orange taste with a brightness that makes it absolutely delicious. There's no bitter or metallic aftertaste, and it doesn't feel overly acidic either. The color is a little more yellow than orange, but it's still pleasant to look at. To top it off, the juice smells lovely, allowing it to check all the boxes of fantastic orange juice.

I'm generally someone who enjoys orange juice. Although I don't always keep it on hand, it's usually my go-to breakfast drink. Typically, I go with Simply; I usually pick the orange pineapple, while my son can drink a whole bottle of the brand's pure pineapple juice within a day. So, when running this test, I made sure that I had no idea which brand was which to avoid any bias.

To figure out which orange juice brands were the best and the worst, I started by choosing brands that were readily available nationwide and didn't require a membership, and tried to choose original options with no pulp (personal preference). I did a blind taste test to figure out which ones were best and worst, putting them all in identical cups with brand names hidden. I based the best and worst primarily on taste and aftertaste but also considered things like color, smell, and texture. I didn't look at brand names until after the cups were divided into best and worst. Though I took notes during the taste test, I also retested each drink to get the most thorough review possible for each option.