Make your way to any grocery store and you'll see that there's no shortage of apple juice
brands. But how do you know which is best for you? Well, look no further, here are the
top apple juice brands ranked from worst to best.
With the word "healthy" blazoned across the label, you might think that Old Orchard Healthy
Balance Diet Apple drink is, well, healthy. With only a handful of calories and one gram
of sugar, it looks appealing. It's only when you look a little closer that you find out
why this brand is less than ideal.
For starters, it's only 5% juice, meaning 95% of what you're drinking is additives and
water. Since there isn't enough juice content to make the drink naturally sweet, Old Orchard
uses artificial sweeteners, including acesulfame potassium. Some studies have shown acesulfame
potassium might have several harmful effects on your body, like upsetting the delicate
balance of your gut microbiome. On top of that, this apple juice tends to be pricey,
with the Walmart price being around $4 for 64 ounces. That's why this one gets a pass.
It's not a good sign that Walmart's Great Value juice is called Apple Juice Cocktail
from Concentrate. The word "cocktail" usually means a lot of added sugars and not 100% juice.
In this case, it means 50% juice. It also means sucralose, an artificial sweetener sometimes
known by the brand name Splenda.
We don't mind the sweeter taste of this cocktail, but mixed with the strange aftertaste from
the sucralose, it just misses the fresh, crisp flavor of better-tasting apple juices. Great
Value is true to its name: It is a great value in regard to price, at about $1.60 on the
Walmart website. But there are other brands with an equally low price while having a better flavor.
When selecting an apple juice, you're probably expecting apples to be the main ingredient.
Sometimes it's water, but apples should at least come second. In Harvest Select Frozen
Concentrate, however, the top ingredient is water and the second ingredient is high fructose
corn syrup. Additionally, this concentrate only has 10% juice. So it's not going to give
you a fresh, real-apple flavor if 90% of its content comes from somewhere other than an orchard.
If you ever took a bag lunch to school, the odds are good that you've tried Capri Sun.
Those silver pouches are still popular today, and the company makes an apple juice flavor.
While you might expect that all drinks aimed at kids are full of artificial flavors and
extra sugars, Capri Sun's 100% apple juice actually has many of the same ingredients
as other brands: water, apple juice concentrate, citric acid, and natural flavor.
The apple drink does taste like apples, but it lacks the full-bodied flavor found in other juices.
Kids will probably enjoy it. Most adults, on the other hand, are probably looking
for more taste than Capri Sun offers. And while the trademark pouches would make it
harder to water this brand down, they will help you to not accidentally drink too many servings in a sitting.
"Capri Sun, easy open liquid cool."
However, these pouches don't do any favors for the environment. According to the non-profit
National Resources Defense Council, Capri Sun containers are part aluminum and part
plastic, which is not an easy thing to recycle. While what's inside every package is apple
juice with relatively decent ingredients, it's not hard to find many other brands that
come in more environmentally responsible packaging.
Mott's is a brand known for its apples, and Mott's 100% Original Apple Juice looks pretty good ingredient-wise.
"Motts gives us the purely delightful flavor we love, with the healthy fruit we need."
Water, apple juice concentrate, and ascorbic acid for vitamin C are its only ingredients.
It's in the same range of calories as most apple juices, but a little higher in the sugars,
at 28 grams. The taste is, frankly, unremarkable, with nothing that makes it stand out from
countless store brands. When it comes to price, it's also not one of the better options.
The problem is the name: Mott's. Well-known brands are well known because they advertise
to get their name out there. According to The Penny Hoarder, you're shelling out money
to cover the cost of not just manufacturing, but of those obnoxious commercials, billboards,
and print ads you're bombarded with everywhere you look. With Mott's, that can mean shelling
out about $3 for 32 ounces of their 100% apple juice.
The worst part is that you're likely paying extra money for generic ingredients when you
go for the brand name. There's often very little difference in flavor between the brands
you know from ads and the ones you don't recognize. When it comes to Mott's apple juice, there's
nothing special about the flavor that you can't find elsewhere at a cheaper price.
R. W. Knudsen is another company that makes both regular apple juices and sparkling ciders,
both beverages made with the exact same ingredients. R. W. Knudsen Organic Apple Juice has the
benefit of a few grams less sugar than many other brands, though it still has 23 grams
per serving. As with many sweeter juices, it wouldn't hurt if you watered it down a
little, especially if you're the kind of person who loves to down a daily glass of apple juice.
The biggest problem with R. W. Knudsen's apple juice is the price. At about $5 for 32 ounces,
it tends to run about $2 more expensive than your average apple juice, or even more if
you buy it at a health food store. It tastes strongly of apples, with a natural, fresh
flavor, so for some people it's worth the extra cost. But if you're looking for a more
economical apple juice, there are plenty more options.
Langers Apple Juice is slightly higher in sugar and calories than some other brands,
but that might be due to the fact that their ingredients include both juice concentrate
and fresh-pressed juice. Juice concentrates sometimes contain more sugar than straight
juice. Because of this extra sugar, Langers apple juice has a sweeter flavor than your
average juice. Whether or not that's a good thing varies from person to person.
If you're looking for a juice that's a sweet treat, Langers will hit the spot. But if you're
after something with a less sweet taste, then you probably won't like this apple juice.
Langers does come at a reasonable price, though, at about $2 for 64 ounces. However, it also
costs more than the average juice without offering anything too different in flavor
from other brands. That said, the little extra sweetness of Langers apple juice isn't worth those extra cents.
Welch's originally came to market with its well known grape juice. However, it turns
out that the company makes a pretty good 100% apple juice, too. It's a drink with no added
sugars — artificial or otherwise — as well as a short ingredient list. Plus, it's
fortified with your full recommended daily value of vitamin C, which can aid the health
of everything from your bones to your eyes. Best of all, it tastes delicious, with a full apple flavor.
If you like sparkling cider, you're probably familiar with Martinelli's. The brand boasts
that its cider and apple juice are made with nothing but apples, not even adding extra
water. This is what gives it such a strong, irresistible flavor.
While the sparkling cider might be nice for a special occasion, it's not the healthiest
thing to drink every day. When you see that Martinelli's also makes apple juice, you might
logically conclude that it would be a smarter choice for a regular drink. Unfortunately,
when you put these products side by side, you'll see the nutrition information on both
bottles is identical. Whether you choose the sparkling cider or the apple juice, in one
serving you'll be drinking 140 calories and a whopping 31 grams of sugar.
Don't be confused by the term "cider." As it turns out, most states don't have any rules
about what that constitutes. Brands like Martinelli's use the names "apple juice" and "apple cider"
interchangeably, using the same ingredients for both. But whether you like your apple
juice with bubbles or without, you'll never be disappointed by the taste of Martinelli's.
High in sugar, yes, but fantastic as a now-and-then treat.
Simply Apple Juice lives up to its name with only one ingredient: the juice from pressed
apples, with no extra sugars, no additives, no coloring, and no natural or artificial flavors.
"It tastes like biting into a crisp, juicy apple."
This commitment to natural ingredients pays off when it comes to flavor. Of all the apple
juice brands out there, Simply is one that many people seem to think tastes the most
like fresh apples. The rich, cider-like taste will make you feel like you're sitting in
the middle of an orchard in autumn.
The downside with this brand is the price, as it's one of the more expensive apple juices
out there. Besides being a little more expensive than its competitors, Simply Apple Juice also
comes in a smaller container. Down the juice aisle, you'll most often find apple juice
in 64-fluid ounce bottles, which is half a gallon. The Simply brand sells their juices
in 52-ounce bottles, so you're getting less juice at a higher price. However, Simply's
apple-forward flavor is worth the extra expense.
If you're looking for some variety in your apple juice, then you should check out Tree
Top. What sets Tree Top apart is that it makes apple juices featuring Cosmic Crisp apples,
Honeycrisp apples, a three-apple blend, and a sweet and tart apple cider. Don't be fooled
into thinking all apples taste alike. With a variety of sweet, tart, and tangy flavors,
you can really taste the difference in the apples straight off the tree, and that translates
to this combination of juices.
You don't even have to pay extra for all of these flavors. Tree Top is one of the cheaper
priced brands you can find. With so many different flavors at such a good price, you might become
a loyal Tree Top customer.
What's great about Lakewood Organic Pure Apple Juice is what's not in it. There are no preservatives,
no additives, no colorants, no allergens, and no pesticides in Lakewood apple juice.
Additionally, the juice is kosher, vegan, and USDA-certified organic. This is just natural
apple juice at its purest.
This juice isn't the clear brown color that a lot of apple juices are. Lakewood apple
juice is opaque. This cloudy appearance is from pulp that isn't strained out during production.
It adds extra flavor and also nutrients that clear juices don't have. While no apple juices
have the same fiber and nutrient content as an apple, the more of the apple that's included
in the juice, the more benefits you get.
Lakewood's apple juice is also cold-pressed. This is a process that creates juice without
heat, thus preserving a lot of the nutrients. This brand does everything it can to create
a healthy juice and you can taste it. While Lakewood Organic generally comes at a higher
price, it has a full apple taste that we feel makes the slight extra expense worth it.
When it comes to brands that really pay attention to what's in their juice, North Coast Apple
Juice is one of the best. Since North Coast makes all of its products solely with organic
apples grown in the U.S., the company can ensure that their apples are free from harmful
chemicals and pesticides. And North Coast apple juice really does taste like freshly pressed apples.
North Coast's careful attention isn't only directed towards its juice production. This
brand also cares about its environmental impact. According to the North Coast website, the
company uses solar power to provide half of the energy to make the juice. The parts of
the apples that can't be used are provided to local farmers for livestock feed. You get
what you pay for, and you're going to have to pay a little more for this juice. However,
of all the apple juices out there, North Coast is by far the tastiest.
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more Mashed videos about your favorite
stuff are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.