You may think you know the best Celsius flavor, but we’re about to prove most of you wrong (and perhaps a select few of you right). We gathered 27 flavors of Celsius—the good, the bad, and the “vibes”—lined ‘em up, and subjected them all to some side-by-side sipping. Yes, taste and opinions are subjective, yada-yada. But we just spent an hour drinking Celsius, so we’re highly caffeinated and feeling aggressive. Let’s fight.
How we conducted our Celsius taste tests
Finding the best Celsius flavor can be kind of complicated. First of all, Celsius—the self-proclaimed “healthy energy” drink—comes in a lot of flavors. We attempted to be exhaustive and tried 27 in total, sipping all the Celsius flavors we could find across two separate taste tests. (You can watch our latest taste test below.) Prolificacy aside, some Celsius flavors aren’t named for naturally occurring flavors. Yes, you have your Orange and Grape, but there’s a whole Celsius line named for ~ vibes ~ and, frankly, we don’t know what a “fantasy vibe” is supposed to taste like. (I mean, we can come up with some things, but we can’t say that’s what they were going for.) For our most recent taste test, we made sure to grab all the new Celsius flavors that have come out in the past two years, too.
What we looked for in the best Celsius flavors
By now, we’re used to picking out the fruity nuances in energy drinks and lightly “essenced” sparkling waters. Ideally, we want clean-tasting fruit flavors that don’t veer too artificial or leave a weird aftertaste (a common Celsius pitfall). Really, these just need to taste refreshing. If we have to do mental gymnastics to make a flavor tolerable, it’s going at the bottom of the list. So without further ado, here are all the Celsius flavors, ranked from worst to best.
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- Celsius Sparkling Grape Rush
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When you set out to find the best Celsius flavor, it’s inevitable that one will be the worst. Congrats, Sparkling Grape Rush! You did it! This tasted like root beer to me and I can’t explain why. Our intern said it made their mouth and throat dry, which is definitely not what you want before you work out. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Celsius
- Celsius Essentials Watermelon Ice
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Celsius Essentials is supposed to be a more electrolyte-forward, performance-focused version of the original Celsius line, with an emphasis on “focus” and mental sharpness. We tried two flavors from the Essentials line, and we don’t have much to say about it, other than… okay? Did we need this? They taste slightly worse than the regular line, but come in a bigger can with more caffeine. Watermelon Ice is not outright offensive if you can tolerate candy watermelon, but it is surprisingly boring. —Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
- Celsius Essentials Blue Crush
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For the Essential series, Blue Crush is marginally better than Watermelon Ice. The aftertaste is still not great, but it has a little more tartness from the berry flavor to balance the artificial sweetness. —Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Celsius Astro Vibe
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I’m a blue-flavor apologist on the Sporked team. If something tastes vaguely blue, I can drink it. If anyone wants to explain the psychology behind this to me, please do. While I wish this was a tangier blue razz flavor and not so sweet, as a blue Gatorade lover, I do get the appeal. That said, everyone else on the team found this extremely unpleasant, which is why it’s so low on the list. Sorry! —Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Celsius Galaxy Vibe
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Galaxy Vibe, aka strawberry watermelon Celsius, is totally fine. It kinda tastes like strawberry Kool-Aid. It’s sweet and fruity and very artificial (perhaps the most artificial of the ones I tried), but somebody is bound to like it. I do wish Celsius would stop adding strawberry to their drinks, but it could be worse. —Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Celsius Sparkling Cola
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I’m not sure who this is for, but it’s definitely not for people who actually like cola. In fact, I’m pretty sure it would make real cola drinkers angry? It tastes like very weak, generic diet cola. You know when someone drinks coffee and then inadvertently breathes in your face? Drinking this is like the diet cola version of that. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Celsius
- Celsius Cosmic Vibe
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I’m not sure what about fruit punch says “cosmic vibe,” but this is basically Hawaiian Punch in energy drink form. I don’t know why I’m getting stuck on the name, but it feels like a fruit punch-flavored Celsius should be “retro vibe,” like a throwback to childhood, while a Slurpee-flavored Celsius should be Cosmic Vibe, since it’s out of this world. (And movie theaters remind me of planetariums. I’m rambling, sorry.) If you like fruit punch, this might be the best Celsius flavor for you. But it’s a skip from me, personally. —Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Celsius Sparkling Kiwi Guava
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This flavor is a letdown, in part because it sounds like it would taste so good! Kiwi! Guava! How could this go awry? Anyway, it isn’t really bad, it’s just sort of tame and generic. Blindfolded, I don’t think anyone could identify the fruit flavors and for some reason the artificial sweeteners seemed more pronounced in this one. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Celsius
- Celsius Retro Vibe
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Okay, this is certainly a vibe. If you, like me, mix all the flavors together from a movie theater Icee dispenser because you can’t decide which one you want, that’s what Retro Vibe actually tastes like. (But I would be remiss to point out that our go-to beverage shark Griffin Parker did not like this. Compared to other energy drinks like Alani, I think it really falls short. But for a Celsius flavor, it’s not so bad.) —Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Celsius Sparkling Strawberry Guava
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Another guava gone wrong, mostly because you only get strawberry and no guava. One taste tester thought it tasted like ground-up Smarties, and I don’t think they meant it in a good way. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Celsius
- Celsius Sparkling Strawberry Passionfruit
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Once again, Celsius really likes their strawberry-fruit fusions, which I’m definitely on the fence about. I can tolerate this because it’s not horridly sweet and finishes on a hint of tropical passion fruit. But it really blends into the background of other Celsius flavors.—Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Celsius Sparkling Mango Passionfruit
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This Celsius flavor might be a little bit of a matter of taste. Do you like very powerful, artificial passion fruit flavor? You’ll love this. But the cloying, generic “tropical” flavor just isn’t for me. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Celsius
- Celsius Sparkling Watermelon
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This is the best Celsius flavor for people who’ve always wanted to drink watermelon candy. It’s so, so sweet—like carbonated, chilled Jolly Rancher saliva. I’d probably drink it again, but I don’t think I’d crave it before a rigorous exercise sesh. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Celsius
- Celsius Tropical Vibe
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All of the Celsius “vibes” are varying degrees of “pretty good,” so many of them landed near the middle of our ranking. To me, this tastes the way it smelled inside the salon when your mom got a perm in the 1980s, but it’s also not bad. Nostalgia is a crazy thing! —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Celsius
- Celsius Fantasy Vibe
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Yes, Celsius Fantasy Vibe sounds like a sex toy, but it tastes like an orange creamsicle (technically, it’s “mandarin marshmallow”). Certainly preferable to latex and fluids! —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Celsius
- Celsius Sparkling Cherry Cola
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Hey, I like it when people take risks. And this is a weird one, that’s for sure. It’s basically a watered down Coke Zero with a hint of cherry, and it’s actually sort of pleasant? This is definitely someone’s guilty pleasure, and I respect that. —Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Celsius Peach Vibe
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Celsius specifies that this flavor is “white peach,” and that’s really what it tastes like. It’s lovely and refreshing and summery. It’s definitely one of the best Celsius flavors if you’re shopping the ~ vibe ~ line. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Celsius
- Celsius Playa Vibe
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Look, I loved this one. It’s basically a piña colada in Celsius form, with a creamy coconut flavor that did momentarily take me out of the office and to the beach. This might have been the first one I tried that didn’t scream energy drink in terms of taste. It’s smooth and tropical. I would buy this again for sure.—Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Celsius Arctic Vibe
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Well, fam. I guess I’m an Arctic Vibe girlie myself. I loved this—it’s almost a little salty, which I think is great. The cold, tart flavor is giving frozen berries. This is the best Celsius flavor for people who, like me, have a low tolerance for sweets. —Ariana Losch
Credit: Merc / Celsius
- Celsius Oasis Vibe
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Oasis Vibe is prickly pear-lime flavored. I’m not an expert when it comes to the prickly pear flavor profile—I like it, but it’s hard for me to identify. Basically, I can’t tell you how well this aligns, but I can tell you that it tastes good. It tastes like a carbonated Margarita with a little extra tartness and tang. It’s a vibe, to be sure. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Celsius
- Celsius Fuji Apple Pear
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This is the best Celsius flavor if you like sparkling cider. It’s very sweet, but it’s very delicious. It’s tart and crisp like a Fuji apple. There’s definitely more apple flavor than pear flavor, but it’s a very fresh-from-the-orchard situation I love. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Celsius
- Celsius Green Apple Cherry
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Both apple and cherry are underutilized in the energy drink world, and this Celsius flavor is proof. It’s super tangy and sweet, like green apple candy and cherry candy had a baby. That sounds bad, but it isn’t. In general, why aren’t there more apple-cherry flavored bevs? —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Celsius
- Celsius Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade
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This Celsius flavor tastes like a nice, balanced strawberry lemonade. You really get strawberry and lemon in equal measure. It’s great. If you like strawberry flavor, you should definitely buy this over the brand’s other strawberry options. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Celsius
- Celsius Sparkling Lemon Lime
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If you want a pre-workout drink that won’t slap you in the face with flavor, this is the best Celsius going. If you want big lemon-lime flavor, look elsewhere. But if you want something very refreshing, with a mild, almost lemon tea-like flavor, this is your jam. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Celsius
- Celsius Raspberry Acai Green Tea
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Most Celsius energy drinks are carbonated. This one is not, and I’m sure that makes it attractive to people like me, who can’t combine carbonation with any degree of exertion without burping their brains out. The raspberry flavor is really tart and fruity, and the green tea flavor tempers it with a little bit of earthiness. This is a very sophisticated Celsius flavor. Drink this before yoga class. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Celsius
- Celsius Sparkling Orange
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Is it boring that the second best Celsius flavor is … just plain old orange? Maybe, but it just tastes so good. If you love the mild, not-too-tart flavor of canned mandarin oranges, you’ll love this. It’s flavorful. It’s sweet. The carbonation makes it taste like a delicious orange soda, but you get a punch of caffeine, too. This is a crowd pleaser. Sometimes a classic is a classic for a reason! —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc/ Celsius
- Celsius Sparkling Wild Berry
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Meet our new favorite Celsius flavor: Sparkling Wild Berry. A lot of Celsius drinks suffer from a weird, lingering artificial aftertaste—but not this one. It delivers a quick burst of juicy berry flavor that’s crisp, refreshing, and clean on the finish. No weird aftertaste, just a smooth tang. —Ariana Losch
Credit: Merc / Celsius
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