We Found the Best Horchata Mix (and More)

Well friends, it is officially sweltering outside. And you know what they say: If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen—but I’m not in a kitchen, I’m just a girl, on a couch, feeling sweaty. But don’t fret, there is a cure to being sweaty on the couch, and its name is ice-cold horchata. That said, not all horchata measures up to our exceedingly high chata-slurpin’ standards.

What we looked for in the best horchata

The best horchata is creamy, refreshing, and tastes like real cinnamon with a hint of rice flavor on the finish. We set out to find a store bought horchata that gets as close as possible to that good, good homemade horchata we know and love. We tried everything from hor(ibble)chata to those that left us wanting more-chata. So, without further ado, here’s the best horchata at the grocery store.

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Best Creamy Horchata

Kern’s Horchata Flavored Milk and Rice Drink

Walmart

This carton of horchata is pretty solid. The cinnamon is a bit less convincing that it is in the other two horchatas on this list—it’s more like a cinnamon Altoid and less like a cinnamon stick. That said, it tastes way more authentic than some of the other options we tried that had artificial sweeteners and notes of what reminded me of apple-cinnamon, which seems a bit out of place in a drink that’s supposed to taste like cinnamon and rice. Plus, this was the smoothest and creamiest option we tried. All that is to say, if Kern’s Horchata this is the only option at your grocery store, you will not be disappointed.

Credit: Merc / Walmart

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

Best Plant Based Horchata

Dream Horchata Rice Drink With Cinnamon

Dream

Dream is a fully plant based horchata option for those of you who like your horchata milk-less. It’s a bit less creamy than the other two horchatas on the list since it is made with rice milk and no regular milk, but what it lacks in creaminess, it makes up for in realness. The flavor is a bit less potent than other horchata brands, but it absolutely tastes like real cinnamon and has a hint of rice flavor as well. At first, we thought it was kind of watery, but when we tried it the next day on its own (rather than side-by-side against the other brands) we realized it’s not actually watery, it is just less sweet and less artificially flavored than the others. This one tastes the most like rice and cinnamon in a blender, because that’s basically what the ingredients are (with the exception of the blender). Highly recommend this one.

Credit: Merc / Dream Rice Milk

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Best of the Best

El Mexicano Agua Fresca de Horchata

Instacart

El Mexicano Agua Fresca de Horchata looks and tastes like the horchata you know and love from those big plastic urns at the taco stand. Very sweet, very cinnamon-y, slightly grainy, and with a hint of rice flavor on the finish. It reminded us of snickerdoodle sticky rice (if that was a thing that existed), or (and I don’t mean this in a bad way) a winter candle. It comes as a powder you mix with water, but it’s still surprisingly creamy, too. The scores are the same, but I’m declaring El Mexicano the best horchata because it’s a bit more traditional than the Dream Horchata, but you really can’t go wrong with either. It just depends hor ya like your chata!

Credit: Merc / Instacart

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Other horchata brands we tried: Klass Horchata Drink Mix, Zuko Horchata, B&B Horchata Concentrate