There’s nothing quite as refreshing as a cold glass of the best lemonade on a hot summer day (at least, according to old sitcoms and cartoons). Personally, I am a homemade lemonade obsessive. I have my formula down pat: squeeze the juice from two and a half lemons, add seven barspoons of sugar, stir, add ice, stir again, top with water, stir again, enjoy. But even I can get lazy sometimes—especially when it’s sweltering outside—and want to just open the fridge and pull out a jug of the best store-bought lemonade. So, I was ready and excited for this taste test. And my standards were high.
Over the course of two separate taste tests, we culled a selection of some of the top-rated lemonades on the market right now to try to find the best lemonade brand out there. We wanted an ‘ade that was the perfect balance of tart and sweet. We wanted it to taste like real lemons were involved in the production of the juice. We wanted that “ahhh” feeling after taking a sip. Some failed miserably, tasting of things like cleaning solution and nothing but artificial sweetener. But others were just what we were looking for. Here’s the best lemonade ever, according to the results of our taste tests.
- Santa Cruz Organic Lemonade
This is a very gentle lemonade. It’s great for people who are sensitive to high levels of acidity or sugar. If you find yourself adding water to regular store-bought lemonade, this is the best lemonade brand for you. It still tastes like good quality lemons with a fine level of sweetness, but it’s cut a bit, so you can gulp it down without worrying about burning your throat.
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- Milo’s Simply Lemonade
When it comes to making cocktails, you need sugar. Sugar is to the cocktail world what salt is to the cooking world—it elevates the flavors of the other ingredients and helps bring everything together into one delicious, harmonious blend. And this lemonade is sweet, sweet, sweet. Personally, I love it—even as someone without a sweet tooth. It’s packed with sugar but it has a pure, honest flavor—like if you let your kid measure out the sugar for the lemonade. That’s how sweet this is. But it’s incredibly refreshing and is the best lemonade to spike with vodka or use as a sour mix shortcut in a Tom Collins.
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- Simple Truth Organic Lemonade
If you’ve ever been to a restaurant and ordered lemonade and then took a sip and realized that it was not fresh-made lemonade but it was still pretty darn good and, yes, you will be taking advantage of the free refill policy…that’s what this brand tastes like. It has a lot of the same qualities of fresh lemonade: It’s tart. There’s a balance of sugar. It’s thirst-quenching. It’s just obviously not made with fresh-squeezed lemons. And sometimes that’s fine. In this case, it is the best store-bought lemonade for an Arnold Palmer. The slightly less acidic taste melds beautifully with iced tea, and the calculated level of sweetness is perfect for a 50/50 AP.
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- Uncle Matt’s No Sugar Added Lemonade
It’s hard to find a sugar-free lemonade that isn’t extremely sweet. That may sound counterintuitive, but if the manufacturer doesn’t add sugar, they add artificial sweeteners instead, and those are often sweeter than actual sugar. Uncle Matt’s manages to still strike a balance between the sweetness (provided by Stevia) and the tartness (provided by lemons). The first flavor you get is pleasantly sour lemon flavor. Then you get a nudge of sweetness that helps mellow out the mix. It still has a bit of that artificial sweetener edge, but it’s definitely the best sugar-free lemonade I tried.
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- Simply Lemonade with Blueberry
Simply is the best brand of lemonade if you want lemonade made with more fruits than just lemons. We liked every one of their berry flavored lemonades. The blueberry lemonade tastes a heck of a lot like a melted popsicle and that is a good thing. It tastes like you mixed blueberry jam into lemonade. It’s not the best lemonade for everyday drinking, but it’s definitely a fun juice to find in the fridge and it would be great with a little gin and a splash of seltzer or shaken with tequila to make an ersatz Margarita.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Sprouts Organic Old Fashioned Lemonade
The sweetness in this lemonade is warm and rounded—almost like it was sweetened with honey rather than sugar. If you regularly shop at Sprouts, this is the best store-bought lemonade to add to your weekly list. It’s lemony and sharp—but still mild enough that you can easily gulp down a couple of glasses. You’ll need refills.
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- Simply Lemonade with Raspberry
This is the best pink lemonade to serve at a baby shower. I know, that’s an incredibly specific occasion, but it’s really the first thing that came to mind when I sipped it. It’s delicate and dainty and it would pair beautifully with tiny tea sandwiches. The raspberry flavor is subtle but fresh—like you muddled a handful of fresh raspberries into the lemonade. I guess if that sounds good you can try it without the threat of a newborn’s imminent arrival.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Simply Lemonade with Strawberry
It smells like a strawberry popsicle and it tastes like a strawberry popsicle dunked into a glass of lemonade. It’s sweet—there’s no denying that—but it still has some lemony tang to it. It’s the best pink lemonade if you’re looking for something that reminds you of kids’ birthday parties or, conversely, it’s also great to mix with vodka.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Natalie’s Strawberry Lemonade
I love this dark pink strawberry lemonade. It’s so vibrant with both fresh lemon and fresh strawberry flavor. And you can even see the bits of strawberry in the mix. While Simply’s strawberry lemonade has that nostalgic pink lemonade flavor, this one is deeper and richer and tangier. Simply is pink lemonade. And Natalie’s is pink lemonade. And this is a list of the best lemonade, so Natalie’s has the edge.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Simply Lemonade
Simply was a close second to our number one pick. It’s a touch sweeter, which dropped it down half a spork for us, but still has great, crisp, tart flavor. And since it’s made with cane sugar, the sweetness is pleasant and rounded. If you like your lemonade on the more sugary end of the spectrum, this is the best lemonade for you. And I do have to commend Simply on its easy-to-pour packaging. The neck of the bottle makes serving a breeze—perfect for spill-prone folks like myself.
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- Newman’s Own Lemonade
“It’s like if you took a lemonade popsicle and let it melt,” senior staff writer Jordan Myrick said. It’s tough to make a mass-produced citrus-based product. You’ll never capture the true essence of a fresh-squeezed lime or grapefruit or lemon. But Newman’s Own comes close. It has a nice, zesty quality and is certainly not as sweet as many of the other lemonades we tried. It’s extremely refreshing and keeps you coming back for more. It’s reminiscent of the lemonade you made using frozen concentrate—I personally like that zingy quality. Trust Mr. Newman, this is the best lemonade.
Credit: Ryan Martin / Instacart
Best Mild
Best for Cocktails
Best for an Arnold Palmer
Best Sugar-Free
Best Blueberry
Best Organic
Best Raspberry
Best Sweet Pink Lemonade
Best Pink Lemonade
Best Sweet
Best of the Best
Other store bought lemonades we tried: Calypso Strawberry Lemonade, Calypso Southern Peach Lemonade, Uncle Matt’s Lemonade (Boxed), Minute Maid Zero Sugar Pink, Marketside Mango Lemonade, Nature’s Nectar Watermelon Lemonade, Marketside, Minute Maid, Great Value, Kroger, Simple Truth, Capri Sun, Kirkland, Califa Farms, Dole, 365
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