The Best Lunch Drinks for a Busy Workday

I feel like in the movies people always have fun drinks in their lunches. They’re always nondescript (unless product placement is actively happening) and they always have a cute li’l straw in them. But in real life? In real life we have water—sometimes still, sometimes sparkling, sometimes frozen into cubes and combined with oat milk, coffee, and two pumps of vanilla. My point is, we need to bring back fun lunch drinks. So here you have it, a list of the five best lunch drinks for your grown-up lunch box that will scratch that non-water itch, whether you need something refreshing, energizing, or thirst quenching.

Gatorade Lime Cucumber

Is there anything more refreshing than spa water? That slightly sweet, slightly sour mix of cucumber and citrus that just calms your anxious li’l heart and refreshes you down to your very soul? Well, I’ve never actually been to a spa, so I can’t say, but drinking this Cucumber Lime Gatorade makes you feel like you have been to a spa and, in fact, are there right now. So if you need a refreshing lunch drink that will go well with deep breathing and not pressing send on that furiously angry email you wrote just before noon, this one’s your guy. Plus, it’s thirst-quenching and, as Sporked‘s Jordan Myrick put it, “tastes natural, which is shocking to me.” What else could you ask for in one of the best lunch box drinks?

Guayaki Traditional Terere

One thing they don’t tell you as a kid? The workday is long. Another thing they don’t tell you as a kid? The workday is tiring. Another thing they don’t tell you as a kid? Both sisters in The Parent Trap are Lindsay Lohan. I had to learn that one the hard way. But whether you are doing sleuthing to find out what Lindsay Lohan’s twin’s name is or simply trying to get through a workday, a bottle of yerba mate is a perfect little pick-me-up lunch drink. As Jordan pointed out, Guayaki is one of the best yerba mate brands out there because it “tastes like actual tea…it’s mild and refreshing and definitely packs a caffeine punch.” So if what you want in your lunch box is basically tea that drinks like an energy drink, yerba is your mate.

Related: Best Energy Drink: The Best Yerba Mate to Give You a Jolt of Energy

Yes, THE ‘BOOCH! Of course we had to have a kombucha on here. In 2024? Come on. And this ‘booch is the queen of ‘booches—and one of the best lunch drinks. This kombucha is fizzy, sweet-but-not-too-sweet, and, according to managing editor Gwynedd Stuart, it has “a tart, crisp quality that truly channels a Pink Lady apple.” This one kind of smells like Martinelli’s apple cider (with that ever-present kombucha funk, of course), and has a really nice tea-to-fruit taste balance. Truly a ‘booch for the ages. Plus, it’s packed with probiotics that purport to keep ya regular, and if that’s not one of the most fun and exciting things to hear about a product, I don’t know what is. You know the age-old saying: “The best lunch drinks are the ones that keep ya regular.”

XXX (Acai-Blueberry-Pomegranate) Vitamin Water

In a previous article, I talked about how I thought the name of this drink, XXX Acai-Blueberry-Pomegranate, would be a great name for a certain space and electric car gazillionaire’s next child. And while I won’t mention his name (he doesn’t need more publicity), I stand by my former assessment. As for the flavor itself, y’all, this stuff is just good. Jordan pointed out that “everyone knows that this blueberry, pomegranate, acai-based flavor is the absolute best Vitamin Water flavor of all time. It’s easily the most flavorful.” Plus, they mentioned the color, which (and I totally agree with them on this) is a stunning, deep reddish purple. Plus vitamins (so you can almost call it healthy) and a resealable bottle (so you can sip it all afternoon)?!? I mean, come on—that’s two of the best lunch drink attributes out there.

Related: Best Vitamin Water: Water AND Vitamins?! These Are the 5 Best Vitamin Water Flavors

Martinelli’s Gold Medal 100% Apple Juice (Specifically the little apple-shaped one)

Lastly, I had to include one for the kids (or kids at heart). Yes, this is that Martinelli’s apple juice that comes in the adorable little apple-shaped bottle where when you bite the bottle it makes a very satisfying apple crunch sound that went viral on the internet like three years ago. It’s pretty darn satisfying. Beyond that though, the juice itself also happens to be one of the Sporked crew’s favorite apple juices, with a flavor that “reminded us of toasting with apple juice as a kid on New Year’s Eve, when you could talk your parents into splurging on the good stuff.” As Gwynedd put it, this is the “champagne of apple juices.” Feelin bougie? Or like impressing your coworkers by hoppin’ on that “biting the packaging” TikTok trend just a tad late? Pick up a pack of these and put them in your lunch. One a day probably won’t keep the doctor away, but it really depends how hard you throw it.