I can’t bear in mind the final time I had a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. It could have been a number of years in the past, once I tried squeezing my very own juice at residence. I used to be shocked at what number of oranges I wanted—at the very least three medium navel oranges—for a full eight-ounce glass. The juice was recent and pulpy, with a vibrant trace of sweetness. As scrumptious because it was, I merely couldn’t justify the fee, time, and labor required for a single serving, and I went again to the bottled stuff for all however probably the most particular of events. 

Whereas there are many choices out there at grocery shops, they aren’t all the time good—I’m often disenchanted by the bitter, one-dimensional taste of some industrial juices. Nonetheless, I like sipping on a refreshing glass of juice on occasion, and I needed to search out the perfect store-bought choice for when I simply can’t be bothered with squeezing it recent. To seek out the perfect store-bought orange juice, we tasted six totally different juices you’re more likely to discover at your native grocery store.

For this check, we centered on pulp-free juices. We didn’t even contemplate from-concentrate juices, although we did embrace one as a management and it scored the bottom with all our staffers. This isn’t shocking, as from-concentrate juice has been filtered, dried, and pasteurized, then reconstituted with water. You possibly can inform that it as soon as got here from an orange, however has gone by way of a lot processing you can’t be fooled into pondering its intense, faux-tasting liquid is freshly squeezed.

As soon as we narrowed down the sphere to 6 not-from-concentrate, pulp-free orange juices, we had our tasters pattern them with out understanding which manufacturers they have been making an attempt, and after battling by way of the heartburn that comes with downing six glasses of orange juice on an empty abdomen, we discovered an total winner we’d be blissful to sip by itself at residence or combine up into drinks resembling a inexperienced smoothie or boozy sangrita.

The Standards

Whether or not recent or store-bought, orange juice must be balanced: It must be candy however not artificially so, and it shouldn’t be overly bitter. It must be pleasantly tangy and never bitter, and will style prefer it was freshly squeezed from precise fruit. For a lot of orange juice producers, this can be a troublesome ask. Industrial fruit juice is pasteurized, and whereas this course of eliminates harmful micro organism and extends the juice’s shelf life, it additionally removes a lot of the flavour. 

In her e book Squeezed, which dives into the historical past of orange juice, the journalist Alissa Hamilton explains how industrial orange juice is made. In accordance with Hamilton, manufacturers add a “taste pack”—oils and essences derived from oranges which might be then blended by a taste producer—to pasteurized juice to assist restore the flavour and aroma of the freshly squeezed stuff. By the point the juice has made its technique to the grocery retailer, any “recent” style you detect is totally manufactured, which is solely how industrial orange juice needs to be made and bought. With this in thoughts, you would say this style check’s aim was to determine the model of orange juice with a taste pack that tastes probably the most like freshly squeezed juice.

General Winner

Wegmans Premium No Pulp Orange Juice

Our editors preferred that this juice had a contact of tartness with out being overly bitter. “Candy and no bitter aftertaste,” our affiliate editorial director, Megan, wrote. Although our editorial director, Daniel, discovered it a “a tiny bit viscous,” everybody else thought this had what our affiliate visuals director, Amanda, described because the “anticipated texture and physique” of business orange juice. “It’s good,” Megan famous. “I might drink it on function.” (After the testing was full and her prime decide was revealed, she did take residence the remainder of the bottle!)

Runner Up

Merely Orange Pulp Free Orange Juice

Opinions have been divided right here: Those that didn’t get pleasure from this juice, together with our senior social media editor, Kelli, and our artwork director, Sabrina, thought it was barely too bitter and bitter. Megan and Daniel, nonetheless, each loved the citrus-forward taste of this juice. In accordance with Merely Orange’s label, their juice is made with 100% orange juice from Brazil, Mexico, and america. “Not 100% like recent squeezed nevertheless it’s within the zone,” Daniel wrote. “I can drink this.” Megan preferred the juice’s “good daring orange taste,” which she described as “candy with a tart end.”

The Contenders

• 365 Natural Orange Juice No Pulp
• Florida’s Pure 100% Premium Florida Orange Juice No Pulp
• Merely Orange Merely Pulp Free Orange Juice
• Tropicana Pure Premium 100% Orange Juice Unique, No Pulp, No Sugar Added
• Uncle Matt’s Natural Pulp Free Orange Juice
• Wegman’s Premium No Pulp Orange Juice

In Conclusion

Based mostly on the style check outcomes, the primary conclusion I can come to is: Our editors far desire freshly squeezed orange juice to commercially produced orange juice, even when it means squeezing citrus by hand. The juices we did like, nonetheless, weren’t from focus and didn’t style like they have been from focus. For juice that tastes recent, purchase or make your individual freshly squeezed. But when neither are an choice, then Wegmans and Merely Orange are each good choices.

Our Testing Methodology

All style checks are carried out with manufacturers utterly hidden and with out dialogue. Tasters style samples in random order. For instance, taster A could style pattern 1 first, whereas taster B will style pattern 6 first. That is to stop palate fatigue from unfairly giving anyone pattern a bonus. Tasters are requested to fill out tasting sheets rating the samples for varied standards. All knowledge is tabulated and outcomes are calculated with no editorial enter with a view to give us probably the most neutral illustration potential.