The Best Juice Boxes: Our Taste Test Results

It’s time to start packing school lunches again. We know, you’re so excited. Though the thought of juice boxes doesn’t exactly get us into a frenzy either, we went on a mission to find the best flavors of kid-friendly, 100-percent juice boxes. Full disclosure, we’re sticking to the healthy juice boxes because we don’t want you sending your kid to school with anything similar to go go juice.

Our editors selected the 10 most delicious sounding 100-percent juice boxes that are available at major supermarkets, and ranked them in a blind taste test to determine which taste the best. Frankly, there were few winners. Check out the results in the slideshow below to find out which are worth your hard-earned dollars.

Even more surprising than the juices’ lackluster flavor is how small the boxes are. Ranging from 4.23 to 8 fluid ounces, we don’t know how kids aren’t roaming down school halls like dehydrated zombies. We sure hope they’re getting plenty of water fountain breaks.

As always, this taste test was in no way sponsored or influenced by the brands included.

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• #1: Kiju Organic Mango Orange (Recommended)

  b6.75 fl oz, 90 calories, 19g sugar/b

  bComments:/b “Yum, smooth and refreshing.” “Mango? Not bad at all, but a little thin. Would be good with rum.”em [Editor's note: Do not put rum in your kid's school lunch.]/em “Mmm, mango!”

  bIngredients:/b Organic apple juice, organic white grape juice, organic mango juice, organic orange juice, organic natural flavor, citric acid, ascorbic acid (vitamin C)

• #2: R.W. Knudsen Organic Pear (Recommended)

  b8 fl oz, 120 calories, 23g sugar/b

  bComments:/b “Very mild, pleasant pear flavor. Thin and refreshing.” “This just tastes like sugar-water, but it’s ok.” “Loving this pear flavor.”

  bIngredients:/b Filtered water, organic pear juice concentrate, calcium lactate, organic natural flavor, ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

• #3: Apple Eve Organics Apple Juice (Recommended)

  b6.75 fl oz, 90 calories, 18g sugar/b

  bComments:/b “Generic apple flavor. Totally thirst quenching.” “Standardly apple juicy. Not great, not terrible.” “Totally fine. Standard.” “Inoffensive apple juice.”

  bIngredients:/b Organic apple juice (filtered water sufficient to reconstitute organic apple juice concentrate), calcium gluconate, calcium lactate, malice acid, ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

• #4: R.W. Knudsen Lemonade

  B8 fl oz, 130 calories, 30g sugar/b

  bComments:/b “Tart and sweet. What flavor is this, though?” “Whoa, so sweet. Overwhelmingly sweet.” “Is this lemonade? Weirdly bitter and muddy tasting.” “Kind of like tart apple juice. I like the kick.”

  bIngredients:/b Filtered water (sufficient to reconstitute), white grape, apple and lemon juice concentrates, calcium lactate, natural flavor, ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

• #5: 365 Organic Fruit Punch

  b6.75 fl oz, 120 calories, 25g sugar/b

  bComments:/b “Kind of fall-like. Not too sweet. Wait, are there prunes in here?” “Grape? Kind of astringent and over-sweet.” “Not bad. Full flavor without tasting artificial.”

  bIngredients:/b Organic apple juice from concentrate, organic red grape juice from concentrate, organic raspberry juice from concentrate, organic strawberry juice from concentrate, organic cherry juice from concentrate, calcium lactate, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), citric acid.

• #6: Froose Playful Peach

  b4.23 fl oz, 80 calories, 7g sugar/b

  bComments:/b “This is nectar, not juice. It’s too thick.” “Ugh. Awful baby food texture. This is like the syrup in a fruit cocktail.” “More like a puree than a juice. Reminds me of baby food.” “Tastes like pet food in liquid form.” “Is this pear?”

  bIngredients:/b Water, organic brown rice syrup, peach juice concentrate, organic whole grain brown rice flour, organic apple juice concentrate, inulin, natural peach flavor, glean gum, fruit pectin, xanthan gum, citric acid, ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

• #7: Juicy Juice Kiwi Strawberry

  B6.75 fl oz, 100 calories, 22g sugar/b

  BComments:/b “This doesn’t taste like real juice. It’s too sweet.” “Yuck. Unidentifiably sweet.” “Pineapple? Very sweet but not unpleasant.” “Tastes like liquid gummy bears.”

  bIngredients:/b Apple juice from concentrate, pear juice from concentrate, grape juice from concentrate, strawberry juice from concentrate, kiwi juice from concentrate, natural flavors, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), citric acid.

• #8: Apple Eve Fruitables Fruit Vegetable Pear Peach

  b4.23 fl oz, 40 calories, 6g sugar/b

  bComments:/b “There’s a weird aftertaste going on.” “Watered down pineapple juice?” “Papaya? Weird and funky.”

  bIngredients:/b Juice from concentrate (filtered water sufficient to reconstitute apple, sweet potato, pear, yellow carrot, butternut squash, peach and tomato juice concentrate), filtered water, natural flavors, citric acid, ascorbic acid, beta carotene, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin E acetate.

• #9: Froose Cheerful Cherry

  b4.23 fl oz, 80 calories, 8g sugar/b

  bComments:/b “This tastes like cloudy, dirty cherries.” “The texture of this is like fruit-flavored cooking oil. Blech.” “This is like a melted ice pop.” “Weird syrupy taste.”

  bIngredients:/b Water, organic brown rice syrup, organic apple juice concentrate, dark sweet cherry juice concentrate, organic whole grain bowne rice flour, inulin, natural cherry flavor, gallan gum, fruit pectin, xanthan gum, citric acid, ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

• #10: R.W. Knudsen Organic Sensible Sippers, Banana

  b4.23 fl oz, 35 calories, 8g sugar/b

  bComments:/b “Whoa, there is way too much banana in here. I don’t want to drink a banana.” “Smelled banana before I even tasted it. Awful, dishwater color.” “Coconut? Yucky, grassy, and almost like cardboard.” “Banana juice? It’s kind of watery.”

  bIngredients:/b Filtered water, organic banana puree, organic pear and organic apple juice concentrates, organic natural flavor.