The best apple juice is downright addictive. In fact, I used to have a pretty big apple juice problem. Not all that long ago, when I was a full-grown adult woman (still am), I had a weird aversion to drinking as much water as a full-grown adult woman should, so I made up for it by drinking as much juice as a family of four drinks. And apple juice was my favorite. It’s sweet, refreshing, and goes down smooth when you’re chugging it straight out of the bottle in front of an open fridge because your poor body is hopelessly dehydrated.
Luckily, my relationship with apple juice is much healthier now. I drink water to hydrate, and I very occasionally drink juice as a treat, as I’m sure god and even Mott’s intended. Now that I’m only drinking juice once in a while, it makes sense to want to drink the best apple juice, right? In two separate taste tests, we sipped a bunch of apple juice—light apple juice and flavored apple juice, too—to find the best apple juice brands on the market. Lord, don’t let me get hooked again!
- Great Value Light Apple Juice
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We tried a couple of light apple juices, both of them made with artificial sweeteners. One was Mott’s, the other was Great Value—and Great Value wins out because it has less of that lingering artificial sweetener flavor. If you buy regular less sugar apple juice, it is simply less sweet. Light apple juice (which has 45% less sugar and calories) is as sweet if not sweeter than regular apple juice. If you still want that very rich, saccharine flavor without all the sugar, you should opt for light apple juice. I do not recommend buying less sugar apple juice like Mott’s for Tots—it is literally just watered down apple juice! Just buy apple juice and cut it with water if that’s what you want. If you don’t mind artificial sweeteners like sucralose, this is the best lower sugar apple juice.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Great Value 100% Apple Juice
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When you think of apple juice, you probably think of Mott’s. And Mott’s is good! The thing is, I simply could not taste a difference between Mott’s classic apple juice and this budget apple juice from Walmart. If you don’t like the cloudy, natural-looking apple juices elsewhere on this list, give this a shot—although, I gotta say, you should consider switching to cloudy apple juice. But this is the best apple juice when you want something that tastes like kindergarten snack time.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Mott’s Apple Mango
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One thing Mott’s does better than other brands? Flavored apple juices. Mott’s Apple Mango is awesome—it has everything you love about apple juice, but it’s just a touch more interesting. It has a fresh, ripe mango flavor, almost like a puree or a nectar, even though it’s from concentrate. This is the best apple juice if you want the flavor to transport you to a tropical summer destination rather than a chilly fall orchard.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Evolution Fresh Organic Apple
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I’m always pining for cooler fall weather (even though “cooler fall weather” doesn’t hit Southern California until it’s practically winter). This delicious cold-pressed juice from Evolution is pricey, but the fresh, natural taste of orchard-fresh juice is very worth it. “This one smells and tastes a little more fresh and natural—organic, farmy,” one of our taste testers noted. You even get some of the bitterness of apple skin in this bottle. With this one, you’re not just getting the sweet sugariness, you’re getting the balance of biting into an apple. This is the best apple juice if you don’t mind splurging on your bevs.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Tree Top 100% Pure Pressed Honeycrisp Apple Juice
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Yes, this juice looks like muddy water, but it really channels the flavor of a honeycrisp apple, as advertised. I’m super passionate about trying different apple cultivars, and I’m personally convinced that honeycrisp apples are the best for straight-up eating. That might seem boring because they’re so ubiquitous, but it’s true! (Jazz apples are a close second; Cosmic Crisp are third.) This juice came off as a little acidic for some of our tasters, but it’s the best apple juice if you’re also a hardcore honeycrisp lover.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Martinelli’s Gold Medal 100% Apple Juice
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For me, Martinelli’s has always been the treat-yourself apple juice brand. It’s not that egregiously expensive (although, it is more than your average store brand), but there’s something about the presentation that just screams “luxury apple juice.” It’s the Champagne of apple juices. A sip of this 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.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Sprouts 100% Fresh Pressed Apple Juice
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The balance of sweetness and tartness in this bottle of fresh-pressed juice from Sprouts makes it one of the best apple juice brands. “Crisp is the first word that comes to mind with this one,” one taste tester said after taking a sip. “It’s got a good flavor to it and doesn’t taste super processed.” This juice is also sweet without being cloying and tastes like the fall, when grocery store produce sections spill over with every apple cultivar you can imagine. More than one taste tester thought this tasted the most like biting into an apple of all the apple juices we tried.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Simply Apple
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Simply juices are almost always a cut above the rest, and this pressed apple juice is no exception. The packaging advertises “fresh taste” and that’s no joke. This not-from-concentrate juice looks and tastes extremely fresh and natural, like something you’d pick up at a roadside stand attached to an apple orchard. It even has floaties in the bottle. My notes were: “Goddammit, it’s really good.” If you can get past the floaty stuff in the bottle, you’re in for a treat. Simply is the best apple juice brand, hands down.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
Best Light
Best Budget
Best Flavored
Best for Cider Lovers
Best Tart
Best for a Toast
Best Balanced
Best of the Best
Other products we tried: R.W. Knudsen Organic Apple Juice, Nature’s Nectar Apple Juice, Simply Nature Apple Juice, First Street Apple Juice, Langers Apple Juice, O Organics Apple Juice, Trader Joe’s Organic Apple Juice, 365 Organic Apple Juice, Motts 100% Apple Juice, Santa Cruz Apple Juice, Mott’s for Tots, Mott’s Light
