Popular Arizona Tea Flavors, Ranked Worst To Best
Shutterstock By Mariel Loveland/Updated: Jan. 31, 2023 1:29 pm EST
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. There are three things you can count on in life: death, taxes, and the price of a $0.99 can of AriZona iced tea. The Brooklyn-based beverage company, whose somewhat inexplicable Southwestern flair has peppered bodega and gas station refrigerators for nearly 30 years, is somewhat of a soft drink enigma with a fervent cult following (via AriZona). Despite few marketing efforts, the company’s 23.5-ounce cans have become pretty ubiquitous, clinging to their $0.99 price tag through economic downturns, a historic dip in soft drink sales, and even plain old inflation (via The New York Times). In short, you’d be hard-pressed not to find a whole array of this stuff in your local cold case.
In 2021, there’s not much you can buy with a dollar. According to Visual Capitalist, food costs have risen considerably since AriZona permanently added the price to its packaging, sealing the fate of rogue deli owners who attempt to sticker over it (via Forbes). Though the company has expanded to brand new beverage lines, sized up price changes, and even considered a foray into the trendy CBD space, according to Just Drinks, the most popular AriZona flavors have seemingly endured for decades. Here’s a look at the most popular of the AriZona tea flavors, ranked worst to best.
- AriZona Fruit Punch
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AriZona’s Fruit Punch has one thing going for it. It’s still cheaper than water. Seriously, Smartwater has the audacity to cost more than three times as much as one of these cans. Unfortunately, it’s just not very good, which speaks less to the quality of AriZona drinks and more to the competition in the world of sugary fruit punch drinks.
Compared to nostalgic favorites like Capri Sun or Kool-Aid — not to mention AriZona’s other offerings — the flavor here is notably muted. It’s a bit corn syrup-forward, which isn’t unexpected for an inexpensive soft drink. However, it still overwhelms the notes of mango, apple, pineapple, pear, cherry, and strawberry. What’s left is essentially a vaguely fruity sugar water that isn’t worth the empty calories. As one Reddit user explained, it’s “an embarrassment to call this beverage fruit punch. It tastes like 80% water mixed with 2-year-old Hawaiian Punch.” Nonetheless, at least some people still seem to like it. If anything, the fact that it’s all-natural and free from preservatives puts it above other similar options. Still, it’s probably worth it to splurge on the version made with cane sugar or just something else from the rather large AriZona lineup.
- AriZona Kiwi Strawberry
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Strawberry kiwi is typically a winning flavor combination. It’s sweet. It’s tropical. It’s an exciting choice that feels both familiar and out-of-the-box. In other words, it’s hard to mess up. The flavor has become a soft drink staple, transcending brands from Tropicana to Snapple to Vitaminwater. Unfortunately, AriZona’s Kiwi Strawberry fruit juice cocktail adds little to the conversation.
Sure, it’s pleasantly sweet. As in, really sweet, which for some palettes may border on throat-burningly saccharine. As reviewers have pointed out, the kiwi gives it a refreshing sour aftertaste (think of it more like watered-down Sour Patch Kids rather than spoiled milk). This could be because, per the ingredients, there’s more kiwi juice and citric acid in the mix than rather sweeter strawberry juice. Nonetheless, it’s still missing the bite you might taste in Snapple’s version and the full-bodied flavor of Tropicana’s Strawberry Kiwi (though, it’s admittedly hard to compete with 100% fruit juice). By all accounts, AriZona’s Kiwi Strawberry is fine, but just that. It’s nothing terribly exciting, especially compared to similar flavors offered by other brands.
- AriZona Grapeade
AriZona’s Grapeade fruit juice cocktail is a sure winner for anyone who likes sugary sweet grape drinks. The problem is, that’s only a very niche audience and, even then, said audience might not consistently go for this flavor. As one Reddit user points out, “I have to REALLY be in the mood to get this.” What mood, specifically? Whichever compels you to consume what’s essentially a liquid grape Jolly Rancher (which is arguably the most polarizing of Jolly Rancher flavors).
The truth is that AriZona’s Grapeade doesn’t taste much like grape at all. Just one glimpse at the ingredients shows this beverage is mostly water and corn syrup. As for flavor, the landscape is pretty bleak. Beyond that, it’s got more pear juice than it does red grape juice. This is perhaps why it tastes more like candy than a drink you’d pack with your school lunch — the kicker being that even high school-aged students don’t like it. As one teenage reviewer put it via The Talon, “One sip and you are done forever.” There’s an argument to be made that AriZona Grapeade would make the perfect cocktail mixer for everyone who hasn’t fully grown out of drinking the ominous jungle juice that lives in plastic tubs on frat house kitchen counters across the nation. Plus, as argued by one Twitter user, the can is as pretty as Harry Styles. For that reason, it’s hard to rank Grapeade as AriZona’s worst flavor, but it’s definitely not great.
- AriZona Cherry Lime Rickey
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Even without the AriZona label, lime rickeys are a time-honored American tradition. As pointed out by Serious Eats, the drink’s roots stem all the way back to the 1880s, when the “Rickey” cocktail was created with a blend of rye whiskey, sparkling water, and lemon juice. As the folklore goes, the lime was later added by Missouri Representative William Henry Hatch, but the alcohol-free mocktail version didn’t become popular until Prohibition. Once alcohol was no longer readily available (or, for that matter, technically legal in most respects) many people turned to festive non-alcoholic options.
Since then, lime rickeys have become a pretty polarizing beverage. In New England, you’ll find offerings spritzed with raspberry soda, but others argue that it’s all about the titular lime. AriZona’s Cherry Lime Rickey is somewhere in between, paying homage to the classic with cane sugar instead of corn syrup. The lime flavor and light carbonation come across immediately, but there’s also notes of pear, mango, strawberry, and — as advertised — cherry. However, as one reviewer points out, the cherry does read a little bit like cough syrup, which unfortunately is common in the world of sugary soft drinks. Overall, it feels more like a fizzy, lime-forward fruit cocktail than carbonated cherry limeade. You either love it or you don’t, but few are clamoring for this particular AriZona beverage anyway.
- AriZona Iced Tea with Peach Flavor
Peach tea is another soft drink staple with iterations found in just about every brand that mass produces tea-based beverages. Unfortunately, in the face of its competition, AriZona’s Iced Tea with Peach Flavor is a little underwhelming. Not only does AriZona tea have better products with flavor profiles that are a true testament to the company’s innovation, but — flatly put — other brands have already mastered this one.
Peach tea purists will argue that Snapple put this flavor combination on the map. Whereas Snapple’s version has a distinctive peach flavor that’s mellowed out by their noticeably stronger tea blend, AriZona’s tastes like you’ve steeped Haribo Peaches in water. It’s not exactly strong or exciting to even the most sensitive palate, to say the least. Even more regional peach teas — like Wawa’s more bold version, which is frankly a New Jersey treasure, right up there with the likes of Bruce Springsteen — seem to have an airier flavor profile. In comparison, AriZona’s corn-syrup-heavy peach tea isn’t bad, but it’s not great either. Though the flavor remains popular because it comes in one of their classic Big Az Cans, to mention a gallon-sized version with a diet option, there are better options even within the brand. For instance, their Good Brew Peach Tea is a vast improvement.
- AriZona RX Energy Herbal Tonic
The RX Energy Herbal Tonic is where AriZona’s true innovation shines. It’s not hard to argue that they’re wasting their time with peach tea when they could be reinventing the energy drink industry. Let’s just look at the facts.
Most energy drinks are not good. As you’d suspect from beverages that generally carry enough sugar and caffeine to keep a small army alert, they’re not good for you, either. Energy drink consumption is linked to erratic heart rate, spiked blood pressure, anxiety, irritability, sleep disturbances, abdominal spasms, and a whole bunch of other rough stuff. There’s was even a dismissed lawsuit that alleged that Monster Energy contributed to a man’s debilitating heart attack (via Food Dive). Beyond any health risks, which typically fall in the realm of overconsumption rather than regular use, energy drinks aren’t exactly heralded for their flavor, either. Anyone who’s had a Red Bull knows that almost indescribable and often unpleasant chemical taste. In contrast, AriZona’s RX Energy is nothing of the sort. The tonic has a sweet herbal flavor that’s medicinal in just the right way (that is, it tastes like it’s working, which helps it work on a placebo level). You won’t find an overload of added caffeine here, either. The drink is mostly water, corn syrup, and green tea with a mix of fruit concentrates, vitamins, and energy drink staples like ginseng and guarana. It won’t give you wings, but some of us like our feet on the ground.
- AriZona Iced Tea with Lemon Flavor
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AriZona Iced Tea with Lemon is the brand’s classic offering. A lemon flavor is pretty much a prerequisite for bottled tea companies, and most of the time, it’s perfectly adequate. This is the drink you reach for after you order a bodega sandwich. It’s the drink that you sip during a long drive. It’s always in stock. It’s always there for you. It’s a flavor you can count on.
Like vanilla ice cream or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, there’s a reason that AriZona’s lemon tea is so overwhelmingly popular. The bright, retro-style packaging is part of what makes the brand so eye-catching and ubiquitous, while the flavor is just right. The hint of lemon and the signature tea blend cuts the corn syrupy sweetness — though make no mistake, this still tastes like a sugary soft drink that’s full of childhood nostalgia. As one reviewer glowed, “[Ever] since I was a kid Arizona was always $0.99 cents. With the summer here and the extreme heat, I can drink a full gallon. Even with the different flavors the classic lemon will always be the best.” There’s just something about the subtle metallic taste of a cold can of AriZona lemon tea that brings you right back to childhood summers filled with scraped knees and running through sprinklers on the lawn. For some, that sugary sweetness and a hint of packaging taste aren’t all that exciting, but nostalgia is a pretty strong additive nonetheless.
- AriZona Mucho Mango
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There aren’t too many soft drink brands that really dive into everything that can be done with a mango. It’s definitely an underutilized fruit, almost always presented as the side-kick to another flavor and rarely given lead status as the star of the show. AriZona is one of the few beverage company’s that have tapped into its obvious potential, and consumers are listening.
AriZona’s Mucho Mango fruit juice cocktail is consistently a fan favorite, as witnessed via one enthusiast’s ranking on Reddit. Unlike some of the brand’s other fruit juice cocktails — which float around the vicinity of authenticity without ever actually being authentic — it unequivocally tastes like genuine mango nectar. How? Because it pretty much is made with real mango, according to AriZona, barring the addition of pear juice to the mix. It even has real mango puree. After some deep research combing through the ingredients label, we found that the primary ingredients in Mucho Mango actually form the base for most of AriZona’s fruit juice cocktails. In other words, this is AriZona in its purest form, the sweet nectar that runs through the brand’s veins. Surely that says it all, landing this fruit juice cocktail at a pretty high place overall on this list.
- AriZona Arnold Palmer Strawberry
The only thing better than AriZona’s Golden Bear Strawberry Lemonade is the brand’s Arnold Palmer Strawberry Half & Half. If golf was somehow a team sport, this would be a championship team. However, in reality, the branding shows a rivalry between two golf legends, at least when it comes to the packaging of their respective drinks. Though this AriZona drink contains both lemonade and strawberry, Jack Nicklaus and his “Golden Bear” brand are cut out of the picture entirely. This is solely Arnold Palmer’s domain and it’s a definite hole-in-one.
While the original Golden Bear is — as we previously described — something of an undertaking thanks to its sweetness, Arnold Palmer Strawberry is a true breeze. It’s like zipping through a course on a golf cart as you watch everyone else drag their clubs. This drink is still wildly sweet, to be sure, but the addition of tea makes it taste less like a Starburst candy and more like something that could actually provide hydration. Then again, as one reviewer noted, “the nutritional facts are pretty scary”, so moderation is still key here. Nonetheless, like with all AriZona drinks, you can’t beat the price. “Soooo delicious,” wrote one reviewer. “I only have these every once in a while because they are super sweet! But the taste is awesome! Great job at delivering a sweet strawberry flavor and a tart lemonade flavor!! Perfect mix in my opinion.”
- AriZona Arnold Palmer
Finally, we have the Holy Grail of tea beverages, the platonic ideal of the AriZona lineup: the AriZona Arnold Palmer. For those of us who spent a childhood torn between choosing lemonade or tea, this is proof that sometimes the world is kind and you truly can get everything you want. Nonetheless, while AriZona’s Half & Half recipe is delicious, it’s not actually right.
As the name suggests, the cherished drink hails from the mind of golf legend Arnold Palmer. He wasn’t the first person to stumble upon the mixture (as anyone who’s stood in front of a soda fountain knows), but he was certainly the person who popularized it. By all accounts, it was just an off-hand, spontaneous idea. According to The Washington Post, his wife made “a lot of iced tea for lunch” and he simply mixed the extra with lemonade. He ended up loving the drink so much that he started taking it around in a thermos when he played golf. The rest is history. In 2001, AriZona licensed the golf legend’s likeness to sell the drink, but their description of half lemonade and half iced tea wasn’t actually Palmer’s original recipe. Iced tea was always meant to be the dominant flavor (imagine an ultra-sweet, puckery lemon tea), but most AriZona die-hards will have to firmly disagree. Since then, the brand has been riffing on the flavor profile, including a popular lite version and a Southern-style version with sweet tea and pink lemonade.
Popular Arizona Tea Flavors, Ranked Worst To Best
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By Mariel Loveland/Updated: Jan. 31, 2023 1:29 pm EST
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. There are three things you can count on in life: death, taxes, and the price of a $0.99 can of AriZona iced tea. The Brooklyn-based beverage company, whose somewhat inexplicable Southwestern flair has peppered bodega and gas station refrigerators for nearly 30 years, is somewhat of a soft drink enigma with a fervent cult following (via AriZona). Despite few marketing efforts, the company’s 23.5-ounce cans have become pretty ubiquitous, clinging to their $0.99 price tag through economic downturns, a historic dip in soft drink sales, and even plain old inflation (via The New York Times). In short, you’d be hard-pressed not to find a whole array of this stuff in your local cold case.
In 2021, there’s not much you can buy with a dollar. According to Visual Capitalist, food costs have risen considerably since AriZona permanently added the price to its packaging, sealing the fate of rogue deli owners who attempt to sticker over it (via Forbes). Though the company has expanded to brand new beverage lines, sized up price changes, and even considered a foray into the trendy CBD space, according to Just Drinks, the most popular AriZona flavors have seemingly endured for decades. Here’s a look at the most popular of the AriZona tea flavors, ranked worst to best.
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
In 2021, there’s not much you can buy with a dollar. According to Visual Capitalist, food costs have risen considerably since AriZona permanently added the price to its packaging, sealing the fate of rogue deli owners who attempt to sticker over it (via Forbes). Though the company has expanded to brand new beverage lines, sized up price changes, and even considered a foray into the trendy CBD space, according to Just Drinks, the most popular AriZona flavors have seemingly endured for decades. Here’s a look at the most popular of the AriZona tea flavors, ranked worst to best.
16. AriZona Fruit Punch
AriZona’s Fruit Punch has one thing going for it. It’s still cheaper than water. Seriously, Smartwater has the audacity to cost more than three times as much as one of these cans. Unfortunately, it’s just not very good, which speaks less to the quality of AriZona drinks and more to the competition in the world of sugary fruit punch drinks.
Compared to nostalgic favorites like Capri Sun or Kool-Aid — not to mention AriZona’s other offerings — the flavor here is notably muted. It’s a bit corn syrup-forward, which isn’t unexpected for an inexpensive soft drink. However, it still overwhelms the notes of mango, apple, pineapple, pear, cherry, and strawberry. What’s left is essentially a vaguely fruity sugar water that isn’t worth the empty calories. As one Reddit user explained, it’s “an embarrassment to call this beverage fruit punch. It tastes like 80% water mixed with 2-year-old Hawaiian Punch.” Nonetheless, at least some people still seem to like it. If anything, the fact that it’s all-natural and free from preservatives puts it above other similar options. Still, it’s probably worth it to splurge on the version made with cane sugar or just something else from the rather large AriZona lineup.
Compared to nostalgic favorites like Capri Sun or Kool-Aid — not to mention AriZona’s other offerings — the flavor here is notably muted. It’s a bit corn syrup-forward, which isn’t unexpected for an inexpensive soft drink. However, it still overwhelms the notes of mango, apple, pineapple, pear, cherry, and strawberry. What’s left is essentially a vaguely fruity sugar water that isn’t worth the empty calories. As one Reddit user explained, it’s “an embarrassment to call this beverage fruit punch. It tastes like 80% water mixed with 2-year-old Hawaiian Punch.”
Nonetheless, at least some people still seem to like it. If anything, the fact that it’s all-natural and free from preservatives puts it above other similar options. Still, it’s probably worth it to splurge on the version made with cane sugar or just something else from the rather large AriZona lineup.
15. AriZona Kiwi Strawberry
Strawberry kiwi is typically a winning flavor combination. It’s sweet. It’s tropical. It’s an exciting choice that feels both familiar and out-of-the-box. In other words, it’s hard to mess up. The flavor has become a soft drink staple, transcending brands from Tropicana to Snapple to Vitaminwater. Unfortunately, AriZona’s Kiwi Strawberry fruit juice cocktail adds little to the conversation.
Sure, it’s pleasantly sweet. As in, really sweet, which for some palettes may border on throat-burningly saccharine. As reviewers have pointed out, the kiwi gives it a refreshing sour aftertaste (think of it more like watered-down Sour Patch Kids rather than spoiled milk). This could be because, per the ingredients, there’s more kiwi juice and citric acid in the mix than rather sweeter strawberry juice. Nonetheless, it’s still missing the bite you might taste in Snapple’s version and the full-bodied flavor of Tropicana’s Strawberry Kiwi (though, it’s admittedly hard to compete with 100% fruit juice). By all accounts, AriZona’s Kiwi Strawberry is fine, but just that. It’s nothing terribly exciting, especially compared to similar flavors offered by other brands.
Sure, it’s pleasantly sweet. As in, really sweet, which for some palettes may border on throat-burningly saccharine. As reviewers have pointed out, the kiwi gives it a refreshing sour aftertaste (think of it more like watered-down Sour Patch Kids rather than spoiled milk). This could be because, per the ingredients, there’s more kiwi juice and citric acid in the mix than rather sweeter strawberry juice. Nonetheless, it’s still missing the bite you might taste in Snapple’s version and the full-bodied flavor of Tropicana’s Strawberry Kiwi (though, it’s admittedly hard to compete with 100% fruit juice). By all accounts, AriZona’s Kiwi Strawberry is fine, but just that. It’s nothing terribly exciting, especially compared to similar flavors offered by other brands.
14. AriZona Grapeade
AriZona’s Grapeade fruit juice cocktail is a sure winner for anyone who likes sugary sweet grape drinks. The problem is, that’s only a very niche audience and, even then, said audience might not consistently go for this flavor. As one Reddit user points out, “I have to REALLY be in the mood to get this.” What mood, specifically? Whichever compels you to consume what’s essentially a liquid grape Jolly Rancher (which is arguably the most polarizing of Jolly Rancher flavors).
The truth is that AriZona’s Grapeade doesn’t taste much like grape at all. Just one glimpse at the ingredients shows this beverage is mostly water and corn syrup. As for flavor, the landscape is pretty bleak. Beyond that, it’s got more pear juice than it does red grape juice. This is perhaps why it tastes more like candy than a drink you’d pack with your school lunch — the kicker being that even high school-aged students don’t like it. As one teenage reviewer put it via The Talon, “One sip and you are done forever.” There’s an argument to be made that AriZona Grapeade would make the perfect cocktail mixer for everyone who hasn’t fully grown out of drinking the ominous jungle juice that lives in plastic tubs on frat house kitchen counters across the nation. Plus, as argued by one Twitter user, the can is as pretty as Harry Styles. For that reason, it’s hard to rank Grapeade as AriZona’s worst flavor, but it’s definitely not great.
The truth is that AriZona’s Grapeade doesn’t taste much like grape at all. Just one glimpse at the ingredients shows this beverage is mostly water and corn syrup. As for flavor, the landscape is pretty bleak. Beyond that, it’s got more pear juice than it does red grape juice. This is perhaps why it tastes more like candy than a drink you’d pack with your school lunch — the kicker being that even high school-aged students don’t like it. As one teenage reviewer put it via The Talon, “One sip and you are done forever.”
There’s an argument to be made that AriZona Grapeade would make the perfect cocktail mixer for everyone who hasn’t fully grown out of drinking the ominous jungle juice that lives in plastic tubs on frat house kitchen counters across the nation. Plus, as argued by one Twitter user, the can is as pretty as Harry Styles. For that reason, it’s hard to rank Grapeade as AriZona’s worst flavor, but it’s definitely not great.
13. AriZona Cherry Lime Rickey
Even without the AriZona label, lime rickeys are a time-honored American tradition. As pointed out by Serious Eats, the drink’s roots stem all the way back to the 1880s, when the “Rickey” cocktail was created with a blend of rye whiskey, sparkling water, and lemon juice. As the folklore goes, the lime was later added by Missouri Representative William Henry Hatch, but the alcohol-free mocktail version didn’t become popular until Prohibition. Once alcohol was no longer readily available (or, for that matter, technically legal in most respects) many people turned to festive non-alcoholic options.
Since then, lime rickeys have become a pretty polarizing beverage. In New England, you’ll find offerings spritzed with raspberry soda, but others argue that it’s all about the titular lime. AriZona’s Cherry Lime Rickey is somewhere in between, paying homage to the classic with cane sugar instead of corn syrup. The lime flavor and light carbonation come across immediately, but there’s also notes of pear, mango, strawberry, and — as advertised — cherry. However, as one reviewer points out, the cherry does read a little bit like cough syrup, which unfortunately is common in the world of sugary soft drinks. Overall, it feels more like a fizzy, lime-forward fruit cocktail than carbonated cherry limeade. You either love it or you don’t, but few are clamoring for this particular AriZona beverage anyway.
Since then, lime rickeys have become a pretty polarizing beverage. In New England, you’ll find offerings spritzed with raspberry soda, but others argue that it’s all about the titular lime. AriZona’s Cherry Lime Rickey is somewhere in between, paying homage to the classic with cane sugar instead of corn syrup. The lime flavor and light carbonation come across immediately, but there’s also notes of pear, mango, strawberry, and — as advertised — cherry.
However, as one reviewer points out, the cherry does read a little bit like cough syrup, which unfortunately is common in the world of sugary soft drinks. Overall, it feels more like a fizzy, lime-forward fruit cocktail than carbonated cherry limeade. You either love it or you don’t, but few are clamoring for this particular AriZona beverage anyway.
12. AriZona Iced Tea with Peach Flavor
Peach tea is another soft drink staple with iterations found in just about every brand that mass produces tea-based beverages. Unfortunately, in the face of its competition, AriZona’s Iced Tea with Peach Flavor is a little underwhelming. Not only does AriZona tea have better products with flavor profiles that are a true testament to the company’s innovation, but — flatly put — other brands have already mastered this one.
Peach tea purists will argue that Snapple put this flavor combination on the map. Whereas Snapple’s version has a distinctive peach flavor that’s mellowed out by their noticeably stronger tea blend, AriZona’s tastes like you’ve steeped Haribo Peaches in water. It’s not exactly strong or exciting to even the most sensitive palate, to say the least. Even more regional peach teas — like Wawa’s more bold version, which is frankly a New Jersey treasure, right up there with the likes of Bruce Springsteen — seem to have an airier flavor profile. In comparison, AriZona’s corn-syrup-heavy peach tea isn’t bad, but it’s not great either. Though the flavor remains popular because it comes in one of their classic Big Az Cans, to mention a gallon-sized version with a diet option, there are better options even within the brand. For instance, their Good Brew Peach Tea is a vast improvement.
Peach tea purists will argue that Snapple put this flavor combination on the map. Whereas Snapple’s version has a distinctive peach flavor that’s mellowed out by their noticeably stronger tea blend, AriZona’s tastes like you’ve steeped Haribo Peaches in water. It’s not exactly strong or exciting to even the most sensitive palate, to say the least.
Even more regional peach teas — like Wawa’s more bold version, which is frankly a New Jersey treasure, right up there with the likes of Bruce Springsteen — seem to have an airier flavor profile. In comparison, AriZona’s corn-syrup-heavy peach tea isn’t bad, but it’s not great either. Though the flavor remains popular because it comes in one of their classic Big Az Cans, to mention a gallon-sized version with a diet option, there are better options even within the brand. For instance, their Good Brew Peach Tea is a vast improvement.
11. AriZona RX Energy Herbal Tonic
The RX Energy Herbal Tonic is where AriZona’s true innovation shines. It’s not hard to argue that they’re wasting their time with peach tea when they could be reinventing the energy drink industry. Let’s just look at the facts.
Most energy drinks are not good. As you’d suspect from beverages that generally carry enough sugar and caffeine to keep a small army alert, they’re not good for you, either. Energy drink consumption is linked to erratic heart rate, spiked blood pressure, anxiety, irritability, sleep disturbances, abdominal spasms, and a whole bunch of other rough stuff. There’s was even a dismissed lawsuit that alleged that Monster Energy contributed to a man’s debilitating heart attack (via Food Dive). Beyond any health risks, which typically fall in the realm of overconsumption rather than regular use, energy drinks aren’t exactly heralded for their flavor, either. Anyone who’s had a Red Bull knows that almost indescribable and often unpleasant chemical taste. In contrast, AriZona’s RX Energy is nothing of the sort. The tonic has a sweet herbal flavor that’s medicinal in just the right way (that is, it tastes like it’s working, which helps it work on a placebo level). You won’t find an overload of added caffeine here, either. The drink is mostly water, corn syrup, and green tea with a mix of fruit concentrates, vitamins, and energy drink staples like ginseng and guarana. It won’t give you wings, but some of us like our feet on the ground.
Most energy drinks are not good. As you’d suspect from beverages that generally carry enough sugar and caffeine to keep a small army alert, they’re not good for you, either. Energy drink consumption is linked to erratic heart rate, spiked blood pressure, anxiety, irritability, sleep disturbances, abdominal spasms, and a whole bunch of other rough stuff. There’s was even a dismissed lawsuit that alleged that Monster Energy contributed to a man’s debilitating heart attack (via Food Dive).
Beyond any health risks, which typically fall in the realm of overconsumption rather than regular use, energy drinks aren’t exactly heralded for their flavor, either. Anyone who’s had a Red Bull knows that almost indescribable and often unpleasant chemical taste. In contrast, AriZona’s RX Energy is nothing of the sort. The tonic has a sweet herbal flavor that’s medicinal in just the right way (that is, it tastes like it’s working, which helps it work on a placebo level). You won’t find an overload of added caffeine here, either. The drink is mostly water, corn syrup, and green tea with a mix of fruit concentrates, vitamins, and energy drink staples like ginseng and guarana. It won’t give you wings, but some of us like our feet on the ground.
10. AriZona Iced Tea with Lemon Flavor
AriZona Iced Tea with Lemon is the brand’s classic offering. A lemon flavor is pretty much a prerequisite for bottled tea companies, and most of the time, it’s perfectly adequate. This is the drink you reach for after you order a bodega sandwich. It’s the drink that you sip during a long drive. It’s always in stock. It’s always there for you. It’s a flavor you can count on.
Like vanilla ice cream or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, there’s a reason that AriZona’s lemon tea is so overwhelmingly popular. The bright, retro-style packaging is part of what makes the brand so eye-catching and ubiquitous, while the flavor is just right. The hint of lemon and the signature tea blend cuts the corn syrupy sweetness — though make no mistake, this still tastes like a sugary soft drink that’s full of childhood nostalgia. As one reviewer glowed, “[Ever] since I was a kid Arizona was always $0.99 cents. With the summer here and the extreme heat, I can drink a full gallon. Even with the different flavors the classic lemon will always be the best.” There’s just something about the subtle metallic taste of a cold can of AriZona lemon tea that brings you right back to childhood summers filled with scraped knees and running through sprinklers on the lawn. For some, that sugary sweetness and a hint of packaging taste aren’t all that exciting, but nostalgia is a pretty strong additive nonetheless.
Like vanilla ice cream or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, there’s a reason that AriZona’s lemon tea is so overwhelmingly popular. The bright, retro-style packaging is part of what makes the brand so eye-catching and ubiquitous, while the flavor is just right. The hint of lemon and the signature tea blend cuts the corn syrupy sweetness — though make no mistake, this still tastes like a sugary soft drink that’s full of childhood nostalgia. As one reviewer glowed, “[Ever] since I was a kid Arizona was always $0.99 cents. With the summer here and the extreme heat, I can drink a full gallon. Even with the different flavors the classic lemon will always be the best.”
There’s just something about the subtle metallic taste of a cold can of AriZona lemon tea that brings you right back to childhood summers filled with scraped knees and running through sprinklers on the lawn. For some, that sugary sweetness and a hint of packaging taste aren’t all that exciting, but nostalgia is a pretty strong additive nonetheless.
9. AriZona Watermelon
AriZona Watermelon is none of that. It’s neither trendy nor expensive. We can’t say for sure that celebrities haven’t invested in the brand, but they’re certainly not gushing about it. In addition, the health benefits are just about as limited as anything that’s essentially a heaping serving of added sugar. But if AriZona Watermelon is anything, it’s absolutely delicious.
8. AriZona Half & Half Iced Tea Mango
Half & Half Mango is often used in the same breath as AriZona’s Arnold Palmer Mucho Mango Half & Half. We get it. There are a lot of the same words there, but the truth is that lemonade doesn’t do this flavor combination any favors. It heavily relies on the bitterness of the tea to cut the overwhelming sweetness. The result is the perfect, unexpected balance of flavor with a hit of caffeine to boost the whole experience.
7. AriZona Iced Tea with Raspberry Flavor
This flavor can be hard to find, but if you stumble upon it, you’ve struck liquid gold (if that gold was only worth a dollar).
6. AriZona Sweet Tea
5. AriZona Mucho Mango
There aren’t too many soft drink brands that really dive into everything that can be done with a mango. It’s definitely an underutilized fruit, almost always presented as the side-kick to another flavor and rarely given lead status as the star of the show. AriZona is one of the few beverage company’s that have tapped into its obvious potential, and consumers are listening.
AriZona’s Mucho Mango fruit juice cocktail is consistently a fan favorite, as witnessed via one enthusiast’s ranking on Reddit. Unlike some of the brand’s other fruit juice cocktails — which float around the vicinity of authenticity without ever actually being authentic — it unequivocally tastes like genuine mango nectar. How? Because it pretty much is made with real mango, according to AriZona, barring the addition of pear juice to the mix. It even has real mango puree. After some deep research combing through the ingredients label, we found that the primary ingredients in Mucho Mango actually form the base for most of AriZona’s fruit juice cocktails. In other words, this is AriZona in its purest form, the sweet nectar that runs through the brand’s veins. Surely that says it all, landing this fruit juice cocktail at a pretty high place overall on this list.
AriZona’s Mucho Mango fruit juice cocktail is consistently a fan favorite, as witnessed via one enthusiast’s ranking on Reddit. Unlike some of the brand’s other fruit juice cocktails — which float around the vicinity of authenticity without ever actually being authentic — it unequivocally tastes like genuine mango nectar. How? Because it pretty much is made with real mango, according to AriZona, barring the addition of pear juice to the mix. It even has real mango puree.
After some deep research combing through the ingredients label, we found that the primary ingredients in Mucho Mango actually form the base for most of AriZona’s fruit juice cocktails. In other words, this is AriZona in its purest form, the sweet nectar that runs through the brand’s veins. Surely that says it all, landing this fruit juice cocktail at a pretty high place overall on this list.
4. AriZona Golden Bear Strawberry Lemonade
Golden Bear Strawberry Lemonade is a burst of sweetness that feels like you’re inhaling 23.5 oz. of straight, liquid Starburst (but at it’s of Starburst’s arguable best flavor. Sorry cherry!). It is many things, from a decadent dessert to a refreshing drink. Some could conceivably argue that, if not for the obvious lack of nutritional value, it could also double as a meal. Anyway, after you drink a Big Az Can on this stuff, you certainly will feel full. And if you don’t, you’ll probably feel at least a little queasy. Is it worth it? We’re going to have to give it a resounding yes, though perhaps it’s best to pace yourself here.
3. AriZona Arnold Palmer Strawberry
The only thing better than AriZona’s Golden Bear Strawberry Lemonade is the brand’s Arnold Palmer Strawberry Half & Half. If golf was somehow a team sport, this would be a championship team. However, in reality, the branding shows a rivalry between two golf legends, at least when it comes to the packaging of their respective drinks. Though this AriZona drink contains both lemonade and strawberry, Jack Nicklaus and his “Golden Bear” brand are cut out of the picture entirely. This is solely Arnold Palmer’s domain and it’s a definite hole-in-one.
While the original Golden Bear is — as we previously described — something of an undertaking thanks to its sweetness, Arnold Palmer Strawberry is a true breeze. It’s like zipping through a course on a golf cart as you watch everyone else drag their clubs. This drink is still wildly sweet, to be sure, but the addition of tea makes it taste less like a Starburst candy and more like something that could actually provide hydration. Then again, as one reviewer noted, “the nutritional facts are pretty scary”, so moderation is still key here. Nonetheless, like with all AriZona drinks, you can’t beat the price. “Soooo delicious,” wrote one reviewer. “I only have these every once in a while because they are super sweet! But the taste is awesome! Great job at delivering a sweet strawberry flavor and a tart lemonade flavor!! Perfect mix in my opinion.”
While the original Golden Bear is — as we previously described — something of an undertaking thanks to its sweetness, Arnold Palmer Strawberry is a true breeze. It’s like zipping through a course on a golf cart as you watch everyone else drag their clubs. This drink is still wildly sweet, to be sure, but the addition of tea makes it taste less like a Starburst candy and more like something that could actually provide hydration. Then again, as one reviewer noted, “the nutritional facts are pretty scary”, so moderation is still key here.
Nonetheless, like with all AriZona drinks, you can’t beat the price. “Soooo delicious,” wrote one reviewer. “I only have these every once in a while because they are super sweet! But the taste is awesome! Great job at delivering a sweet strawberry flavor and a tart lemonade flavor!! Perfect mix in my opinion.”
2. AriZona Green Tea with Ginseng and Honey
For some reason, none of AriZona’s other green tea offerings have ever gained as much momentum as this one. You can spot the difference immediately in the packaging, which is beloved to the point it’s sparked an Adidas collaboration and a whole slew of knock-off merchandise. The cans here still sport the company’s signature turquoise color, but AriZona has abandoned its Southwestern theme entirely. Instead, we get cherry blossoms (for the regular flavor) and an illustrated homage to traditional Japanese tea houses (for the diet version).
1. AriZona Arnold Palmer
Finally, we have the Holy Grail of tea beverages, the platonic ideal of the AriZona lineup: the AriZona Arnold Palmer. For those of us who spent a childhood torn between choosing lemonade or tea, this is proof that sometimes the world is kind and you truly can get everything you want. Nonetheless, while AriZona’s Half & Half recipe is delicious, it’s not actually right.
As the name suggests, the cherished drink hails from the mind of golf legend Arnold Palmer. He wasn’t the first person to stumble upon the mixture (as anyone who’s stood in front of a soda fountain knows), but he was certainly the person who popularized it. By all accounts, it was just an off-hand, spontaneous idea. According to The Washington Post, his wife made “a lot of iced tea for lunch” and he simply mixed the extra with lemonade. He ended up loving the drink so much that he started taking it around in a thermos when he played golf. The rest is history. In 2001, AriZona licensed the golf legend’s likeness to sell the drink, but their description of half lemonade and half iced tea wasn’t actually Palmer’s original recipe. Iced tea was always meant to be the dominant flavor (imagine an ultra-sweet, puckery lemon tea), but most AriZona die-hards will have to firmly disagree. Since then, the brand has been riffing on the flavor profile, including a popular lite version and a Southern-style version with sweet tea and pink lemonade.
As the name suggests, the cherished drink hails from the mind of golf legend Arnold Palmer. He wasn’t the first person to stumble upon the mixture (as anyone who’s stood in front of a soda fountain knows), but he was certainly the person who popularized it. By all accounts, it was just an off-hand, spontaneous idea. According to The Washington Post, his wife made “a lot of iced tea for lunch” and he simply mixed the extra with lemonade. He ended up loving the drink so much that he started taking it around in a thermos when he played golf. The rest is history.
In 2001, AriZona licensed the golf legend’s likeness to sell the drink, but their description of half lemonade and half iced tea wasn’t actually Palmer’s original recipe. Iced tea was always meant to be the dominant flavor (imagine an ultra-sweet, puckery lemon tea), but most AriZona die-hards will have to firmly disagree. Since then, the brand has been riffing on the flavor profile, including a popular lite version and a Southern-style version with sweet tea and pink lemonade.
