Popular AriZona Tea Flavors, Ranked Worst To Best

As a regular Diet Coke drinker, I can attest that I have very little issue with drinks that contain synthetic sweeteners — unless they don't taste good. Of course, in a side-by-side comparison with AriZona's regular Peach Tea, it's clear that the diet version is made with sugar substitutes (sucralose and acesulfame potassium, to be exact), although it's so apparent, you could probably tell without comparing the two.

Interestingly, the Diet Peach Tea is made with peach juice from concentrate — albeit the drink is less than 1% juice. But there is no actual peach juice in the regular Peach Tea. Regular Peach Tea has 120 calories per 12-ounce serving, but Diet Peach Tea only has 5, so you can see why it might be the more attractive choice on paper. Ultimately, it is the synthetic sweetener flavor that lets this one down as it is too overpowering for me to enjoy an entire can's worth of AriZona Diet Peach Tea.

Since the Diet Arnold Palmer has only 10 calories per serving, it might not be surprising for the half lemonade portion of this drink to come across a little stronger than the half iced tea portion. The lemony flavor is slightly more bitter than you'd expect from a typical lemonade, especially one mixed with tea. Although I can see that being appealing to people who like lemon in their tea, but not the overbearing sweetness of lemonade.

At 10 calories per 12-ounce serving, this is perhaps what an iced tea with lemon juice should taste like, except for the inclusion of sucralose, which almost seems unnecessary. I get that it's supposed to have some sweetness to imitate actual lemonade, but it's not especially sweet or enjoyable. Instead, I find myself wishing this was just an unsweetened iced tea with lemon juice and saving the Arnold Palmer for when I'm actually in the mood for something lemony and sweet.

There's no set definition for fruit punch other than it simply being a drink made with a variety of fruit flavors, but I tend to imagine fruit punch in one of two ways: either citrus and tropical fruit-forward, like Hawaiian Punch, or more cherry-forward like a Capri Sun Fruit Punch. Either way, it usually tastes like the color red ... if you know what I mean. AriZona's Fruit Punch is neither, with the most noticeable flavor being grape. If I didn't know this was supposed to be fruit punch, I'd guess it was some kind of watered-down grape drink cocktail since it isn't quite as bold as any of the fruit punches I've tasted before, either.

According to the drink's ingredients list, AriZona's Fruit Punch contains pear juice, mango purée, apple juice, pineapple juice, natural flavors, cherry juice, and strawberry juice, all from concentrate. No grape juice whatsoever. Only you can know if this is your kind of fruit punch, but if you're expecting something tropical, cherry, bold, or red, this might not be the one for you. 

While AriZona's Fruit Punch may have tasted like a slightly tropical watered-down grape drink, the Grapeade is a bolder and more realistically grape-flavored drink — even though the first juice listed in the ingredients list is actually pear juice. But red grape juice is also listed and makes a solid showing for itself in the flavor department. Like the Orangeade, if you're used to drinking grape soda, you might be disappointed with the lack of carbonation in the Grapeade. But that isn't really a deal-breaker for me.

My only real issue with the Grapeade is why one might reach for this instead of actual grape juice. Sure, AriZona's Grapeade is 100 calories per 8-ounce serving, and Welch's 100% Grape Juice is 140 calories. But the 100% grape juice has a higher percentage of potassium and vitamin C and even includes a little calcium. Flavor-wise, I don't think the Grapeade is a bad choice, only that drinking actual grape juice would be a better choice.

There are so many iterations of lemon tea, lemonade, and half & half beverages from AriZona that I started to wonder if all of these very similar options were necessary. In the Arnold Palmer category alone, there are the Lite, Diet, Strawberry, and Green Tea flavors — the latter of which is so elusive that it's often sold out on AriZona's website. Having already tasted the Golden Bear Lite Strawberry Lemonade, the only thing that the Arnold Palmer Strawberry Half & Half otherwise brings to the table is the addition of iced tea.

But I'll admit that the tea is an improvement, giving it a slight edge over the Golden Bear. Where the synthetic sweetener flavor in the Golden Bear threatened to linger on the palate a little too long, it's more subtle and balanced with the Strawberry Arnold Palmer. It has about 10 more calories per 8-ounce serving than the Golden Bear, which likely comes from the slightly higher carbohydrate content, but has about half of the sodium. Synthetic sweeteners are still apparent in the Strawberry Arnold Palmer, but their taste doesn't stick around for long. Of the two strawberry lemonade options, this is definitely the better choice.

A few drinks in AriZona's lineup don't fit neatly into one particular category, and the RX Energy Herbal Tonic is one of them. Technically, it's made from a blend of green teas and includes high fructose corn syrup, honey, and ginseng extract like the popular Green Tea does, but that's just the beginning. The ingredient list also includes pear juice, mango purée, lemon juice, natural flavors, guarana root extract, eleuthero root extract, Schisandra extract, and additional caffeine. It doesn't immediately make sense, but it is enjoyable after the confusion of the first few sips subsides.

While some of the included extracts can be found in other energy drinks and supplements, it's worth looking them up to find out if you want to drink them. An 8-ounce serving of AriZona's RX Energy Herbal Tonic has about 100 calories, which is on par with the calorie content in the Lemon Iced Tea. The can itself doesn't say how much caffeine is included, but the drink's Amazon page claims it contains 100 milligrams of caffeine per serving. This is about as much as an 8-ounce cup of coffee, so something to be wary of if you're planning on drinking the entire can, which is nearly three servings.

For those who might not be familiar with the popular old-school mocktail, a Cherry Lime Rickey is very similar to a Shirley Temple. It's made with maraschino cherry syrup, fresh lime juice, simple syrup, and seltzer water, whereas a Shirly Temple is typically made with lemon-lime soda instead of lime juice and seltzer water. What sets this particular drink apart from the rest of the beverages in AriZona's drink line is carbonation. After all, it wouldn't be a Rickey without the bubbles.

The cherry-lime soda is sweet and tangy, with the carbonation helping to distract you from just how sweet it actually is. But for those looking for a bright and summery cherry-soda treat, the Cherry Lime Rickey is a fun option to try. It contains 10% juice, and includes, pear, mango, cherry, lime, and lemon juices. While it's primarily sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, it also includes sucralose and acesulfame potassium — but given the intensity of the fruit flavors in the drink, I didn't notice any lingering artificial aftertaste from the sweeteners.

At first sip, I was nearly convinced that the Arnold Palmer Lite was even better than AriZona's iconic Lemon Iced Tea. Like all Arnold Palmers, it's half iced tea and half lemonade, and in this particular iteration, the lemonade has a more realistic lemon flavor than the bolder lemon flavoring in the classic tea. But after a few more sips, the unmistakable flavor of synthetic sweetener started to linger a little longer than I would have preferred.

Sure, the tea is called "Lite," so it's fair to expect it to be slightly less sweet than some other AriZona options. But since there's already a diet version, having a middle-of-the-road light version and not a version with only regular sugar (or rather, high fructose corn syrup) seems a little redundant — especially if you're not a fan of the sucralose flavor. Otherwise, this tea would have given the Lemon Iced Tea a run for its money.

For those of us who remember the absolute infatuation with all things kiwi-strawberry-flavored in the 1990s, AriZona's Kiwi Strawberry Fruit Juice Cocktail will be a familiar flavor — one that will either be a welcome walk down memory lane or nightmare fuel for those who may have overdone it a few decades ago. I happen to have a soft spot for the flavor combo and enjoy the way it tastes, despite outgrowing my Lip Smacker collection sometime in the 2000s.

To my surprise, the drink contains both kiwi and strawberry juices, even though it's only 5% juice overall. The ingredients list also includes pear juice and high fructose corn syrup (which also skyrocketed in the '90s). But it's mostly just sugar, with 100 calories per 8-ounce serving, 24 grams of carbohydrates, and a heavy dose of nostalgia for those who remember it fondly. And like the '90s, it's something I only want to re-live in small doses now and then.

The only places you'll find sweet tea in the North are fast food restaurants and the bottled tea sections of your local grocery or convenience store. As someone born and raised on sweet tea in the South, it always seemed strange to me that it was so difficult to find a simple sweet tea that wasn't overly syrupy or saturated with lemon flavor. So, once AriZona's Sweet Tea entered the chat, there was no turning back.

The black tea tastes like actual tea, not the rehydrated tea powder flavor you'd find in teas like Lipton Brisk. And while it's certainly sweet, it doesn't taste like tea-flavored syrup. It also has fewer carbohydrates and calories in it than AriZona's Lemon Iced Tea. Each 12-ounce serving of Sweet Tea has 130 calories and 33 grams of carbohydrates, compared to Lemon Tea's 150 calories and 37 grams, respectively.

There isn't much complexity to this tea, which is what I love about it. But it's also something I can make at home if I'm really in the mood for it, probably for less than 99 cents. If you're looking for something with a little more excitement, AriZona has plenty of other options to choose from.

If you're reading this, you're probably already acquainted with AriZona's Lemon Iced Tea. Along with the brand's popular Green Tea with Ginseng and Honey, it's one of the most recognizable AriZona flavors around. But just in case you aren't, it's a sweet black tea with a strong kick of lemon, making it even bolder and juicier than your typical glass of iced tea. It has 150 calories per 12-ounce serving, 37 grams of carbohydrates, and 15 milligrams of sodium. It's made with natural lemon flavor instead of juice to achieve that bold, lemony taste.

Even though I generally prefer my sweet tea without lemon, I can't escape the draw of AriZona's Lemon Iced Tea — I'd even consider sporting some of the brand's merch in honor of the iconic flavor. On a blisteringly hot day, or when I need a refreshing drink to blast me into action, I'll reach for this tea without hesitation.

According to AriZona, its Green Tea with Ginseng and Honey is the best-selling green tea in the U.S., which isn't entirely surprising given how ubiquitous it is. And to be honest, I usually buy it by the gallon and keep it constantly stocked in my refrigerator. It's one of the most accessible sweet teas that doesn't taste synthetic and is available just about everywhere.

In 2019, it was reported that there was no detectable ginseng in AriZona's Green Tea, even though "ginseng root extract" is listed on the ingredient list — but few people ultimately seemed surprised by the announcement. And while the front of the can implies that honey is the featured sweetener in the tea, it's high fructose corn syrup. While it would be great if it were all honey, realistically speaking, that would be very expensive. One 12-ounce serving of Green Tea runs 90 calories, nearly entirely due to the carbohydrate count of 23 grams per serving.

To bring some kind of order to the process of tasting 24 drinks, I first divided the beverages into groups by type: black iced teas, green and other teas, lemonades and half & halves, and fruit juice cocktails. First, I tasted and ranked each beverage within its own category. Then, to make the final ranking, I began combining each beverage category, tasting all of the drinks several more times and fitting each into its final place in the lineup. Over several days, and in the name of science, I drank nearly all 526 ounces of AriZona drinks included in this ranking.

When tasting and ranking the beverages, I also considered the drink's popularity, availability, ingredients, and nutritional value of each drink. Since some drinks have very little in common by any of these metrics (like Rooibos Tea and Kiwi Strawberry Fruit Juice Cocktail), some decisions came down to simply asking myself which drink I'd reach for on a completely normal, no-frills Tuesday afternoon.