Orange Juice is the lifeblood of my family. We drink it as much as we drink water. The kids even drink it in juice boxes. Once we got on a healthier eating kick, we wanted to make sure we had the best orange juice you can keep in the house because, frankly, some of the orange juice out there really isn’t that good for you or really doesn’t have that much orange juice to begin with.
That being said, we’ve switched from the cheap-tasting stuff to better brands that contain no pulp. I’m not a fan of pulp. I don’t trust it unless I squeezed my own juice. They might as well be bug parts if I buy pulped juice. This week, we tried out the Simply Orange and the Tropicana Pure Premium brands of orange juice. I’ll compare the price, taste, and nutrition for each one and show you the family’s selection of the best juice.
A little background info on the brands. I had never heard of Simply Orange until last year. According to the website, Simply Orange has only been around since 2001. I don’t know how long they’ve been around because I was just accustomed to buying whichever brand didn’t look cheap but didn’t cost too much. They’re based out of Apopka, Florida, and they claim not to freeze or concentrate the oranges they use to make the juice. Simply Orange also makes Simply Lemonade and their juices come in many brands like “with pulp” or “with calcium”.
Tropicana, on the other hand, has been here for what seems like a century or two but really since 1947. They make a multitude of products; too many to list. We used to buy their pulp free juices that came in the boxes and we were satisfied with their products.
Price: Where we shop, Simply Orange is going to cost you around dollar more for the same amount of juice as Tropicana Premium. We pay $3.19 for 1.75 liters, whereas the Tropicana Premium costs $2.04. They look like the same bottle, too, with the clear design and hour glass figure (what could they be hinting at?).
Nutrition: Nutrition is the same, ingredient for ingredient, in both juices. However, the Simply Orange has 120% Vitamin C compared to 110% in the Tropicana Premium. They both claim “not from concentrate” on the front, but Simply Orange also says “100% Pure Squeezed Orange Juice”. You won’t find that on Tropicana Premium. Tropicana Premium’s label describes it as “pure and natural.”
Taste: This is where Simply Orange spent that extra dollar. There is a noticeable difference in taste. Simply Orange really does taste like someone went through the trouble of squeezing the juice and straining out the pulp just for me and left some pure goodness. It doesn’t have that bitter, citric acid taste that can come if you don’t sweeten your own fresh juice. It is just smooth to the tongue. That is a tasty beverage!
The Tropicana one isn’t bad, either. I think I would like it more had I not tried Simply Orange right after it. It’s kinda like thinking your DSL connection is pretty fast until you get some serious, high-speed cable action. You just don’t want to go back even if it costs more.
All in all, we’re going to spend the extra buck for the Simply Orange. It just tastes like some high quality work and care went into each orange. If we’re just really short on cash and I need to save a buck, the Tropicana won’t be a bad choice. But Simply Orange is just simply better.
