Ranking the 18 Kool-Aid Drink Mixes from Worst to Best

When you want a drink that’s full of flavor but don’t want to haul home any jugs of liquid from the store, you may want to snag some powdered drink mixes – like Kool-Aid. The brightly colored, flavored powders aren’t as natural as real juice, but they can make for a fun drink fix when you want an upgrade from plain water. Plus, Kool-Aid’s drink mixes are sugar-free, so you can control how sweet you want your drink to be by adding sugar yourself, or omitting it entirely.

Admittedly, I’m not one to regularly slurp down a ton of neon-hued liquids, and think adding some fruit and other fresh ingredients to your water bottle is the way to go. Regardless of my personal preferences, though, I was still excited to taste my way through a number of Kool-Aid flavor packets to help you determine which options are worth trying.

With that in mind, if you’re looking for a budget-friendly way to switch up your drink routine, I tried and ranked 18 Kool-Aid flavor packets, mainly on taste (as well as appearance, where applicable). Keep reading to learn which Kool-Aid flavor packets you’ll want to check out — and which options you should consider avoiding.

I was genuinely shocked to learn a lemon lime-flavored drink could taste so bad. But before you even get to the flavor, there’s the color. Personally, I’d never feel good about drinking something so unnaturally green. It literally looks toxic, like my insides will start to shrivel upon the digestion of that very first sip.

Even when setting looks aside, this stuff tastes like citrus-scented cleaning liquid. The flavor is nothing like lemon or lime, and instead tastes like an unnaturally sweet version of citrus — even without any sugar added. If you do decide to mix in sugar, there’s not enough acidity to enjoy it, either.

Between this flavor’s appearance and taste, it seems like you could actually splash some of this Kool-Aid across your kitchen floor before giving it a really intense mopping. In other words, this is one Kool-Aid flavor that’s totally fine to skip, so it comes in last place.

If you’re the kind of person who loves grape-flavored soda, you may be tempted by Kool-Aid’s grape mix. Unfortunately, you’ll likely be disappointed if you do, which is part of the reason why this ranks so low.

As soon as you open the packet, you’ll be hit with a whiff of what smells like kid’s medicine. While that grape flavor is indeed recognizable, it doesn’t have the same bright zippiness that you’d expect from grape soda. Rather, it tastes like it’s tinged with some sort of cough syrup.

At the same time, this stuff tastes watery — even when you go really heavy on the drink mix and light on the water. The flavor is thin, flabby, and not particularly interesting. Perhaps this would work better with sparkling water instead of flat, but it still could never come close to the deliciousness of actual grape soda. Though not as bad lemon lime, it was still one of the worst Kool-Aid drink mixes I tried.

Quite frankly, very few green apple-flavored food products taste particularly good — and this Kool-Aid drink mix is no exception. It wasn’t the worst drink mix flavor of the bunch (which is why it ranked above two others), but it’s certainly not one I’d ever seek out again.

Now, if you’re under the assumption this will taste somewhat similar to apple juice, be aware: It absolutely doesn’t. It tastes more like a watered down Jolly Rancher that’s melted after leaving it in your car all summer long, with an almost caramelized note to it. Ultimately, this drink is much closer to candy than juice. Unless you’re looking for an explicitly artificial-tasting green apple flavor, you’re better off opting for a different variety of Kool-Aid — at least if you actually want to enjoy your drink.

Just like the grape flavor, I found myself comparing orange Kool-Aid to one of many orange soda brands. On that note, I can confidently say orange soda is way more delicious than this drink mix. Of course, this drink isn’t carbonated, but even disregarding the lack of bubbles, the flavor of this Kool-Aid was flat. Consequently, only a few drink mixes I sampled ranked lower.

Now, this Kool-Aid drink mix didn’t taste like a pitcher of water that had fresh orange slices sitting in it for several hours, though I didn’t expect it to. Still, its lack of acidity made for an exceptionally boring flavor profile, and it tasted more like a sad, orange-scented air freshener. To be fair, adding sugar gives this more body, making it a slightly more interesting flavor. But without any element to make the drink taste bright and refreshing, it falls flat — sugar or not — and comes near the bottom.

Sharkleberry Fin is perhaps the most head-scratching flavor I tried, simply because I had no idea what it was supposed to taste like beforehand. While I noticed pictures of bananas, strawberries, and oranges on the packet, I honestly never would’ve guessed those were the flavors that the makers of Kool-Aid were trying to capture in this drink.

Although Sharkleberry Fin isn’t as bad as the lower-ranked Kool-Aid drink mixes on this list, it also tasted generically fruity, with nothing making it stand out from any other generally fruity drink on the market. While I convinced myself I did, in face notice a hint of banana flavor in the drink, that also may have been confirmation bias. Unless you want a drink that doesn’t really taste like any discernable flavor at all, I’d opt for one of the higher-ranked Kool-Aid flavors.

I personally believe black cherry-flavored anything has a tendency to taste somewhat medicinal, and that’s the case when it comes to black cherry Kool-Aid, as well. While this stuff tastes like the type of medicine you don’t actually mind taking, that’s also not necessarily a good thing if you’re specifically seeking out a beverage with black cherry flavor, so it comes in the bottom half.

Now, that being said, this packet is a big step in the right direction compared to the worst Kool-Aid flavors on this list. Ultimately, though, it’s also not very good. If you love artificial cherry flavors, this drink mix is likely to be a hit. However, if you’re looking for the best that Kool-Aid has to offer, you’re likely to be disappointed, so consider opting for a flavor ranked higher.

Pineapple is a very specific flavor — one that often tastes good only in very specific circumstances. Consequently, it should come as no surprise that a pineapple Kool-Aid drink mix (styled as Piña-Pineapple) ranks in the bottom half of this list. At the same time, I must admit the product developers at Kool-Aid were spot on with making this product taste like the real thing. It actually has notes that you’d expect to find in fresh pineapple juice, after all, despite the thinness of the beverage.

Of course, even the best pineapple juice can suffer from a cloying flavor if it doesn’t have enough acidity, which is certainly the case here. And adding sugar to the mix only results in a drink that tastes rather flat and uninteresting. Still, since the drink actually does taste at least somewhat like pineapple, Piña-Pineapple ranks higher than some of the less interesting options on this list.

If you’re looking for a super generic berry-flavored drink, berry cherry Kool-Aid has you covered. This mix is supposed to taste like a variety of berries, including blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries, along with cherries, of course. Whether all of those distinctive notes are present in this drink is not super clear, largely because the drink just tastes generically fruity and akin to any other processed red drink.

Then again, while that doesn’t make for a particularly interesting drink mix, it also means the berry cherry Kool-Aid may have the broadest appeal in most contexts. If you’re mixing up a batch of Kool-Aid for a kid’s birthday party, for example, nobody is likely to protest this specific flavor. Of course, this may be good enough to earn it a spot in the middle portion, but there are better options to explore on this list.

If you’re trying to choose between the cherry and black cherry varieties of Kool-Aid, I’d absolutely suggest opting for this one. Compared to the black cherry version, the plain cherry one tastes significantly less medicine-like, and boasts a brighter and more acidic flavor, as well. This stuff still tastes closer to candy than actual cherry, though that’s somewhat expected from an artificially flavored drink mix (hence placing in the middle of this list).

This is also another solid flavor to have on hand for groups, as it has a crowd-pleasingly generic taste. Though far from my favorite, the cherry flavor is innocuous enough that it shouldn’t be unappealing to most Kool-Aid drinkers out there. Since its bold cherry flavor might actually make it the favorite of some, it kicks off the top ten.

I tried several lemonade flavors in this Kool-Aid lineup, and the blue raspberry lemonade was the worst. That being said, there are definitely worse flavors to try, and this was appealing enough to squeak into the top half.

Now, the bright blue hue immediately turned me off, as the unnatural-looking color doesn’t make this look too appetizing. Plus, the note of blue raspberry — which, like so many other flavors on this list, ultimately tastes more like candy — isn’t a great addition to this blue-tinged drink.

This stuff really isn’t too bad, though, with a bold acidity that makes it taste like actual lemonade. I’d personally choose any of the other lemonade drink mixes ranked above this particular variety, but you could definitely do worse on the Kool-Aid flavor front.

Here’s another Kool-Aid drink mix that looks unappealing primarily because of its color. Its hue is quite a bit deeper than the blue raspberry lemonade, making it look like the blue Windex I keep stashed under my kitchen sink. Perhaps Kool-Aid decided to make it this color to represent the blueberry portion of the blueberry-strawberry combination, but I think the brand would’ve been better off going for a red hue — even if the unassuming berry flavor helped it overcome the unpleasant appearance.

Additionally, while I wouldn’t say this tastes much like strawberries or blueberries specifically, it has the generically artificial berry flavor that so many people love. Although it’s not the best of the bunch, the mixed berry mix is far from the worst, and is inoffensive enough to serve to a group that generally enjoys Kool-Aid.

Of all the generic, berry-forward Kool-Aid drink mixes I tried for this article, the tropical punch was my favorite. This is supposedly a blend of several different flavors, including lemon, lime, orange, and cherry. While I wouldn’t exactly call those tropical fruits, that mix results in a red punch flavor that’s at least somewhat appealing, so it comes in seventh place.

Even if I wouldn’t go out of my way to drink this stuff, there are few very specific purposes for which it’s ideal. It could work as a drink mixer for desperate college kids, for instance (though this jungle juice recipe is better), or for a birthday party for little ones. In short, with a signature punch flavor most folks know and (maybe?) love, this works as a go-to Kool-Aid drink mix when you want something fruity on a very basic level.

There are a lot of strawberry kiwi-flavored food products out there that don’t really taste like strawberry or kiwi — at all. But I have to admit Kool-Aid knew what it was doing when it whipped up this drink mix. In fact, it really does taste like strawberries, at least somewhat. What’s more, it arguably tastes like fresh strawberries, which is hard to pull off in a drink mix. And while I can’t pick out kiwi specifically, there is a touch of something green-tasting in this mix, so I can see where they’re going with the name of this flavor. As a result, this flavor lands in the top half of these rankings.

For anyone looking for a red-hued drink with a bit more character than most other Kool-Aid options, the strawberry kiwi is definitely worth checking out. The unique profile makes it one of the more interesting flavors in this group, even if it wasn’t the best drink mix I tried.

Strawberry seems like a hard flavor to pull off without using actual, fresh strawberries in a recipe. After all, if you ask me, very few strawberry-flavored food products actually taste good. But strawberry Kool-Aid seems to be an exception, earning it a top five placement.

Yes: This beverage still tastes like it’s made with a drink mix. However, it tastes considerably less unnatural than many of the other strawberry-flavored products I’ve encountered, and was one of the lightest — and most acidic — red drink options on this list. It may not top these rankings, but its pleasant zinginess works well both with and without adding sugar to the recipe, so it’s worth a try if you generally like artificial strawberry flavors.

There aren’t a lot of drinks that taste great when made from a dry, powdered mix — with the notable exception of lemonade. Even if it doesn’t taste as good as homemade, you’ll still find a lot of decent powdered lemonade brands out there, including this drink mix from Kool-Aid. In fact, most of the top spots on this list are dedicated to lemonade-centered flavors. The brand’s plain lemonade may not be the absolute best of these varieties, but it’s still solid enough to come at number four.

While this drink isn’t anything special, per se, it has a nice acidity to it, and actually tastes like lemon. Most people will probably want to add some sugar to the mix to cut the sourness, but you can easily dilute this powder with some extra water instead, particularly if you just want a touch of lemon in your drink. Either way, it’s one of the flavors worth checking out, with only a few Kool-Aid options ranking higher.

Peach and mango are exceptionally hard flavors to replicate artificially, which is why there are so many unappealing peach and mango-flavored products out there. I stay far away from most of them, so I wasn’t actually expecting to enjoy the peach mango flavor of Kool-Aid. I was happily surprised when I took a sip of this stuff, though, as the peach and mango descriptors are both absolutely accurate.

This stuff actually tastes like it could’ve been made with real (albeit exceptionally thin) peach and mango juices, so it comes in third place. After all, there’s that signature stone fruit flavor there, along with a tropical touch from the mango. This is one of the flavors that most needs sugar to round it out, as well, but you won’t need a ton to make it palatable.

Is the pink lemonade flavor of Kool-Aid drastically different from the regular lemonade flavor? Not really. Essentially, they taste exactly the same, so you may be wondering why this one is higher on the list than the original. Basically, it all comes down to appearance. The plain lemonade looks cloudy and isn’t too appealing, aesthetically speaking. On the other hand, the pale pink color of this is slightly more appetizing, helping it earn the number two spot in these rankings.

To be sure, this product may not be too different from other pink lemonades on the market. But compared to most of the other Kool-Aid flavors on this list, it’s definitely one of the best options. You can add some real lemon slices — or even some raspberries — to give it even more flavor and flair, too.

I’ve already mentioned that both lemonade and strawberry flavors are some of the best of the bunch from Kool-Aid, so it shouldn’t surprise you that the strawberry lemonade drink mix came in at number one. First of all, there’s the standard lemonade flavor, with a bold acidity that makes the drink taste super refreshing. But it has another layer of flavor, as well, which makes it more complex and even more delicious.

The note of surprisingly realistic strawberry flavor really sets this drink mix apart from any of the others featured in this ranking. Although the package does say that you should add sugar to the mix, this variety of Kool-Aid actually tastes great all on its own (without any added sugar). Plus, if you add some frozen or fresh sliced strawberries to the mix, you’ll have a drink mix that you’re actually excited to drink on a hot day, which is why this took the top spot.

These Kool-Aid drink mix flavors were chosen based on online availability. I tried each one mixed with the prescribed amount of tap water, and tasted these drinks without sugar — as they come packaged — before sampling each with sugar as directed. I kept the sugar additions to a minimum, however, to avoid it becoming an overly sweet drink, where the actual flavor was overpowered by sugar. Additionally, the criteria for this ranking was flavor, first and foremost, and I ranked the best (and most realistic) tasting varieties highest, though I also took color into account when applicable.