9 Popular Sweet Tea Brands, Ranked Worst To Best

Despite sweet tea's Midwestern origins, the sugary drink has become synonymous with the Southern United States. I grew up in the South, so my refrigerator at home has always had a gallon (or two) of sweet tea in it. Of course, these gallons I so nostalgically reminisce about were made from scratch every morning by my Momma or Mamaw. These days, I'll be the first to admit that even spending a handful of minutes making sweet tea can feel burdensome on some of my busiest weeks. While I might reach for one of the best fast food sweet teas if the craving strikes while I'm running errands, I'm much more likely to grab a bottle of pre-made tea to get me through my hectic schedule. But which popular sweet tea brands are worth grabbing, and which will leave you unable to finish your glass?

I was given the opportunity to answer this question for both of us by trying several popular sweet tea brands and reporting my findings back here by ranking them from worst to best. I judged teas based primarily on flavor and strength, using my food industry background and other relevant experiences. Now, ready to discover which pre-made sweet tea brands are worthy of gracing a Southerner's fridge? Let's get into it.

Great Value has offered me a string of disappointments – from its blue cheese dressing, which had chemical undertones and one-dimensional pungency, to its grape jelly, which tasted like fake grape flavoring. Keeping this in mind, I shouldn't have been surprised that the Great Value Sweet Iced Tea was also disgusting.

For starters, this was way too sweet. The sugar was paired with a weakly brewed tea that lacked bitter notes, which left me confused. Somehow, it ended up tasting both weak and overpowering at the same time. To make it worse, there were heavy artificial and vaguely chemical-like notes that clung to my taste buds like they'd been glued there. I ended up dumping out the gallon because it was so gross, and I hate wasting food — so that says a lot.

I wouldn't buy this again, and you couldn't pay me to drink it again. I think you're better off brewing a gallon of sweet tea yourself at home or choosing one of the top two options instead.

This was such a surprising letdown that I had to take a second taste to make sure I wasn't imagining things. After all, I love Wawa hoagies (and even tried and ranked them), and the brand is also behind some of my favorite snacks worth buying when I'm on the go. I even love Wawa's green tea and some of its fruit juices. But I guess no brand can be at the top of its game all the time, right?

An off-putting smell had me crinkling my nose and grimacing even before I had my first sip. Unfortunately, that first taste turned out to be even worse than I expected. This tea tasted artificial, too sweet, and too weak. It was like it was trying to be bitter but failing miserably. Honestly, it was a close tie for the bottom spot on this list, but this one pulled ahead one place because it was just slightly stronger than Great Value.

As it stands, I would never buy this Wawa Sweet Iced Tea again, nor would I drink it in the future if someone offered it to me. The good news is that Wawa does sell better teas, so you have others to choose from.

I've tried some of AriZona's teas in the past, including its Arnold Palmer and green tea varieties. I've never been a huge fan of AriZona, and its Southern-Style Sweet Tea didn't change my mind.

The first thing that really threw me off was that it seemed to include the one ingredient that should never go in traditional sweet tea: lemon. There wasn't any lemon listed on the ingredient list, but the (fake) lemon essence was undeniable and nearly overpowered the tea taste. Strong notes of artificial sweetener also came through, and it lacked the earthy bitterness I was looking for. Instead of a freshly brewed black tea taste, it was more like those powdered lemon teas that are more lemon and sugar than tea.

I wouldn't buy this in the future, nor could I be tempted to drink it again. The only reason this ranked higher than the last two options is because it didn't have a gross smell, and it wasn't so bad I had to dump the whole container down the drain.

The Benner Sweet Tea, which I picked up from Aldi, also featured a weirdly distinct lemon taste — but, once again, there was no lemon in the recipe. I hypothesize that this flavor comes from the preservatives. Citric acid is a primary culprit since it's found in lemons and could realistically skew the taste, but I can't be positive.

Besides the powerful lemon taste, the Benner Sweet Tea featured a cloying sweetness, like artificial maple syrup had been dumped in the bottle. The bitterness was too strong, and there were faint artificial notes throughout. I should note that it was hard to immediately describe this tea because each sip was shockingly inconsistent. A few sips were actually quite good and had an appropriate balance of sweet and bitter. Most of the sips, though, were bitter, overly sweet, or chemical-tasting. It was an odd experience, to be sure.

I wouldn't buy this again, nor could I be tempted to drink it in the future. This only pulled ahead of AriZona because at least some of the sips were decent, even if not all of them were.

Of the four primary things I was looking for, Gold Peak Sweet Tea did well in two of them: It didn't have any artificial notes, and the recipe had a really nice balance of sweetness that veered toward the sugary side (as it should) but was not overwhelming. But in the other two aspects? It didn't do so well.

When I sampled these popular sweet tea brands, I looked for an appropriate balance of bitterness and robust earthiness. The earthy tea flavor was weak in Gold Peak's product, which made it taste watered down (even though I sampled it without ice). But the real issue was the bitterness. The bitterness was balanced in the first sip, but it built up in subsequent sips until it became unbearable. Even worse, a bitter, drying aftertaste lingered in my mouth and was frustratingly hard to get rid of.

I don't think I could be tempted to drink this again because of its unpleasant bitter aftertaste — and I definitely wouldn't purchase it again. In fact, if this were the only sweet tea option left on the grocery store shelf, I'd rather just do without and drink water or one of my favorite Pepsi flavors instead.

I see Swiss Premium Southern-Style Sweet Tea everywhere, so I assumed it was better than it turned out to be. Despite being ranked fourth on this list, it's still one of the brands I wouldn't drink again. Like Gold Peak, this product did well on two of the four primary things I was looking for. The robust, earthy tea flavor made it taste almost homemade, and it paired well with its bitterness. But that's where the praise ends.

The first thing to come through was faint, artificial notes that you would otherwise miss if you weren't looking for flaws (or positive attributes). While it's worth noting, these flavor alone weren't enough to ruin my experience. But when paired with an overwhelming sickly sweetness? The combination was enough to ruin whatever enjoyment I may have otherwise had.

I definitely wouldn't buy this again. I also wouldn't drink this moving forward because I know the sweetness would eventually go from simply overwhelming to truly nauseating, and nothing ruins my day more than feeling sick to my stomach.

While I wasn't the biggest fan of Turkey Hill's Sweet Tea, this might be a good choice for those who prefer their beverage on the weaker side rather than robustly earthy — because that's really the only thing that was wrong with this one. Instead of an appropriately strong earthy tea taste, it tasted watered down.

Despite its weak earthiness, Turkey Hill did have a nice balance of bitterness that was neither too mild nor entirely overwhelming. The sweetness was also perfect, veering slightly toward "too sugary" without falling into overwhelming territory — just like a good sweet tea should. And best of all, there were no artificial notes or odd lemon flavors.

I might drink this again if someone offered it to me, but I wouldn't go out of my way to purchase it. Despite a lot of disappointing sweet tea brands on this list, I do strongly recommend the top two options, so there are better products just ahead.

We've finally reached the point in the ranking where I can confidently recommend the products. I was shocked when there were only two such sweet teas, since most of my other rankings have at least three or four options that I enjoy. It was a close call for first place, but I ultimately preferred the slightly bolder flavor of my top choice. 

This Pure Leaf Sweet Tea checked every box for me. It had a moderate earthy black tea taste accented by a perfectly balanced bitter profile. Its sweetness meshes nicely with the natural tea flavor, and it wasn't at all overwhelming. And, of course, there were zero artificial or unexpected undertones. I really don't have anything negative to say about it.

I would definitely drink this again without hesitation. And I'd buy it in the future if I were shopping somewhere that didn't carry my top sweet tea choice. If this is the best sweet tea brand available in your local grocery store, your drinking experience won't be lacking by any means.

While I often find myself balking at product names that include "famous" or "best," I can actually see why Milo's Famous Sweet Tea would be labeled as such. I've never encountered a bottled sweet tea that came as close to what my Momma or Mamaw would have made when I was growing up as this brand did.

This tastes almost identical to the Pure Leaf Sweet Tea I ranked second — meaning it has a perfect balance of earthy and bitter black tea notes accented by an appropriate amount of sweetness, with zero artificial undertones. Milo's has a slightly more robust taste than Pure Leaf, which is why I ranked it first.

Without a doubt, this will be my go-to store-bought sweet tea moving forward. I highly suggest grabbing yourself a gallon on your next shopping trip. Once you do, you'll be amazed at how much it tastes like freshly brewed tea.

I included sweet tea brands that were available near me in Vineland, New Jersey. I tasted each tea cold, from a glass, without ice so as not to dilute the flavor. Each tea was ranked primarily based on taste and strength. I was looking for a tea that had well-balanced earthy and bitter notes. The flavor also needed to be bold but not harsh. For sweetness, I was looking for something that was obviously sugary without being so saccharine that it overwhelmed the tea entirely.

To make my judgments, I relied primarily on a lifetime of consuming homemade and store-bought sweet teas, as well as more than 15 years spent in the food industry (where I sometimes made sweet tea for my restaurants and cafés). My prior experience creating articles for Daily Meal also contributed to my ability to confidently rank these sweet teas. This includes similar drink-based articles like my ranking of Capri Sun flavors and my ranking of seltzer water brands. Although personal preference played a role in this ranking, I aimed to be as unbiased as possible about product quality.