There are many different flavors and types of juices, but the two most popular juices, apple and orange juice, have sparked countless heated debates. For decades, many have argued which juice is better, and once and for all, we are here to settle the debate. 

To start, we talked to a few people to hear what the already standing argument was. There were many that felt very strongly about their opinions.

“Apple juice all the way,” Elizabeth Dike ’25 said. 

“Orange juice cannot be beat,” Macie Mallick ‘22 said.

Before going into our close study of the juices, we had our own separate opinions formed from past experiences.

Maya: I have always had a deep love and affinity for orange juice. Orange juice is a perfect mix of sweet and tangy. I tolerate apple juice to a certain extent, but personally would never choose it over orange juice. I once knew a boy named James who was deeply allergic to apple juice, and once he had a severe allergic reaction because he accidentally drank some. This was a mildly traumatic experience for me, and since, I have never felt quite safe around apple juice.

Carolina: Though I don’t have a particular preference for a certain juice, or perhaps a true hatred for the other, I did have already-standing opinions about both of them. Going through pre-school, from the ages of 4-5, I had a phase. Absolutely refusing to drink water, I drank apple juice with every meal. Every waking moment, I craved apple juice. I lived, breathed and drank apple juice. Apple juice was life. Now, however, it’s just on par with orange juice. The perfect breakfast drink, OJ goes with everything, from a traditional breakfast – bacon, eggs and a waffle –  to a more 21st century breakfast: a McMuffin.

We decided to try a few different types of orange and apple juices in order to guarantee that our results were true and untainted. We tried to get popular brands of each juice to ensure that they started off on equal footing. 

At the Falcon Feeder, we purchased Tropicana Apple Juice, Tropicana Orange Juice and of course, bottled water to cleanse our palates between tastes. Our total came to a grand three dollars, with the juices and the water each being one dollar. 

Maya: At the first whiff of apple juice, all the memories of James came rushing back to me. I tried to stay strong, power through, and remain unbiased. To be honest, the apple juice was a little sweet for me and it wasn’t refreshing at all, even though it was cold from the fridge. I cleansed using water, trying to completely remove all taste of apple juice from my mouth. Next up was orange juice. It was as expected, sweet but not too sweet, tangy but not too tangy and refreshing, unlike the apple juice. At least for Tropicana, orange juice was in the lead for me. 

Carolina: Contrary to what Maya thought, I found the Tropicana apple juice to be less sweet than it smelled. Initially, it was a good sweetness for an apple juice, but it left me with a bitter aftertaste and felt a bit watered down – even though it was 100% juice. As for the orange juice, I definitely liked it more than the apple juice. It was citrusy, and though I’m not someone who is totally anti-pulp, I did appreciate that this one was pulp-free, making the juice more refreshing in my opinion.

Later, we went to Central Market looking for some freshly made juices to taste; we were out of luck. As it turns out, Central Market does not have fresh apple juice, only fresh orange juice. As a substitute for this portion of the study, we decided to take a chance on a brand of juices we had never heard of before. For $2.99 each, we purchased Folkington’s Pure Pressed Cloudy Apple Juice and Folkington’s Pure Squeezed Orange Juice. 

Maya: When I went to Central Market, I was excited and ready to try some fresh juice, but I was left disappointed. We searched the aisles desperate to find some juice. When we happened upon Folkington’s, my first thought was: the juice must be really underground since I hadn’t heard of it before. My second thought was: does a brand being underground make it good? At least for the apple juice, it does. The apple juice, though not being fresh apple juice, tasted like I just took a bite out of an apple. It tasted like a slice of apple pie. It was perfect in every way. Coming off of this apple juice high, I was excited for the orange juice. The orange juice was so gross, that I almost felt heartbroken. It was so bitter that I wanted to die and never have to face the absolute garbage that was the orange juice. I felt betrayed because I didn’t know that rotten eggs mixed in vinegar could disguise itself so well as orange juice. When I finally thought it was over, I was surprised by the repulsive aftertaste. It was so bitter. I felt like a thousand knives were stabbing my tongue and throat.

Carolina: Oh, Folkington’s juices… where to begin? I had absolutely no idea that this was even a brand that existed, but it was our only option for what to try. While the packaging gave me a very rustic vibe, it was rather unhelpful when I tried to figure out what ‘cloudy’ apple juice was. All that aside, I was pleasantly surprised by the apple juice. It didn’t taste like any normal apple juice. It tasted more like a cider, or if you were to take apple sauce, but make it liquid. It was the perfect sweetness, and there’s not much else to say other than that. This being said, I had high expectations for the orange juice, but after trying it, I realized that this was the biggest let down of my life. It was so disgusting. I was offended. It shouldn’t even be allowed to be considered orange juice. It didn’t taste like orange at all. Instead, it tasted like peeling an orange, but then throwing the orange away, letting the peel sit and rot for days, and then eating the peel at once. It was disgustingly sour and bitter, and I don’t know if I will ever be able to look back.

Essentially, we were tied. For Tropicana, we both liked the orange juice better. For Folkington’s, apple juice was the winner, with the orange juice being left so far behind. We went to our mentor, personal advisor and journalism teacher, Mrs. Wallace, to get advice that we were ready to follow. She recommended that we find another brand to be our tiebreaker. We liked the idea of a tiebreaker but didn’t want to find another brand. Instead, during lunch, we made our own apple and orange juice. After all, what’s better than DIY? When we expressed this idea to our peers and classmates, they asked us if we got the idea from TikTok. This enraged us as we are creative and innovative human beings, and we came up with the juice-making process by ourselves. 

For the apple juice, we filled a cup up with water, put an apple in the cup and microwaved it. This was to get the apple mushy. Then, we put the apple in a bowl and used another bowl to smash the apple (see pictures). As for the orange juice, we skipped to the tried and true bowl on bowl method, as there was no need for microwaving. For both juices, although we didn’t get a lot of juice, we got just enough for us each to have a sip or two. 

PSA: After discussing with Mrs. Wallace, we have now learned that plastic apparently doesn’t belong in the microwave, and we do not recommend or condone doing so. We have been tracking our symptoms (since learning about the dangers) and are both feeling fine for now, but who knows what could happen to us.

Maya: Since there was only enough juice for one sip each, I had to get the full experience from my portion. Usually, I try to engage all five senses across different sips, but this time I had to get the most I could from what we had.We tried the freshly squeezed orange juice first. The orange juice had a certain je ne sais quoi to it. I don’t know if it was the freshness or that the orange was slightly discolored and mushy. Either way it was superb, and though I didn’t need more to say that, I definitely wanted more. The apple juice was almost equally as good. The only problems being that I had an apple seed in my juice and that the juice was slightly and almost off-puttingly warm from the microwave. Other than that, the apple juice was astounding.

Carolina: Honestly, going into making our own juices, I had low expectations. Not in our technique – that I believed in – it was the condition that the fruit was in that made me uneasy. While the apple was fine, the orange raised some red flags. It was bruised, discolored, and now that I think about it, I don’t think it was an orange at all, but rather a mandarin or a tangerine… maybe even a clementine? Nevertheless, I was shocked when the juices were as good as they were. The apple juice was the perfect sweetness. Some may say that it was the particles of melted plastic, but I found that it had a slight cinnamon-y taste to it. The “orange” juice was also amazing – the best I’d tried before. It had the perfect sweetness with the right amount of tang. I think the reason that the juices were so good was because of the freshness. If you’re ever at lunch and are sick of the only four drink options available, making your own juice is something I’d recommend.

Final Verdict: Apple juice > orange juice.