Every Juice Monster Flavor, Ranked Worst To Best

There are seemingly limitless options on the energy drink market these days. Whether you're looking for an energy drink that tastes just like coffee (but packs a lot more caffeine) or you prefer more of a seltzer vibe, there's something out there for you to try. But what if you're craving both an energy drink and juice at the same time? This is what iconic energy drink brand Monster set out to achieve with its Juice Monster line. These drinks deliver the same levels of caffeine as the original, but with real fruit juice added to the can. The result is sweet and punchy flavor combos that will have you perking up right away.

I got my hands on every flavor of Juice Monster to rank them from worst to best. The criteria I used for this ranking include sweetness (wherein less sweet-tasting and more well-balanced flavors rise to the top) and overall flavor, with more authentic fruit flavors generally ranking higher than their artificial-tasting counterparts, although there are some exceptions. I'll be honest — some of these beverages were not so great, while others were surprisingly solid. If you're looking for a way to switch up your energy drink game in favor of something juicier, you're in the right place.

Judging these energy drinks based on the look of the cans alone, I was most excited to try Rio Punch. Its bold, bright colors make it look like you'll be getting a tropical flavor profile, perhaps with some tangy and acidic notes to make for a bright and refreshing drink. But once I took a sip, I realized that's absolutely not what's happening with this beverage. Juice Monster Rio Punch is probably the sweetest energy drink I've ever tasted in my life. It tasted like straight candy, with a Sweet Tart-like flavor, but even more concentrated. My teeth literally hurt from all the sugar after taking a single sip.

According to Monster, the tasting notes for Rio Punch include sweet papaya, vanilla ice cream, and black currant. I can see the vanilla ice cream — there's certainly enough sugar to justify that one — but I wouldn't say this stuff tastes like papaya much at all. And it desperately needs the acidity of black currant, but if that flavor is really present, it's overpowered by that candy-like note in the mix. I think you'd need an absolutely insatiable sweet tooth to actually enjoy this stuff, so if you're looking for an approachable and easy-to-drink energy drink, this is one Juice Monster flavor you should absolutely skip.

Who doesn't love a berry-forward flavor? When it comes to a lot of flavored drinks, I tend to think that berry flavors are the most approachable. They're generally pretty light, with basic, fruity notes that most people are going to enjoy. Unfortunately, though, that's not what I experienced while trying a Viking Berry Juice Monster. This is another flavor that's especially sweet — far, far too sweet for my liking. In fact, if I took more than a few sips of this stuff, I think I'd probably get a bad stomachache. That being said, it still tastes significantly less sweet than the Rio Punch, so at least we're moving in the right direction.

Beyond that bold sweetness, though, this flavor is otherwise forgettable. There's no subtlety with the berry notes, but they're so unspecific that this drink is impossible to crave, since it tastes like so many other drinks out there. For those who love sweet drinks and who are looking for something that tastes basic, this may not be the worst option on the list. However, compared to most of the other flavors listed here, the Viking Berry falls way short.

Listen, I love grape soda just as much as the next person. But the thing is that grape soda doesn't really taste like grapes at all — it has more of an artificial flavor to it that's undeniably delicious but not natural-tasting at all. Juice Monster Voodoo Grape does contain white grape juice concentrate, but still, this stuff tastes more like grape soda to me than grape juice. And since it has a decent amount of sweetness to it, it almost leans into grape candy territory.

I don't think that this is necessarily a bad thing, because grape soda can be pretty popular, and I can imagine there's a market for people who want to drink grape soda while getting all the benefits of an energy drink. But because this product is specifically marketed as juice, it's a bit of a letdown once you take a sip and realize that it doesn't taste much like actual grape juice at all. If I were only ranking these beverages according to overall flavor, it might earn a spot slightly higher than the one it holds here. But considering that this is one of the least natural-tasting varieties of the entire lineup, the Voodoo Grape flavor finds itself firmly in the lower half of this ranking.

Juice Monster's Pipeline Punch is probably the most boring of all the flavors in the entire lineup. But is that really a bad thing? It's not a particularly interesting flavor, but it seems like one that would also have wide appeal, since it doesn't have a very specific, identifiable taste. The brand says that you're supposed to taste passionfruit, guava, and orange when you take a sip, but you're definitely not getting that much complexity. Rather, I tasted a generic, sweet fruitiness that tastes like juice generally, but not the juice from any specific fruit.

Personally speaking, I'd never buy this stuff of my own volition, since it's a deeply uninteresting pick. However, I can see this flavor being one of the more popular of the bunch, simply because it can appeal to so many different palates. That being said, you should still expect it to be very sweet (and in my mind, far too sweet). There are more exciting Juice Monster flavors out there, but when you're looking for generic fruitiness and plenty of caffeine, Monster's Pipeline Punch has you covered.

Really want to lean into the juice element of this line of drinks? Then you might want to try Juice Monster Bad Apple specifically. When I think of fruit juice, apple juice is one of the first things that comes to mind. With its distinct combo of sweet and tart notes and its approachable overall flavor, it's a favorite among juice fans. Bad Apple tastes surprisingly just like real apple juice. Is this variety also too sweet? Admittedly, yes. I don't think that this energy drink has quite the level of acidity it needs to balance all that sugar well, but other than that, it mimics regular apple juice pretty closely.

Despite that sweetness, I feel like this is one of the few Juice Monsters on this list that actually tastes refreshing. The others deliver a burst of intense flavor, sure, but they don't necessarily feel like they're going to quench your thirst. This variety would be more refreshing if it weren't quite as sweet, but it still delivers just enough crispness to make it taste especially good when it's hot, and you're feeling parched. For people who already love apple juice, this might be an energy drink worth seeking out.

Mango lovers, your time has come. This Juice Monster flavor, called Mango Loco, is actually quite mango-forward, thanks to the inclusion of mango juice from concentrate in the ingredients list. Pouring this stuff into a glass, I realized how hazy it was — perhaps because there's also guava puree in the mix, which gives the beverage even more of a tropical flavor. I like that this variety really leans into the fruit factor, making it the centerpiece of the beverage. In fact, this stuff tastes like actual juice, not just a juicy energy drink.

Like basically all of the flavors here, this drink is too sweet, and its sugariness will be less appealing to those who prefer a more restrained beverage. However, I find this flavor to be less intensely sweet than many of the others on this list. You also get a nice dose of tartness from the mango, which creates some balance that's missing in the lower-ranked varieties.

For someone who likes an energy drink that breaks from the typical energy drink mold, this is an excellent flavor to try. Mango Loco, along with the Bad Apple flavor, are the two drinks in this lineup that really seem to fulfill the promise of a juice-based energy drink the best.

Does Pacific Punch taste anything like actual juice? Not really. In that way, it almost feels like false advertising to list this flavor under the Juice Monster line. But, admittedly, most people don't think of straight-up juice when they see the word "punch," so maybe it's not a totally inaccurate description. As the name of the product suggests, this stuff tastes like true fruit punch (more specifically, like Hawaiian punch, which is located in the Pacific — it seems like that's not a coincidence). It also has that classic bright red, artificial-looking hue to it, which even further leans into the whole fruit punch schtick.

Perhaps I like this flavor because it hits a note of nostalgia for me. If you grew up drinking Hawaiian punch that your parents packed in your school lunch box, you probably feel me on this one. With the addition of caffeine, it's definitely not a drink designed for kids, but it still hits those nostalgic flavor notes that remind me of my own childhood. Is it technically the best-tasting of the bunch? Maybe not. But if you had those formative fruit punch-drinking experiences as I did, then you might just enjoy what this flavor has to offer.

We've reached the best of the Juice Monster lineup: the brand's Strawberry Lemonade. I wasn't too excited about this flavor at first, considering that I've tried so many excellent store-bought strawberry lemonades. I figured that an energy drink version of the beverage just couldn't stand up to those varieties. While this beverage definitely has a different take on the drink than other strawberry lemonade brands, I think it still delivers what drinkers are looking for in this flavor combo: There's the sweetness from the strawberry flavor, along with bold berry notes that make it feel like you're drinking something that's at least a little bit juicy. But what really makes this flavor shine is the lemon. It provides some much-needed acidity that balances out the berry flavors nicely. This combination of flavors also lacks any sort of artificial-tasting notes that are present in some of these other selections.

Truthfully, I still think that this flavor of Juice Monster is too sweet, but that just seems to be the case with the lineup across the board (and with Monster drinks in general). But because of that tartness present here, you get a much more balanced flavor than you do with any of the others. Plus, because this stuff is essentially lemonade, it's especially refreshing. It may not be the juiciest variety in this list of energy drinks, but when you consider its overall flavor, I think it's safe to say that it's still the best.

I used two main criteria when ranking these Juice Monster flavors from worst to best. First, I considered flavor balance, which mostly came down to sweetness in this case. The sweeter varieties that had less tartness to balance out the flavor ranked the lowest of the bunch, since I found them to be somewhat cloying and overwhelming, while varieties with more acidity generally ranked higher on the list. Secondly, I considered the overall flavor: Does it actually taste good? And how much does it really taste like juice? The first question here was ultimately what determined where each flavor ranked, while the latter was a secondary, but still relevant, consideration.