Furtive as his late-night fridge-raiding may have been, 40 years later, R White’s “secret lemonade drinker” embodies a more innocent age. Back then, and for decades after, lemonade was a cheap, if not always cheerful drink, necked by thirsty kids on hot summer days with zero thought given to its frequently vile synthetic aftertaste.
Now, things are very different. Invigorated by a new foodie culture and encouraged by declining alcohol sales – according to the latest ONS figures, 27% of 16-to-24 year-olds do not drink – the last decade has seen a wholesale “premiumisation” of soft drinks. Manufacturers are digging out traditional recipes and reverting to real ingredients in order to appeal to more sophisticated adult palates. Even R White’s now does its own (rather poor) traditional cloudy lemonade.
So, which of them are an acrid, sugary mess, no better than generic lemo (a notional 2/10 for this test)? And which offer a refreshing mix of zesty acidity, sweetness and real lemon flavours in a way that rivals, for instance, Fever-Tree’s Sicilian lemonade? A preservative-free lemonade – not overly gassy, elegantly tart, subtly sweet – its flavours shine as brightly as the midday sun on a Mediterranean island (9/10, 500ml, £1.69, Ocado).
Please note, however, as Action On Sugar did in 2014, that fantastic flavours often come at a high calorific price. Many traditional and cloudy lemonades contain significant amounts of sugar (for example, Fever-Tree’s packs 7.6g sugar per 100ml), with some even topping Coca-Cola’s 10.6g per 100ml. Much like the cost of such drinks, that is a good reason to keep children away from them. Proper lemonade is too big a treat for kids.
M&S freshly squeezed lemonade
1l, £2.70
Like a Williamsburg furniture-maker who plays in a bluegrass band at weekends, this still, unpasteurised cloudy lemonade is taking it back to pre-industrial basics. Shake the bottle to wake its fruity sediment, and the aromas and freshly-squeezed flavours it delivers are terrific. You get a vivid, tangy burst of sun-drenched lemons gently softened by the added sugar. It is smooth, rounded, gently puckering. Purists will love that it is, essentially, just 12% lemon juice and water. Those raised on carbonated lemonades may feel like they are drinking watered down fruit juice. In a way, you are. 8/10
Tesco no added sugar cloudy lemonade
2l, 50p
Now staring down the barrel of the sugar tax, the soft drinks industry is scrabbling to get its marzipan house in order. This will inevitably lead to aberrations such as Tesco’s low-calorie cloudy lemonade. A concoction of “comminuted” lemon (a puree used to manufacture some mid-range lemon drinks), preservatives and the artificial sweetener sucralose, it smells like lemon toilet cleaner and tastes precisely how a drink also made with further concentrated citrus juices (2%) and two citric acids would: harsh, stunted and, if far more lemony than standard lemonade, no classic. 3/10
Asda extra special freshly squeezed cloudy lemonade
1l, £2
Another flat, fresh, traditional lemonade with a comparatively short shelf-life. It contains a whopping 11g of sugar per 100ml and 16% lemon juice, and is rather OTT. Yes, it is tart, refreshing and boldly lemony in way that bests much of the competition here. But, in the final analysis, where the M&S version is pin-bright and balanced, this is too sweet, too sour, too stridently lemony and, rather than clearly defined at the edges of its flavour, dulled and hazy in a way vaguely reminiscent of Lemsip. A sound lemonade, but ham-fisted. 6/10
Co-Op sparkling cloudy lemonade
500ml, 95p
Another cloudy version trying to have its lemon drizzle cake and eat it, this Co-Op “carbonated lemon flavour soft drink with sweetener” may contain less than 0.5g of sugar per 100ml, but it lacks good flavours, too. Like drinking Fanta Limon on a Costas holiday in 1986, it seems surprisingly lemony initially (compared to cheap, mainline lemo). But that soon fades, to reveal a thin, rather watery, overly sweet, aggressively bitter lemonade. A few swigs in and the aftertaste is far from refreshing, full of cloying artificial sweetness and mouth-puckering citric compounds. 3/10
Aldi Ridge Valley cloudy lemonade
700ml, £1.49
A preservative-free version made from very lightly sparkling spring water and 8% lemon juice – not concentrated juices or comminute – this lemonade is a serious cut above. Where so many lemonades are obnoxiously aggressive, this is chilled-out and approachable, yet it offers a full-spectrum of lemon flavours: from the bright-eyed freshness of just-juiced lemons to the varied flavours you get in baking from using the zest, oven-roasted lemon rinds or syrup-preserved lemons. Sweet as it undoubtedly is, the aftertaste is relatively clean, too. It stops short of sickliness. Excellent. 8.5/10
Waitrose cloudy lemonade
1l, 60p
Remember Action on Sugar’s warning? Well, this lemonade – 11.4g of sugar per 100ml – is definitely not worth the calories. That noise when you open the bottle (like a bus applying its air brakes at traffic lights), is an indication of how ridiculously gassy this drink is. Upfront, are you tasting acerbic carbonation or bitter lemon compounds? It is impossible to tell. As the lemonade settles, you get a comminute-and-concentrated-juice dose of lemon flavour that, while obviously purer and stronger than bog-standard lemonade, lacks mellow comeliness. This lemonade tastes short, spiky, narrow and unsurprisingly way too sweet. 4/10
Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Sicilian lemonade
750ml, £1.90
It smells a bit like floor cleaner, but the flavour is highly persuasive: zesty, sharp, invigorating without being dramatically harsh. Sainsbury’s lemonade is closest in spirit and ingredients (12% lemon juice, some comminute), to Aldi’s Ridge Valley lemonade but, befitting its southern Italian heritage, it is far bubblier (literally), vivacious and ebullient in its flavours – a little too intensely acidic and sweet, ultimately. This is a mouthy young buck of a lemonade, a Sicilian wideboy careering around Catania on his scooter, where the Aldi version has a certain, preferable, refined English reserve to it. 7/10
