50 Best '90s Drinks That Will Give You Nostalgia

If you were alive and parched in the '90s, you remember the decade fondly; that's because the '90s was arguably a golden age of beverages. If you were in need of a drink, there was a plethora of popular juices, energy drinks, sodas, and hybrids to choose from. For the kids of the '90s, there was Kool-Aid and Capri Sun (two different but equally beautiful forms of, essentially, fruit water); for '90s adults, there were more sophisticated options like Mistic and Zima. Of course, the '90s also offered options for kids and grown ups alike, with everything from Coca-Cola to Hi-C to Brisk Iced Tea.

It was a lawless time, really, with companies throwing fruit-flavored soft drinks and variations on the juice box at the wall to see what would stick. The '90s were a glorious time for any beverage connoisseur, one we wish we could go back to. But until time travel is invented, we'll have to settle for revisiting the decade with this list of the best '90s drinks.

Maker: Dr. Pepper Snapple Group

Discontinued: Mid-2000s

Earth (grape-cranberry), Rain (agave-cactus), Sun (starfruit-orange), and Fire (dragonfruit) were the original lineup of Snapple Elements flavors, available for a limited time as bottled beverages under Snapple Co. The line was later expanded to include other elements, some of which came in cans rather than the classic Snapple glass bottles. Just seeing the packaging is enough to invoke buying a bottle and biking around the neighborhood with your friends, and those who remember the refreshing flavors have created a petition to bring the line back! Snapple has yet to comment on the nostalgia-induced demands from those who remember.

Maker: PepsiCo

Discontinued: N/A

Sobe beverages were birthed in 1995, invoking imagery of ocean waves and “surf’s up” finger wags. The fruit juices and teas still have the lizard on the bottle to make us feel laid back, and the flavor combinations remain cooler than ever.

Maker: Dr. Pepper Snapple Group

Discontinued: N/A

As arbiters of taste, the fine people at Snapple have gone through many phases of innovation in the beverage world-—they’ve experimented with the elements as flavors, “Snapple Pie” (pie-flavored juice drinks that had a short run in the early 2000s), and even had product placement on a few episodes of Friends, where seemingly every time the fridge was opened in Monica’s apartment, someone was pulling the juice drink out of it.

Maker: Dr. Pepper Snapple Group

Discontinued: N/A

This beverage is relatively mysterious in its history and existence. Though it is still available online in bulk and at select stores across the country, the most glaring effect it’s had on present culture is the ongoing Mandela Effect conversations surrounding it; some insist that it once was spelled “Mystic” in the ‘90s, while others remember Mistic as a wine cooler, rather than a non-alcoholic juice drink, and still others remember it being discontinued.

Maker: Arizona Beverage Company

Discontinued: N/A

AriZona has been around since 1992, with tall cans of juice or tea remaining solidly priced at 99 cents the entire time. While other beverages have gone through waves of trial and error, AriZona has remained committed to providing us with big beverage taste for less than a dollar. They’ve even come out with sparkling and still vapor water varieties and expanded to snacks in recent years, proving that the drugstore staple is here to stay.

Maker: PepsiCo

Discontinued: N/A

All Sport is a sports drink by PepsiCo engineered to be direct competition for Gatorade. It originally was lightly carbonated, but was quickly swapped out for a still version. Though a few flavors have received the chopping block (Dragonfruit, Mandarin Orange, and Strawberry Starfruit), All Sport remains a beverage option for anyone whose thirst needs quenching.

Maker: Pietro Biscaldi Luigi Export-Import

Discontinued: N/A

Anyone who watched Frasier with regularity recognizes this notorious blue bottle. The beverage was featured on a number of other hit shows through the ‘90s and early 2000s, including Friends, The Big Bang Theory, and Ugly Betty.

Maker: PepsiCo

Discontinued: 1991

Like most beverage companies in the ‘90s, Pepsi experimented with a lot of flavors for their cola beverage throughout the decade. This particular flavor was released as a trio alongside Strawberry Burst and Raging Razzberry. We were younger then, and willing to try anything.

Maker: National Grape Cooperative Organization

Discontinued: N/A

This beverage made an appearance at any seemingly important child-oriented gathering in the ‘90s. From First Communions to New Year’s Eve parties, kids were able to toast right along with their parents without getting a hangover the next day.

Maker: American Beverage Corporation

Discontinued: N/A

Quarter water juices, fruit barrels—whatever you prefer calling them, these were the quintessential drink for kids who were just being kids. These drinks have been around for decades, and have remained a nod to nostalgia and childhood, no matter your age.

Maker: Someone’s mother

Discontinued: Never

The measurements seem to vary depending on where you grew up, but sherbet punch was a staple at open houses, school dances, and any other social gathering where alcohol was discouraged. The sugary recipe of rainbow sherbet, pineapple juice, and lemon-lime soda is a hit with many age ranges, but holds a special place in our hearts. This beverage is possibly the only one on this list that can’t die out, because the word of mouth recipe is a simple three ingredients where brand loyalty plays no part.

Maker: Kraft

Discontinued: N/A

The ‘80s and ‘90s saw a boom in diet fads, and Crystal Light quickly became more popular because of it. There were few low-calorie, sugar-free options that only required mix to turn a bottle or glass of water into lemonade or fruit punch, so Crystal Light had its time to shine. Crystal Light has recently expanded to include artificial tea flavors, and even created squeezable liquid containers for on-the-go drinking.

Maker: Coca-Cola

Discontinued: N/A

Hi-C Orange Lavaburst was not only a staple for the ‘90s in general, but also for McDonald’s specifically. The fast food chain phased out the beverage in 2017, sparking outrage from customers nationwide. Luckily, the beverage was not exclusive to McDonald's and is still available at local retailers.

Maker: Clearly Food and Beverage Company

Discontinued: 2009, 2017 comeback

If you yell loud enough, some companies listen. Popular sparkling drink Clearly Canadian took over the ‘90s and scored product placement on several popular shows including Sex and the City, Seinfeld, and Friends. After disappearing from American stores for almost a decade, Clearly Canadian is back to join the ranks of flavored sparkling water.

Maker: Coca-Cola

Discontinued: 1995

Like PepsiCo, Coca-Cola decided to take a few alternative cola routes during the ‘90s. OK Soda came on the heels of Coke II, which is often referred to as one of Coca-Cola’s biggest marketing failures. With OK Soda, Coke made a “graveyard” flavor, ”graveyard” being when multiple flavors at the fountain machine are mixed together to create one unique and multilayered beverage. The marketing was based on emulating and appealing to cynical Gen Xers, and honestly was just too far ahead of its time.

Maker: Coca-Cola

Discontinued: N/A

Several variations on the diet cola were made throughout the ‘80s and mid ‘90s, as a departure from the original formula. Though sales have dipped considerably following the introduction of Diet Coke, Tab continues to have a diet cola cult following that keeps it afloat just enough to prevent it from being discontinued.

Maker: Coca-Cola

Discontinued: N/A

Fresca has had more revampings than most soft drinks, including complete packaging overhauls and changes in target markets. Most recently, Coca-Cola aimed its sights at selling the grapefruit-lime flavored soda to millennials who may not have tried the drink themselves, but heard about it from their parents during the ’90s and late ‘80s.

Maker: National Grape Cooperative Organization

Discontinued: 2011, due to relaunch

Welch’s has cornered the market with grape-flavored drinks, and rightfully so: They offer a wealth of grape-centric products, ranging from jams and jellies to juices with the fruit. An online petition begged for the soda’s return after it was discontinued in 2011, and multiple sources have reported that the carbonated concord grape beverage is due to make a nationwide return sometime soon.

Maker: Motts

Discontinued: N/A

The combination of clam and tomato juice hit a peak in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and continues to shine as a mixer for bloody marys and, primarily, as a component to a michelada. Though the idea of the clam and tomato juice combination is sure to wrinkle a few noses, the taste has withstood decades and proven to be one of the most important mixers for savory tomato drinks.

Maker: Keurig Dr. Pepper

Discontinued: N/A

The ‘90s and early 2000s were not only an important time for colas; lemon-lime sodas were also in abundance, with the different taste and marketing style of each allowing for differentiation in the category. Spin-offs of the original haven’t proved permanent (memorably dnL, with the name and label meant to play on the appearance of the upside-down 7Up logo, and the green color, clear bottle, and strong lime flavor meant to be the polar opposite of the classic). Despite that, 7Up had a great run in the ‘90s and early 2000s, with the cheeky slogan “Make 7Up Yours.”

Maker: Coca-Cola

Discontinued: N/A

Coca-Cola reigned supreme in the ‘90s with consumption and advertisements. With PepsiCo as a direct rival in taste, Coca-Cola was consistently trying to assert itself as the superior cola. Advertisements tapped into pop culture moments and used celebrities and catchy theme songs in their ads more than any other brand. They continue to top cola sales and cement their ominous “Always” tagline today.

Maker: Popsicle

Discontinued: Mid ‘90s

While the existence of this chocolate soda seems wiped from nearly everyone’s memory, Google photos offer proof of its existence. Introduced during the chocolate drink craze of the ‘90s, trusted chocolate treat Fudgsicle was available for a limited time in a carbonated, drinkable version.

Maker: Pepsi-Lipton

Discontinued: N/A

In the late ‘90s, Brisk marketed themselves as an iced tea that would really wake you up. The commercials featured exhausted, large-headed claymation versions of celebrities who were immediately invigorated after gulping down Brisk Iced Tea.

Maker: Coca-Cola

Discontinued: 2011

Though recency bias would have you believe that Pibb Xtra is a better reformulation of—or the same thing as—Mr. Pibb, I’m here to say otherwise. While Mr. Pibb was created as a direct competitor to Dr. Pepper, its reformulation post-2011 (now called Pibb Xtra) has cinnamon flavor and is simply marketed as a “spicy cherry flavor.” The new recipe is less dimensional, as opposed to the previous formula, which directly mimicked Dr. Pepper’s notorious 21-flavor combination.

Maker: Coca-Cola

Discontinued: N/A

Barq’s Root Beer hit its stride with consumers in the ‘90s, thanks to their “Barq’s Has Bite!” ads. Root beer is one of those beverage avenues that has few consistent champions, and off brand usually just doesn’t cut it. Barq’s unique flavor served as a perfect combination for root beer floats (another popular ‘90s drink; people don’t just have root beer floats anymore the way they used to). In 1990, in a stunning display of brand commitment, Barq’s made the world’s largest root beer float outside a grocery store in Illinois, using 1,500 gallons of Barq’s.

Maker: The Coca-Cola Company

Discontinued: N/A

There was absolutely nothing "mello" about this drink. It was Coke's answer to Mountain Dew, which may or may not be a combination of soda, energy drink, and illegal upper—why else would it be so addictive? The citrus soda also had close advertising ties to NASCAR, which only made us want it more. It wasn't our fault we were bouncing off walls for a solid four years of our childhood.

Maker: Original New York Seltzer

Discontinued: 1990s, 2015 comeback

These flavored seltzers were once in virtually every deli and corner store. Their focus was a natural approach to soft drinks, as they didn’t contain any artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives. Flavors were vanilla cream soda, orange, raspberry, lime, and black cherry. The irony? These little guys came from a California-based company. In 2015 Original New York Seltzer was revived, and in 2017, the company expanded its flavor range to include grapefruit, lime, original, orange, watermelon, lemon, coconut, and 6-berry.

Maker: PepsiCo

Discontinued: 2005, 2006 comeback

Thanks to Pepsi, for a fleeting moment in time, apple, grape, fruit punch, peach, strawberry, and other fruit-flavored sodas existed—fodder for every fifth grader's fantasies! Why drink apple juice when you could drink apple juice that tastes like Sprite?

Maker: MillerCoors

Discontinued: 2008

Zima was deemed the alternative to beer, or alcopop. Obviously, we were behind the lemon-lime-beer-alcohol combination Zima served up, and so was the rest of the country (at least, for a moment), but the terminology really threw us; alcopop is one of those things that should stay in the '90s. Please keep don't ever bring that term back again—we prefer "bubbly booze," or literally anything else, in 2019.

Maker: N/A

Discontinued: N/A

We're not entirely sure why the Flintstones came out with a drink, but so did the Super Mario Bros., so we won't question it. The show was good and the drink was even better—maybe sodas and television shows need to partner up more. Just imagine Game of Thrones-inspired soda. Sounds thirst-quenching, doesn't it?

Maker: Dr. Pepper Snapple Group

Discontinued: N/A

Yoo-hoo was for kids who were both confident enough to admit their love of chocolate milk and cool enough to pull off drinking it in public. If you were, or still are, a Yoo-hoo drinker, you're a boss. Clutch that yellow can proudly.

Maker: PepsiCo

Discontinued: 1999

Red Bull, 5 Hour Energy, and all the multi-colored Monster flavors bow down—Josta will always be the true energy drink king. Josta was the first energy drink created by a major U.S. beverage company, and while it didn't make it to the energy drink era we currently live in, it ran things back then. It incorporated guarana, a common Brazilian plant, and caffeine. Multiple attempts to bring Josta back have been, and still are, underway. For now, this energy drink exists only in the hearts and minds of '90s kids.

Maker: American Beverage

Discontinued: N/A

This drink existed before we associated "guzzling" with alcohol, when our minds and our livers were still pink and pure. Sometimes we long for a sip of this juice and those days of innocence.

Maker: American Beverage

Discontinued: N/A

People in the '90s must have been suffering from next-level exhaustion, because there was a huge push for hybrid energy drinks (see: half of this list), but this may have been the strangest concept of all: caffeinated water. It still exists today, but no word on whether it's the original recipe or not. Try it if you dare.

Maker: Wet Planet Beverages

Discontinued: 2008

The name tells you everything you need to know: this was an energy drink to wake you up and keep you going through long days post sleepless nights. Jolt is gone now, but we'll always remember that pre-Red Bull era, and the many papers we penned while turned up on Jolt.

Maker: PepsiCo

Discontinued: 1993

This soda originally only lasted a single year, proof that sometimes the good die young. The ingenious concept of clear soda was too futuristic for the world to wrap their heads around, but those who appreciate forward-thinking helped revive the product various times from 2015 all the way through this year, when the product was sold for a limited time in Canadian stores.

Maker: Jel Sert

Discontinued: N/A

First introduced in 1991, this kids' drink was very similar to a Squeezit or Kool-Aid Burst. But if you kids recall, the top was slightly different. Proven cool enough for school, you can still find this drink around today.

Maker: Nestlé

Discontinued: N/A

Nesquik has been around for a minute, but every '90s kid remembers chugging down the sugar-laden cocoa after a tough day of long division. We all knew the struggle of not stirring long enough and getting all the powder trapped at the bottom, but as adults, we've (hopefully) finally mastered the process.

Maker: Nestlé

Discontinued: N/A

"100 percent juice for 100 percent kids." This slogan dominated TV airwaves way back when, which may be why the drink is still on shelves today. Nowadays, juice boxes are too tiny to quench our adult-sized thirst, but back in the day, this was the post-gym-class go-to.

Maker: The Coca-Cola Company

Discontinued: 2003

This drink had an impressive advertising campaign, even managing a shoutout on The Simpsons, but it still couldn't make it far into the aughts. Still, it was good while it lasted. The drink came in a bunch of crazy flavors aimed at teens to capitalize on the fruit drink craze started by Snapple in the mid '90s. But all good things must come to the end... some earlier than others.

Maker: Clearly Canadian Beverage Corporation

Discontinued: 1998

Long story short: Some Canadians made a drinkable lava lamp and sold it as a beverage. Between the little orbs floating inside, the shape of the bottle, and the weird colors it came in, there's no way the company didn't realize that Orbitz looked like a '70s table lamp. We weren't mad at it, though.

Maker: WILD

Discontinued: N/A

Another lunchbox essential, Capri Sun was everything during lunchtime. The biggest complaint we had (and still have) is how quickly you could drink one of these—three gulps and it's gone. Almost as fun was the classic prank: blowing up the Capri Sun, handing it to a friend, and watching their joy crumble as they sucked down air. Don't act like you didn't try it, bully.

Maker: The Coca-Cola Company

Discontinued: 2002, returned in 2007

These were the days where Black Cherry Coke and Cherry Pepsi could still be found in vending machines across the country. Honestly, this tasted like a root beer float, heavy on the soda, but we weren't mad at it. Vanilla Coke saw multiple international relaunches, but sadly none in the U.S. You hate to see it.

Maker: E & J Gallo Winery

Discontinued: N/A

For those “old enough,” this late '80s/early '90s wine cooler was the drink of choice for the non-beer drinker. Flavors included margarita, piña colada, and strawberry daiquiri. Wine coolers were up against Zima and Smirnoff Ice in the later years, but Bartles & Jaymes has held its own.

Maker: General Mills

Discontinued: 2001

Squeezits doubled as a beverage and an exercise; we all worked those hand muscles when it got down to the last drop of Berry B. Wild—it might have been the last time some of us broke a sweat. Time to start the petition to bring these bad boys back.

Maker: The Coca-Cola Company

Discontinued: 2001

Hi-C Ecto Coolers launched in tandem with the show The Real Ghostbusters but they were so fly that they outlived the cancellation of the series. They've now been lost to the sands of time, but if you're really bummed about the disappearance of Ecto-Coolers, collectors are selling Ecto-Cooler lunchboxes and other paraphernalia on eBay—for like 200 bucks. Still bummed?

Maker: Kraft Foods

Discontinued: N/A

The actual orangutan that accompanied Tang commercials gave us nightmares (and still does), but this '90s powdered drink was still a true pioneer of its time. With a teaspoon and a dream, you could change a basic glass of water into a swirling, flavored drink in seconds. Fortunately, Tang still exists in both powdered and regular liquid form—you just have to get your search on.

Maker: The Coca-Cola Company

Year discontinued: 2003

According to the internet, Surge was created to compete with Pepsi products by promoting a "hardcore" image. We're unclear on what is hardcore about a neon green and bright orange can, but we still miss the quasi-energy drink/soda combo. Apparently, Surge is still alive and kicking in Norway, so when you find yourself abroad, kick one back for us.

Maker: Kraft Foods

Discontinued: N/A

How cool did you feel carrying one of these? You know, before you popped that twist cap off and it spilled all over you—the "burst" part was not a joke. Regardless of the rainbow-colored stains on your fresh FUBU T, Kool-Aid Bursts were an elementary school classic.

Maker: Sunny Delight Beverages Company

Discontinued: N/A

We know, we know. Sunny D is still around. But we remember a time when Sunny D was cafeteria gold. Mom approved and kids all agreed: it tasted like sunshine. Go cop one from the bodega and revel in memories of recess, swingsets, and life without rent.