Supermarket’s £1.84 own-brand orange squash crowned better than Robinsons and M&S

We pitted branded and own-brand drinks against each other (Picture: Metro/M&S/Robinsons/Tesco/Sainsbury’s)

When it comes to the weekly shop, there are certain brands we’re loyal to – like Heinz baked beans or Cadbury chocolate.

And more often than not, for orange squash, the go-to is Robinsons.

The brand is synonymous with the fruity beverage, and many will tell you it tastes the best. But does it really?

Metro decided to find out once and for all, and the results of our test might have you rethinking your choices next time you head to get groceries.

We pitted branded and supermarket own-brand versions of orange squash against one another, ranking them across several categories, including taste, smell, and strength, and a surprising winner came out on top.  

Here’s everything you need to know…

Which is best, branded or own-brand? (Picture: Getty Images)

How we conducted the taste test

The Metro team conducted a blind taste test of orange squash, sampling drinks from Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, Asda, Co-op, M&S, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s, as well as the iconic branded version by Robinsons.

We scored each squash across four different categories, including overall taste, strength, smell, and value for money, giving each product a potential maximum score of 100.

Which squash won Metro’s taste test?

The £1.84 squash scored the highest, with 64 out of 100 (Picture: Asda)

It was Asda’s Quadruple Strength Orange Squash (£1.84 for 1.5L) that proved victorious, garnering an overall score of 64 out of 100.

The squash scored highly for its taste, which was deemed incredibly ‘nostalgic’ and ‘just right’ when it came to sweetness levels. 

Some said it had a ‘light’ and ‘good’ mouthfeel, while others praised its aroma, which smelled ‘like actual oranges’.

Unsurprisingly, the quadruple-strength squash ranked highly for its strength, garnering 17 out of 25 possible points in that category.

‘It tastes exactly how you’d want a glass of orange squash to taste,’ read one of the reviews, while another claimed the flavour had ‘transported them straight back to childhood birthday parties’.

The iconic brand came in second place (Picture: Robinsons/Tesco)

The classic Robinsons Orange Squash (£1.25 for 1L at Iceland and at Tesco with a Clubcard) narrowly missed out on the top spot in the test by just three points.

Coming in second place, the branded drink earned an overall score of 61 out of 100.

While those trying it out thought it was a ‘nice’ drink, with an ‘innofensive’ taste and smell, it lost points for its strength, which is only double, not quadruple.

It scored 13 out of a possible 25 points for its strength, which caused a few people to say it was ‘a tad weak’.

That said, it was a ‘smooth’ drink that had a ‘pleasant citrus aftertaste’.

Lidl’s Lindhouse Double Strength Orange Squash (89p for 1.5L) and Aldi’s Sun Quench Double Strength Orange Squash (99p for 1L, currently on offer for 89p) took third place, both scoring 58. 

The cheap drinks may have had the same overall number of points, but they fared very differently across categories, with Lidl’s being better in terms of taste and smell, but Aldi’s being the stronger of the two. 

Unsurprisingly, both were great value for money, as they were the cheapest of the bunch, coming in under £1 each.

Sainsbury’s (£2.30 for 1.5L) and Co-op’s own-brand drinks followed behind these with a joint score of 55.

Both are quadruple strength and were hailed as having ‘the perfect strength’, but it was Co-op that just pipped Sainsbury’s to the post in terms of taste, scoring 16 out of 25, while Sainsbury’s had 14.

Waitrose (£1.50 for 1.5L) came after this, earning a total score of 53. Tasting notes described it as being ‘too strong’ with ‘a very citrussy smell’ and a ‘slight, sharp tang’.

And at the bottom of the scale, M&S (£1.25 for 1.5L) and Tesco (£1.80 for 750ML) came in last place, earning just 45 points each. 

The M&S squash scored just nine out of a possible 25 points for taste, being likened to ‘Berocca’, with quite a medicinal flavour.

Others criticised it for being ‘very weak’ and one person even dubbed it ‘forgettable’, while Tesco was the most ‘artificial’ tasting of them all.

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