Capri Sun ranking: We taste tested the classic flavors to see if they hold up

Did you know Capri Sun was the FIRST to sell a drink in a stand-up pouch?

Capri Suns were basically the currency of childhood — everyone was always trading flavors at lunchtime — but the real question is: Do they actually hold up now?

As an adult (kinda), I will be trying the most popular Capri Sun flavors from our youth and ranking them based on two factors:

Taste (obviously).
Nostalgia factor — the more nostalgic I get, the more points I award the drink.

Capri Sun lineup:

Fruit Punch
Wild Cherry Waterfall
Strawberry Kiwi Surf
Pacific Cooler
Grape Geyser

Which Capri Sun flavors are good?

Let’s do this from best to worst:

Best flavor: Grape Geyser. In a shocking twist — grape-flavored things objectively always taste like cough medicine — this was the most normal flavor.

Nostalgia factor: This made me think about going to lunch and knowing I had gym class next, which I loved at the time because I was ignorant of how weird it was that I had to sit in my sweaty clothes for the rest of the day.

Fine flavor: Strawberry Kiwi. It’s too sweet!

Nostalgia factor: This made me remember the times my mom would write an embarrassing love letter on a napkin in my lunchbox, and people at my lunch table would laugh at it. Now, at [redacted] years old, I would love it if I got at least one love letter a day.

Fine flavor, but no nostalgia: Wild Cherry Waterfall. Cherry, like grape, reminds me of cough medicine, so I never had this growing up, and thus it unlocked zero memories.

BAD flavor: Fruit Punch.

Nostalgia factor: Fruit Punch made me think of the times where our class would have to do popcorn reading — where random people took turns reading passages from a book out loud — which I hated doing because I would either get bored and read ahead or I would stumble over my words.

WORST, AWFUL flavor: Pacific Cooler. Basically like a spicy Fruit Punch, if that makes sense.

Nostalgia factor: I hated this, and therefore it brought up the moments I hated the most as a kid: Being separated from my friends during a bus trip. They were making memories and inside jokes without me!

After sipping on my childhood trauma, I learned when it comes to nostalgia, some pouches are best left unpoked.