I Tried 9 Margarita Mixes & One Goes Down Smoother Than the Rest

As the summer months approach, so does an unrelenting desire for a cold, sweet drink that's spiked with just the right amount of lime and tequila. Yes, I'm talking about the universal appeal of margaritas to beat the heat. This drink is just about as synonymous with the summer months as barbecues and the beach. Though you can obviously drink margaritas in any weather, it just tastes better on a hot day. There's something about the combination of this sour-sweet drink and its corresponding generous dose of alcohol that goes perfectly with a pool, the beach, or a summery night spent with friends.

But when it's hot, the last thing anyone wants to do is carefully prepare simple syrup, juicing limes, or measuring out spoonfuls of agave—this is why there's margarita mix. To cut down on prep time between batches of marks and spare your fingers the chore of chopping and juicing limes, there are plenty of options for getting drinks together in ten minutes or less. And Margarita mixes are even more helpful when you've got a big group of people; just throw some tequila, mix, and ice in a blender, and voila! Your party is on the way.

Luckily, there's been an upsurge in quality in this particular category of ready-to-drink mixes. No longer are the only options neon green and filled with artificial ingredients and massive amounts of sugar. Some of the options on the market today only use blue agave, others are completely organic, and most of the options are a whole lot better tasting than the mix options that might've dominated your college parties.

With an eye toward options that opt for fresh, real ingredients and a higher-end feel, I recently tried a whole slew of different options to find the best one. Many of them were truly excellent,  To keep things as fair as possible, I used the same tequila, El Jimador Blanco Tequila, for every drink that I mixed. For each mix, I followed the recipe on the bottle, added the tequila, and made a margarita that was shaken with ice, then garnished with a lime and a salt rim.

Some of the mixes went great with the salt, others not so much, so I've included some recommendations on whether each mix should be served with salt or without. Here's how each mix fared, ranked in descending order from my least favorite to the best margarita mmix for summer.

Jose Cuervo Margarita Mix

Jose Cuervo is going to be the most well-known margarita mix for many people, including myself. It's the mixer I used to grab on the booze aisle while I was getting my tequila. But if you check the label, you're going to find out why a lot of people are leaning away from this mix—the second ingredient, right after water, is high fructose corn syrup. Now that there are options on the market using more natural sweeteners, a lot of people are moving away from this artificial version just for health reasons, not even related to taste.

The look: Much lighter in color than a lot of the other mixes, this one is a bright neon yellow in the big tub it comes in, but dilutes down fast when the tequila and ice come into play. The only instructions were 40 milliliters of tequila to 90 milliliters of mix, which converts to about 1.35 ounces of tequila per three ounces of mix for one drink. You'll notice a lot of the mixes call for a similar two-to-one ratio.

The taste: This one has a strange chemically aftertaste that wasn't present in any of the other mixes. I'm going to bet it's due to the high fructose corn syrup. It's also got very high sourness, and the salt on the rim only highlights the chemical taste and makes the sourness pucker more. So this might actually be a decent option for those of you who don't like margaritas with salt. On first sip, you can tell this mix is made with artificial sweetener, not agave. The sweetness doesn't stick around on the palate like agave does. I couldn't get any hint of the tequila taste, either—the mix eclipses it.

While this was lowest on the list, I didn't hate it. It's not a bad option for batching at home, it just doesn't really taste like something a mixologist would serve at a bar.

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Hella Margarita Mix

Hella is a minority-owned company out of Brooklyn, N.Y., founded by three friends who pride themselves on making great tasting mixers. And while I love the branding on the bottle and applaud their efforts to use only ingredients like pure cane sugar, fruit juice concentrates, fruit peels, natural extracts, and spices, this one didn't quite hit for me. It was very sour, but in a totally different way than Jose Cuervo. The recipe on the bottle also called for the least amount of mix among the recipes I tasted, with 1.5 ounces of tequila to just 2 ounces of Hella.

The look: Nice and light, almost like lemon or lime juice itself. It's likely it would be darker if you used more of the mix for a different ratio, as again, the almost one-to-one parts stood out. This one did froth up a little on top after it was shaken, which gave it some nice texture on the palate.

The taste: Strangely enough, apple is the strongest note in this mix. As I mentioned, this one also tasted pretty sour, but not a chemically taste, more of a nice acid that was almost like apple cider vinegar. It was round and sweet like an apple but with some crispness, and due to that, I would also probably prefer this one without salt. Likely due to the lower ratio, I could taste some alcohol in this one, just not a lot. The vinegary taste was interesting, but to me, that's not what a margarita should taste like, and that's part of why it's so low on this list.

Master of Mixes Margarita Drink Mix

If you've got eaters with a lot of dietary restrictions in your house, this mixer is a good one to keep on hand. Right on the label it lets you know this is gluten free, kosher, and vegan. It also boasts using only limes that are sourced from Mexico, and agave is listed in the ingredients, along with cane sugar. The recipe is back to the two-to-one recommendation, two ounces of tequila to four ounces of mix.

The look: This one truly is almost translucent. It's a blueish-white color, though, not leaning into green like some of the others. I think it's the lightest in color of all the mixes I sampled.

The taste: It's clear the producers used both agave and sugar in this one, as it's heailvy sweet. After two super sour ones, you might think I'm channeling Goldilocks by criticizing this one for being too sweet. But the whole point of a margarita is balance between those two sides. You can tell the producers tried hard to get some nuance here, though I couldn't really get a taste of the tequila here. It's lost in the sweetness. There's a nice prickly pear middle note, but it disappears into the sugary taste pretty quickly. As far as the salt, it kind of erases the nice fruity middle note. So again, maybe prepare your drink without salt if you purchase this one.

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Filthy Margarita Mix

All the other mixes came in either plastic or glass bottles, but this one came in a soft, slouchy pouch. It was actually a pretty cool packaging job and gave this a contemporary feel that I really liked. I would feel cool showing up to a party with this. The Filthy margarita recipe calls for 1.5 ounces of tequila to three ounces of mix.

The look: This one is a very light yellow color, but still the darkest drink so far. On the package, the ingredients listed are short and sweet: water, lime juice, blue agave, and citric acid. My guess is the agave and the real lime juice are what contribute to the darker color. It goes well with the salt.

The taste: When there's agave in the mix, it's usually the first thing you'll taste. It's got a sweet honey flavor that's more nuanced than honey. But it's still a little more mellow than some other agave-heavy drinks I've had before. It's got a little sourness on the end, but it's still super mild and maybe not as acidic as I'd hoped. It's also not really boozy at all. This is the first margarita I wanted to keep drinking after I finished my taste test, so we're finally on the right track. This one could've gone either way as far as salt.

Stonewall Kitchen Margarita Mix

First things first, please note this is not always found in the alcohol area of the supermarket. I found it in a different part of the store altogether, over by the sauces. I had read so many good things about Stonewall Kitchen I thought it might come in first for the tasting, and the fact that other mixes are ranked higher is a testament to how good they are, not that Stonewall is middle of the road. The directions call for a ratio of three ounces of tequila to two ounces of mix. It's the only ratio in this entire survey to put the alcohol higher than the mix! Respect. It also called for an ounce of Triple Sec, but since no other recipe did, I thought that would give Stonewall an unfair advantage. So I left it out.

The look: We're back to a pretty pale yellow, unremarkable look here, but this one had a nice froth on it after it was shaken. It is a bit more golden than some, and after looking at the ingredients, I'd say it's probably due to the inclusion of orange juice concentrate.

The taste: This one has a really nice and round sweetness, not as honeyed as the mixes made from agave, but really flavorful. Due to that high ratio, the heat from the tequila really comes through, which pairs well with salt. Just a touch of acid here, as the orange mellows out the lime juice. This one is a really nice option… if you can find it!

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Williams-Sonoma Organic Margarita Mix, Classic Lime

This Williams-Sonoma brand is another margarita mix that's racked up a cult following online and could've potentially topped the list. It's made with all organic ingredients, including agave, lime, and orange juice. The ratio is another two-to-one setup, so I did 1.5 ounces of tequila to three ounces of mix.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

The look: This is another mix that has orange juice and orange flavor in it, which certainly impacts the taste and the color. It's a very dark color, like a golden brown and not a green, which is also likely due to the presence of the agave. Organic agave, no less! This one was the darkest mixes I tried.

The taste: Though it's probably not what Williams-Sonoma was going for, my very first thought on tasting this was that it tastes like Sprite. That's not a bad thing, just a reference note for fellow shoppers. It's sweet and citrusy in equal parts, not overly sweet, or way too sour like some of the mixes. Finally, that balance that I was looking for is here! The sweetness is really nice, but the sour side does taste more orange than lime, like when a bartender adds too much Triple Sec. But unlike that scenario, I don't taste much booze here. That plus the orange overload held this one back from the top three. Because of how sweet it is, salt is a must.

Fever-Tree Margarita Mix

I'm a huge fan of Fever-Tree sparkling water, sodas, and tonics, so I figured this one was another shoo-in for the top slot. It almost got there. That's what an ingredient list like this one will get you. The list includes lime, agave, sea salt, cane sugar, orange extract, sugar, caramel color, and grapefruit oil. So far, no other brands have included grapefruit oil in their recipe, so that's a cool addition. The producers are very clear about the ingredients on the label, proudly noting that they use Mexican limes and agave plus Spanish sea salt. As for the recipe, Fever-Tree had one of the highest mix-to-tequila ratios with 1.5 ounces of tequila to four ounces of mix.

The look: While it's a very light color, and not dissimilar from the bulk of the mixes I tried, it also got really frothy when shaken up. There's something super appealing about the bubbles on top.

The taste: Super tangy, which makes sense because Fever-Tree is the only brand to delineate where it sources the limes from. It's much more citrusy than any other variety. I'm ranking it so high because the emphasis on the citrus gave it a unique flavor and really made it stand out.

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Agalima Margarita Mix

Agalima wasn't a brand I was familiar with at all before starting this tasting, but it really impressed me. Not only is it certified organic, but it goes even beyond that with characteristics like single-pressed citrus, blue agave nectar sourced from Jalisco, Mexico, pure cane sugar, and all organic produce. You can really taste the quality. The producer suggests a two-to-one recipe with two ounces of tequila to four ounces of mix.

The look: This is another mix that's almost translucent, but it does have a hint of neon green going on. It's exactly the color of a margarita from a restaurant bar.

The taste: Excellent! Nice and citrusy off the bat, with a tiny hint of heat (which might be from the tequila, though it seems to be stronger than that). This mix goes great with the salt, and it's one of the few that I would specifically recommend that way. That's partially because there is that jalapeño or pepper taste that comes at the end, and partially because the mix is not as sweet as some.

Tres Agaves Organic Lime Margarita Mix

Tres Agaves was rated highly online, so I knew it would probably be up there in this ranking. It ended up in the very top slot and will be my new go-to if I'm ever throwing a party that needs lots of margaritas fast. Their recipe is the standard two-to-one format—two ounces tequila combined with four ounces of mix, shaken with ice and garnished with salt and a lime.

The look: This one takes on a slight brownish color likely due to the presence of organic agave or agave nectar. It's not as dark as the Williams-Sonoma variety, but it might be the darkest right after that one.

The taste: This margarita goes down really smooth! There's no bitterness or aftertaste, no acid or overt sharpness like some mixes. Again, I knew Tres Agaves was highly rated, but I was unprepared for how much better it was than even the closest competitor. It's got a sweet, round flavor that goes great with salt, and that flavor intensifies the longer it sits. That honeyed note is balanced with a little citrus and a little heat from the tequila. It makes for the perfect drink on a hot day.