Read time: About 7 minutes

You have $5 in your pocket. You want to be delighted. Enthralled. Refreshed. 

Look no further than this round up of the Arnold Palmer – that irresistible combination of iced tea and lemonade – found in and around the South Orange and Maplewood (SOMA) area to guide your low-cost (tariff-free?) joy. 

Upon your exploration, you’ll find this beverage goes by many names. Fifty-fifty. Half and half. Perhaps, even, a completely obfuscating name yet the ingredients belie the essence of the Arnold Palmer.

Over the past few months, I’ve traveled throughout SOMA and peripheral towns, to sample as many Arnold Palmers I could get my hands on. 

This list is not exhaustive and I may add to it in the future as new ones hit the streets (like Liv Breads in Millburn, which tells me they’ll start to have their own lemonade in the summer).

Bask in the options available to you, all rated by taste, value, and experience. 

Happy sipping!

Added April 14 Winners circle

Are you the TL;DR type? Let me make this easy for you: Your best bet for the most delectable Arnold Palmer is Village Coffee in Maplewood. From the brisk, seamless experience through the tastiest of the lot, you cannot go wrong. Village Coffee cares about customer service and will quickly set you on your way – whether you’re late for the train or taking a leisurely stroll through town – with a supreme drink.

Van Gogh’s Ear, Barn Bird Kitchen, and the Able Baker (with their quasi-Arnold Palmer for a limited time) all get high marks, too.

Updated May 25: I did go to Liv Breads to try their special drink menu Hibiscus Lemonade, which I won’t fully review since I have to believe the drink they gave me was made in error (lemonade so sour I almost gagged) – and yet, I will not try again some other time ($6 for the drink, in a paper cup as is per usual for Liv Breads iced drinks, and I don’t *love* the experience there in general, although don’t sleep on their house made lavender coffee syrup). I also added a review of the Trader Joe’s sparkling Arnold Palmer below.

Starbucks (wherever you are)

16 oz (Grande), $5

• Taste: 4/5
• Value: 3/5
• Experience: 5/5 with order ahead, 0/5 at the counter

My friends, the only way to frequent Starbucks in town — lest you spend half your life waiting for your drink — is by ordering ahead on the Starbucks app, which, mercifully, tells you all the drinks they actually make (which may not be your experience when reviewing the menu in store).

The Starbucks rendition of the Arnold Palmer that I absolutely *love* is their iced green tea lemonade (no sweetener). Your taste buds will welcome the pleasant, delicate flavor where gentle iced green tea mingles with not-very-sweet and tart-enough lemonade. 

I’d say Starbucks, in general, uses way too much ice in their iced drinks. 

Miti Miti (South Orange)

16 oz, $4.50

• Taste: 5/5
• Value: 5/5 (no ice-flation)
• Experience: 4/5

Your favorite Latin street food joint serves up a solid Arnold Palmer, called Reynaldo Palmer on the menu (and you’ll find waitstaff may be unfamiliar with the traditional term).

The lemonade in this one is bright and fragrant, and a little sweet. The iced tea is neutral, serving as a broad canvas for the lemonade to add dynamic flair.

Not dining in? Simply pop in once you’re off the train and order one at the counter. You might ensure you’re getting iced tea — and not iced coffee — as it’s being prepared (ask me how I know). 

Dunkin’ (wherever you are)

16 oz (small), about $4

• Taste: 1/5 (the regular iced tea is delicious though)
• Value: 3/5
• Experience: 5/5 (like always, I was in and out)

Unlike Starbucks, Dunkin’ reliably lists the more quotidian coffee shop offerings on their store menu. I noticed they had iced tea. And lemonade. But no Arnold Palmer. 

Given my solid relationship with the South Orange Dunkin’ crew, I asked if they could make me an Arnold Palmer. What I can tell you, reader, is there is a reason this drink is not on their menu. 

Many lemonade-based drinks at Dunkin’ have a ton of sugar. So experiencing their lemonade in this stripped down manner is not the intended use case. As a result, the lemonade is sour in the context of their otherwise delicious brew-forward iced tea. Sourness aside, the beverage was refreshing.

And, although I ordered a small, they gave me a medium.

Shake Shack (locations nationwide)

16 oz (regular), $5

• Taste: 5/5
• Value: 5/5
• Experience: 4/5 though YMMV depending on where you are (I wouldn’t wait in a snaking line around Madison Square Park for this, for example)

You’re at the Shake Shack. This means you must order a ShackBurger, make it a double. Plus the salty crinkle cut fries. You think: I don’t want to overdo it. So you wonder what to order for a drink that could add a little something (but not another 1,000 calories).

Make it a Fifty/Fifty, which is the Shake Shack name for an Arnold Palmer. 

The iced tea is mild, enabling the slightly sweet lemonade to shine. The balance of iced tea and lemonade creates a refreshing effect and a very smooth flavor profile. 

Yellow Rose Vegan Bakery and Cafe (Maplewood)

16 oz, about $4

• Taste: 5/5
• Value: 5/5
• Experience: 3/5, I suggest you go here during an off time (like mid-afternoon) 

Yellow Rose brings innovation to their standard and seasonal beverages like a boss. From cherry blossom lattes through lavender lemonade (before lavender became the syrup du jour), they know how to make an artfully crafted, delicious drink. 

I’ll do you a solid: Ask for the iced peach black tea (not listed on the menu) when you order your Arnold Palmer here. This is, unquestionably, the way to go. 

The Yellow Rose lemonade is not too sweet and masterfully tempers the peach flavor of the robust iced tea, so you’re left with a delicious, bright experience to revel in.

OMGYRO (South Orange)

24 oz, about $4.50 

• Taste: 3/5 (I’m not a sugar person)
• Value: 5/5
• Experience: 5/5 (I have not been here in person)

This no-frills Halal spot must be designed for Seton Hall students. Portions are large, hot sauce is volcanic, and prices are cheap. 

If you happen to get takeout here, I suggest you order the Half and Half, their take on the Arnold Palmer. 

Unlike some of the craftier beverage places, the OMGYRO lemonade is unabashedly sweet. Yet the iced tea is mellow, guiding a delectable punch to your palate. 

Palmers (Maplewood)

16 oz, about $5

• Taste: 5/5
• Value: 4/5
• Experience: 3/5

This little bakery in Maplewood Village is a *vibe*. Drinks like iced tea are pre-portioned and kept in their refrigerator case, alongside the parfaits they have on offer. 

Here the Half and Half is set apart from the others given its uniquely tart lemonade mixed with mellow iced tea, which refreshingly tempers the squeeze-of-lemon experience. 

Wawa (various in New Jersey and Pennsylvania)

16 oz (bottle), usually 2 for $3

• Taste: 1/5
• Value: 5/5
• Experience: 3/5

Wawa calls their Arnold Palmer the Half and Half, and it can be found in the refrigerator case among the various Wawa iced teas. 

While it’s unmistakably the best value in this round up, the Wawa offering has endless sugar, evident in both the iced tea and lemonade. The beverage color is dark, suggesting the primary ingredient is the iced tea although you get a sour note from what little lemonade there is. Once you imbibe, there’s a lingering artificial taste (which I find even more prominent in their diet drinks).

Pass.

Barn Bird Kitchen (Maplewood)

16 oz, $5

• Taste: 5/5
• Value: 5/5
• Experience: 5/5

Like so many things at Barn Bird Kitchen, this is art in a glass. The Arnold Palmer skews lemonade heavy and is joined by the smooth underlying iced tea. Just enough sugar all around amplifies its synergies to create a greater sum of its parts. An ultra-refreshing drink. Don’t sleep on this place.

Van Gogh’s Ear (Union)

16 oz, $5

• Taste: 5/5
• Value: 5/5
• Experience: 5/5 (there’s no cooler place around)

No matter what, you cannot go wrong with any drink at Van Gogh’s Ear (the same goes for the food). The Arnold Palmer is not on the menu, but Van Gogh’s Ear freshly brews and shakes their own iced tea and lemonade every day. Why not combine them?

When you ask for this off-menu beverage, you have the choice between sweetened iced tea and black iced tea, the latter being what I prefer. The experience is even-handed, with lemonade that skews acidic to interrupt the gagging experience of too much sugar (see Wawa above). The mixed-in iced tea is fairly mild, letting the unique lemonade take center stage.

Even if you’re here for drinks, do yourself a favor: order dessert.

The Able Baker (Maplewood)

16 oz, $5.25

• Taste: 5/5
• Value: 5/5
• Experience: 5/5 (the place is a well-oiled machine)

Much to my chagrin, the Able Baker decidedly does not have an Arnold Palmer on their menu. Their iced tea is lights out, so I was pleased to see they’re currently (as of April 12) offering a seasonal drink called Berry Blush.

This finely crafted beverage includes an herbal iced tea, berry infusion, and a squeeze of lemon juice. The experience is, in a word, divine. Think “berry lemonade but adult.” Run there while it’s on offer.

Added April 14 Village Coffee (Maplewood)

16 oz (small), $5 cash (card price is higher)

• Taste: 6/5
• Value: 5/5
• Experience: 5/5

In addition to delicious coffee drinks and even bubble tea, this Maplewood Village standby serves up an outstanding Arnold Palmer. You’ll notice the dark color suggesting more-than-usual iced tea. Do not let this mislead you: The beautifully tart, not-sweet-at-all lemonade shines through like a lone headlight in a dark tunnel. The overall experience is refreshing, fast, perfect.

Village Coffee also has outstanding food, as well as a variety of other ingenious lemonades. There’s a reason this place has been a Village staple since the ‘90s.

Added May 25  Trader Joe’s (wherever you are)

16 oz can (sold individually, as far as I can tell), $2  

• Taste: 1/5
• Value: 3/5
• Experience: 2/5 (YMMV)

At the Trader Joe’s I visited, there was one lone, slender can of their sparkling tea and lemonade standing on the shelf, so I quickly snatched it, fearing I’d get into a shouting match with another customer if I spent a second longer considering it (as this is the way it goes at Trader Joe’s, meaning all of them). The effervescent bubbles are a nice touch for this heavily brew-forward drink, yet the lemonade is hardly discernible. I checked the label and the sugar count clocks in at 15 g (where could it possibly be?). While the effect is refreshing, the taste isn’t delicious, so this one is a hard pass by me (which appears to be the trend of bottled Arnold Palmers in this round up).