Airlines Serving The Best Non-Alcoholic Drinks

When talking about drinks served in first and business class, understandably the focus is often on alcohol, especially great champagne. However, it goes without saying that not everyone drinks alcohol. For that matter, even many who usually drink may not want much alcohol when flying, since it’s not exactly great for beating jetlag.

With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to talk about the airlines that serve the best non-alcoholic beverages. It seems to me like this is an area where lots of airlines drop the ball — they’ll invest in $100+ bottles of champagne, but then will have a really lackluster non-alcoholic drink list.

In this post, I want to share some of my favorite non-alcoholic drinks served on airlines. Of course this is subjective, so these are just some of my favorites, and I’d love to hear what others like. I also want to mention that I’m avoiding “generic” drinks that you’ll find on dozens of airlines, like cappuccinos (as much as I love great coffee). Rather I’m trying to include rarer options.

Below are some of my favorites, in no particular order…

Queen of Blue Royal Blue Tea on Japan Airlines

Lets kick things off with what’s without a doubt the most expensive and exclusive non-alcoholic drink served on any airline. In first class, Japan Airlines serves Queen of Blue’s Royal Blue Tea. This isn’t your average iced tea. It’s poured out of what looks like a wine bottle, and is served in a wine glass. Don’t ask how much a bottle of this costs, as it’s more expensive than the champagne served on many airlines.

Cathay Delight on Cathay Pacific

The Cathay Delight is one of Cathay Pacific’s signature drinks in first and business class. It consists of kiwi, coconut milk, and fresh mint. It strikes a perfect balance between being refreshing and tasty, all without being overly sweet. Yum.

Lemon mint juice on Qatar Airways

As a general rule of thumb, I don’t drink juice on planes. That’s because it’s rarely fresh. On the ground, the term I generally use for bad orange juice is “airplane orange juice,” which should give you a sense of my feelings on the matter. However, I do have one favorite airplane juice, and that’s Qatar Airways’ lemon mint juice, which is incredibly refreshing. I order this on almost every Qatar Airways flight.

SKY TIME on Japan Airlines

I love the idea behind Japan Airlines’ SKY TIME drink even more than I like the drink itself. In the 1990s, Japan Airlines set out to create a special drink for the airline that passengers would remember, which promotes wellness and hydration. The result of that is SKY TIME.

Over the years, the airline has had several versions of this (including kiwi and yuzu), though the current version is a peach and grape mix. It tastes kind of like juice, but also sort of has a tea flavor to it. It’s delicious, and a lovely treat when flying with the airline. What’s great is that unlike most of the other drinks on this list, this is available to all passengers on all flights.

Blueberry juice on Finnair

Finnish cuisine is known for its use of berries, and Finnair incorporates that into its onboard service with a unique juice — Finnair serves blueberry juice in both business class and economy. While this isn’t “fresh,” it’s still one of the best juice drinks you’ll find on any airline. It’s so popular that you can even buy the Finnair branded blueberry juice in select supermarkets in Finland.

Boba tea latte on Starlux Airlines

Okay, I have to admit, back in the day I was kind of a bubble tea fanatic. I try to stay away from it nowadays given how sugary it is. However, Starlux Airlines serves boba tea lattes in business class on select routes departing Taipei, and calories on a plane don’t count, right?