The drink station is where a Panera run slows down. Do you want the green tea, the lemonade, something frozen, or just an honest fountain soda? The Panera drink menu is wider than it looks from the counter, because half of it hides in the self-serve station and the other half lives behind the barista bar. Knowing the layout before you order saves the mid-line panic.
We mapped the whole Panera drink menu: fountain drinks, lemonades and teas, the refresher-style cold drinks, smoothies, and the frozen options, with typical prices and sizes. Prices vary by location, and Sip Club members play by different rules entirely, which we will get to. One honesty note up front: the famous Charged Lemonades are retired, gone since 2024. Anything you read elsewhere listing them as current is out of date.
Quick Answer: The Panera drink menu covers fountain sodas, lemonade, iced teas including Passion Papaya Green Tea, smoothies, and frozen lemonades, mostly in 20 and 30 oz cups. Typical prices run about $2.50 to $4.50 per drink. The caffeinated Charged Lemonades were retired in 2024, and Unlimited Sip Club members get most self-serve drinks included with their subscription.
Fountain Drinks and the Self-Serve Station
The backbone of the Panera drink menu is the self-serve wall: Pepsi fountain products at most locations, plus the brewed teas and lemonade urns. Regular and diet sodas, lemon-lime, root beer, the usual suspects. Refills on fountain drinks are free while you are in the cafe, which quietly makes this the best value seat in the building for anyone working on a laptop for two hours.
The urns next to the fountain matter more than people think. Unsweetened iced black tea and the Passion Papaya Iced Green Tea are brewed in-house, and the green tea in particular has a following. It is lightly sweet, fruity without being candy, and it is the drink regulars name when you ask what to get. The lemonade urn holds the standard lemonade, sweet-tart and straightforward.
Lemonades, Teas and Refreshers
Beyond the urns, the Panera drink menu carries made-to-order cold drinks. Agave-sweetened lemonade has appeared in recent lineups, seasonal lemonades rotate in (a blueberry lavender version had a popular run), and frozen strawberry lemonade shows up when the weather turns. These rotate more than the food does, so the board at your cafe is the tiebreaker.
Teas split into two camps. The brewed iced teas are the everyday picks, sweet or unsweet depending on the urn. Then there are the bottled and specialty teas some locations stock near the register. Hot tea exists too, a small selection of bags by the coffee station, which most guests never notice until a sore throat sends them looking.
| Drink | Type | Sizes | Typical price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fountain soda | Self-serve | 20 / 30 oz | $2.50-$3.50 |
| Passion Papaya Iced Green Tea | Brewed | 20 / 30 oz | $2.50-$3.50 |
| Lemonade | Brewed / urn | 20 / 30 oz | $2.50-$3.75 |
| Smoothies | Blended | 16 oz | $5-$6.50 |
| Frozen lemonade | Blended, seasonal | 16 oz | $4.50-$6 |
| Bottled drinks | Grab and go | Varies | $2-$4 |
One more corner worth knowing about: the grab-and-go bottles near the register. Juices, bottled water, and milk boxes live there, aimed at parents and commuters who do not want to wait for anything to be brewed or blended. The milk boxes matter more than they look, because they are the default drink in the kids’ meals, and the juice bottles are the standard answer when a child rejects both soda and lemonade in the same breath. Prices on the bottles run a little higher than the fountain equivalent, which is the usual tax for not waiting in any line at all.
Smoothies and Frozen Drinks
The smoothie corner of the Panera drink menu is small and steady. Strawberry Banana and the Green Passion smoothie have been the core two for years, blended with fruit purees and yogurt-style bases. They are thicker than the refreshers, closer to a snack than a drink, and parents order them for kids constantly because they read as a treat with plausible deniability.
Frozen drinks rotate seasonally. A frozen strawberry lemonade in July is a genuine event for regulars; by November it is gone again. If a frozen option matters to your visit, check the app for your cafe before you drive over, because seasonal drinks are the first thing to sell out on a hot Saturday.
Feeding a group instead of just yourself? Most cafes sell the teas and lemonade by the gallon to go, and the catering side leans on them heavily for office lunches. A gallon of the green tea at a desk lunch does something a case of soda never quite manages: it disappears. Order ahead for gallons, especially on weekdays, because the urns are portioned for the cafe floor first and a surprise gallon order in the middle of the lunch rush helps nobody.
The Sip Club Question
You cannot honestly cover the Panera drink menu without the Unlimited Sip Club, the subscription that includes most self-serve drinks and coffees for a monthly fee. Members pay once and then treat the drink station like a utility. If you buy a drink at Panera three or more times a week, the math usually works; if you come twice a month, it does not, whatever the sign at the register implies.
Two fine-print points regulars learn the hard way: the club covers a defined list of drinks, not everything cold in the building, and there is a time gap rule between refills on the same account. Terms change, so read the current ones in the app rather than trusting any guide, including this one.
Coffee Lives Next Door
Hot and iced coffee sit on their own board, and they deserve their own guide: our Panera coffee menu page covers the roasts, the espresso drinks, and the cold brews in detail. The short version for drink-menu purposes: drip coffee is self-serve and Sip Club friendly, while espresso drinks are made at the bar. And if you are ordering breakfast, the Panera breakfast menu pairs the morning drinks with the food they were built for.
One crossover worth knowing: the iced coffee and cold brew crowd overlaps heavily with the green tea crowd. People switch by season. Nobody judges.
What Happened to the Charged Lemonades?
Since people still ask: the Charged Lemonades were a line of heavily caffeinated lemonades that Panera sold for about two years, and they were discontinued in 2024. Retired, fully. We cover the timeline on our Panera menu changes page. The lemonades on the current board are the regular kind, with normal refreshment intentions and no energy-drink ambitions. If you want caffeine now, the coffee bar and the teas are where it lives.
For the live, local version of this lineup, the drinks page on Panera’s official site reflects what is currently being poured, and your cafe’s app menu reflects what is actually in the urns today.
Frequently Asked Questions
What drinks are on the Panera drink menu?
The core of the Panera drink menu is fountain sodas, brewed iced teas, lemonade, smoothies, and seasonal frozen drinks, with bottled options at the register. Coffee and espresso drinks sit on a separate board. Sizes cluster around 20 and 30 ounces for self-serve drinks.
Are drink refills free at Panera?
Fountain drinks, brewed teas, lemonade, and drip coffee come with free refills while you are dining in at most cafes. Made-to-order drinks like smoothies and espresso drinks are not refillable. The free refills are a big reason the drink station anchors the laptop crowd.
Does Panera still sell Charged Lemonades?
No. The Charged Lemonades were retired in 2024 and have not returned. The current Panera drink menu has regular lemonades and teas without the added caffeine those drinks were known for.
Is the Unlimited Sip Club worth it?
It depends entirely on frequency. If you are at Panera several times a week, the subscription usually pays for itself quickly, since most self-serve drinks from the Panera drink menu are included. Occasional visitors are better off paying per drink. Check the current price and drink list in the app.
What is the most popular drink at Panera?
The Passion Papaya Iced Green Tea is the cult favorite among regulars, and drip coffee moves the most volume in the mornings. In summer, lemonade and the frozen seasonal drinks take over the afternoon.
The Short Version
The Panera drink menu rewards regulars: free refills in the cafe, a green tea worth the trip by itself, and a subscription that genuinely works for frequent visitors. Get the Passion Papaya if it is your first time, keep an eye out for the frozen lemonade in summer, and let the Charged Lemonade go. It is not coming back, and honestly, the regular lemonade never did anything wrong.
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