There are some articles I’ll probably never feel fully qualified to write—and ranking tomatoes is one of them. If you’re going to declare the best-tasting tomatoes, shouldn’t you have tried every last one? Over the past twenty years, I’ve grown and tasted hundreds—maybe even hundreds upon hundreds—but with more than 5,000 tomato varieties listed by Seed Savers Exchange alone, I don’t expect to check them all off in this lifetime.
So consider this your friendly disclaimer: this list isn’t exhaustive—it’s simply my half-time report. These are the standouts from the varieties I’ve grown so far—the tomatoes that keep earning their place in my garden year after year. And while the rankings are entirely my own, I’ve sprinkled in a few voices from beyond my fencerows—notes from renowned tomato collector Carolyn Male and comments from our customers—because honestly, it’s always nice when others confirm what you already know to be true (wink).
Kidding aside, here are my favorites—the ten best-tasting tomatoes in the world my world.
What makes a good-tasting tomato?
Ask ten gardeners to name their favorite heirloom tomato and you’ll probably get ten different answers. That's because everyone has different tastes. Some swear by the sugar-bombs; others want the deep, winey richness of an old-fashioned beefsteak; still others chase that bright, mouthwatering acidity that announces itself before the knife even hits the cutting board.
And to further complicate things, our preferences change over time. I used to crave the bold, earthy kick of a Cherokee Purple—rich, savory, unapologetically acidic. These days, the older (and allegedly wiser) version of me tends to reach for balance: something with depth, yes, but also a good hit of sweetness to round it out.
But whatever the style, one rule remains for me: a tomato should never be timid. If it claims to be sweet, it should be unmistakably so. If it promises classic tomato flavor, it had better deliver that full, sun-warmed robustness. And if it leans tart? I want it to wallop me—in a good way. No half-hearted flavors, no watery hints, no “maybe if you close your eyes you’ll taste it.” Tomatoes can be many things, but they should never be wimps.
In short: boldness wins. A tomato should know exactly what it is—and taste like it means it.
Ranking Considerations
Taste may be subjective, but when you grow as many tomatoes as we do, certain patterns start to emerge. Over the years, I’ve found myself judging tomatoes by the same handful of qualities—those practical, sensory markers that separate a merely “good” tomato from the ones you remember long after the vines have withered. Before we dive into the rankings, here are the factors I weighed most heavily:
- Flavor Profile: Is it sweet or rich, tart or mellow, acidic or mild? A great tomato should land boldly in at least one of these categories. The very best strike multiple notes, each revealing itself in sequence, like a little symphony on the palate.
- Texture: Firm or soft, meaty or airy, silky or mealy—texture can make or break a tomato. Most of us have suffered through a hard, mealy grocery-store tomato; it's not something we're looking replicate in the garden.
- Juiciness: Influenced by the number and size of the locules (the seed cavities), juiciness is what spreads flavor across every corner of the mouth. Humans have thousands of taste receptors on the tongue, cheeks, even the palate—a juicy tomato manages to hit them all in one bite.
- Skin Thickness: For me, thinner is almost always better. I don’t want to be left with a mouthful of tomato skins. Fruit imperfections matter here too; blemishes that create tough scarring—like extreme cat-facing or stitching—tend to knock a tomato down a peg.
Assessing tomatoes through these lenses brings surprising clarity to an otherwise subjective task. Using this framework, I set out to identify the varieties that truly earned a place on this list.
The Qualifications
Before we go any further, a quick note on what didn’t make this list. You won’t find paste tomatoes here—we listed our favorite canning tomatoes in a different post—and if I included cherry tomatoes, well…there'd be no keeping this list to ten. (One day I’ll write a dedicated post for those little flavor grenades. They deserve it.)
Otherwise, nearly anything was eligible. A tomato could be a scale-tipping whopper or a tidy canning type, oblate or plum, green-striped or sunset orange. Size and shape weren’t criteria—only flavor. Every tomato on this list earned its spot because it delivers something unforgettable.
One last note: the varieties below are presented in alphabetical order, not ranked from best to least. They each do something different for me, and frankly, narrowing the field to ten was Herculean enough. Please don’t make me rank them.
Our Top Ten Best-Tasting Tomatoes
Alright, here we go. Below you’ll find ten of the most flavorful varieties we’ve grown—tomatoes that consistently deliver bold, memorable flavor whether you prefer sweet, rich, tart, or balanced. These aren’t just pretty catalog pictures; these are the workhorses, the showstoppers, the most flavorful tomatoes that keep us—and our customers—coming back year after year.
1884
1884 was reportedly discovered growing in a pile of debris following the floods that struck West Virginia in, you guessed it, 1884. And this origin story seems fitting because this tomato greets the senses with a flood of flavors from the very first bite. The fruit are large, usually in the 1-2lb range, and quite fleshy with numerous smaller seed cavities around the perimeter. What you get is that deep, old-fashioned, full-bodied flavor so many gardeners look for when they search for the best tasting heirloom tomatoes.
Customer Julie K. raves, "Must grow—Just grew ‘1884’ this year for the first time, and it is now on my top 5 heirlooms list, and that is saying something because I grew over 75 varieties of heirlooms this year... They were huge, heavy, beautifully blocky, and most of all, DELICIOUS!... This is going on my grow-every-year list."
We'd agree—in fact, we've been growing 1884 every year since almost the beginning (our beginning, that is, not 1884. Sheesh! I'm not that old.) As a large pink slicer that’s meaty, juicy, and packed with rich, nostalgic tomato flavor, 1884 easily ranks among the most flavorful tomatoes we grow and remains one of our all-around best slicing tomatoes year after year.
Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Red
Andrew Rahart’s Jumbo Red may be a lesser-known heirloom, but it deserves a place among the best heirloom tomatoes grown today. Originally collected from an Italian immigrant in New York, this variety produces large, bright-red fruits typically weighing 1–2 pounds. The flesh is dense and meaty—exactly what you want in a top-tier slicing tomato—and the flavor is rich, well-balanced, and remarkably robust. In my opinion, it’s unrivaled among red slicers.
Tomato collector Carolyn Male sings its praises in 100 Heirlooms for the American Garden, writing:
“It's huge in taste and aroma. The scent alone penetrates the senses, and is a mere hint of the outstanding taste to come.”
That flavor—rich, deep, luxurious, pure joy, as she puts it—is precisely why Andrew Rahart’s Jumbo Red makes my must-grow list nearly every year. I truly can’t imagine a summer without it. Among all the best tasting tomato varieties, this one stands out for its unapologetically bold, old-fashioned flavor—one of the most flavorful tomatoes you’ll ever slice into.
Aunt Ruby’s German Green
Green tomatoes are a curiosity to many gardeners. Sure, most of us have grabbed underripe fruit before frost in a last attempt to stretch the season, but a tomato intended to be eaten green—fully ripe, fully flavored—is something everyone should experience at least once.
Aunt Ruby’s German Green is one of the few large green slicers, and it earns a spot among the best tasting heirloom tomatoes for its uniquely spicy and irresistibly sweet flavor. It offers a depth and complexity you simply won’t find in red slicers.
Harvesting at the right moment is key. Green tomatoes don’t show ripeness clearly, so look for the faint pink blush on the blossom end (see picture above) and a noticeable juiciness when you lift one from the vine. That’s when the fruit is at its peak—heavy, yielding, and bursting with bright, memorable flavor.
Brandywine Pink
You can't make a list of the best heirloom tomatoes without including Brandywine Pink. I doubt there is an heirloom tomato out there that is more widely cherished, and that reputation is well-earned. In fact, Brandywine Pink is such a standard bearer, that we grow it as a control for tomato tasting trials. Sometimes I'll think I've found an exceptional new pink tomato and then I taste Brandywine and realize the newcomer just doesn't cut it.
Brandywine Pink sets the bar with its incredible complexity of flavor. It's sweet, rich, and tangy all at the same time. Although its name purportedly comes from the Brandywine River, many growers report it having a "winey" flavor, which I think is owed to its wine-like complexity. Few tomatoes boast such a sophisticated, full-bodied flavor as Brandywine—which is perhaps why its popularity has spanned generations.
Carbon
Also known as Cherokee Chocolate, Carbon originated from a spontaneous mutation discovered in the garden of tomato collector Craig LeHoullier. In most respects it mirrors its famous parent, Cherokee Purple, but its darker skin lends the fruit a beautiful chocolate-brown glow. We’ve also found that Carbon tends to ripen more evenly and with less cracking—always a welcome improvement.
Flavor-wise, Carbon delivers the rich, deep, smoky notes that make dark tomatoes so beloved, with a lingering sweetness that shifts slightly from year to year. Its uniqueness and complexity earned it top honors at the 2005 Heirloom Garden Show at the historic Garfield Farm in Illinois. Nearly two decades later, gardeners still rank it among the most flavorful tomatoes they grow.
In our own 2025 trial, Carbon earned the simple but definitive note: “That one’s good!” Against a field of more than two dozen highly regarded varieties, nothing more needed to be said. It’s a standout—one of those quietly confident tomatoes that easily holds its place among the best flavored heirloom tomatoes.
Dr. Wyche's Yellow
Yellow tomatoes have a reputation for being bland, and certainly some are, but Dr. Wyche's Yellow marks a clear distinction. It boasts a flavor that is bright, deep and complex on the palate. Carolyn male exclaims, "Its deep and rich taste can compete with the best of the red and pink varieties." Gardeners expecting something merely sweet and gentle are often caught off guard; to my palate, it’s pure heaven.
The late Dr. Wyche himself was as memorable as the tomato that bears his name. An avid seed collector, he also introduced the beloved Cherokee Trail of Tears bean. His colorful reputation lives on in the stories—he reportedly used elephant dung as fertilizer and lion droppings to keep rabbits at bay, remnants of his time as part-owner of a circus.
Dr. Wyche’s Yellow is a standout not just for its flavor, but for the character behind it—both the tomato and the man.
Eva Purple Ball
The near-perfect, globe shaped fruit of Eva Purple Ball enchanted me from the first time I grew it nearly 20 years ago—biting into one sealed its fate. I'd be growing this one year-after-year. The name of this variety is a bit of a misnomer—its color sits somewhere between pink and purple and it boasts a unique celestial mottling pattern that I've not seen elsewhere. Call it what you will, the appearance is lovely—but the flavor is what truly sets it apart.
Eva Purple Ball is a juicy tomato—it gushes with flavor from the moment you bite into it. The taste is luscious and sweet with a bit of zip at the finish. Customer Susan V. sums it up perfectly, calling it an "all-time favorite....one of my go-to varieties that I grow almost every year."
I'd agree—I've discovered plenty of tomatoes I enjoy, but Eva Purple Ball will always be my first love.
Italian Heirloom
Italian Heirloom and I got off to a bit of a rough start. Perhaps a little prematurely, I labeled it "wimpy" due to it's wispy vines and constant leaf curling. But to my surprise, it was one of the only tomatoes in the garden that year that didn't exhibit symptoms of blossom end rot. Needless to say, I earned a little humility with this one.
But what really sold me on this variety was it's flavor. As an oxheart tomato, it sits somewhere between a slicer and a paste tomato, seemingly capturing the best of both worlds. It's interiors are meaty with numerous smaller seed cavities and relatively few seeds. This quality earns it some points in the BLT realm—no soggy bread—but it's the flavor that seals the deal. Deliciously rich and flavorful, you'd be hard pressed to find a dual-purpose tomato that makes beautiful sauce and tastes this good fresh.
Customer Brandon W. exclaims, "These are by far the best tomatoes we have ever grown...sweet tasting and quite fleshy...I personally think these tomatoes are absolutely perfect for sandwiches!" I hear you, Brandon. I can't think of another tomato I'd rather have on my BLT.
Kellogg's Breakfast
I was a little late to jump on the Kellogg’s Breakfast bandwagon—something about the name felt a bit gimmicky—but if it earns Carolyn Male’s recommendation, you know I’m going to give it a try.
I’m glad I did. There isn’t another large orange beefsteak that tops it. The flavor is huge—rich, sunny, and satisfying—yet the texture is both juicy and meaty, a combination that’s surprisingly rare. As Carolyn Male writes in 100 Heirlooms for the American Garden, the taste of this mighty tomato is truly unequaled.
The fruit glow a deep, vibrant orange, and they’re even more stunning when sliced. Inside, they’re dense and fleshy with smaller locules scattered throughout, giving them that ideal sweet-but-firm balance. Juicy, flavorful, and beautifully textured, Kellogg’s Breakfast is everything an orange beefsteak should be—and then some.
Jaune Flamme
Jaune Flamme holds the unusual distinction of being the only heirloom tomato with orange skin and a red interior—an eye-catching combination that sets it apart from other orange varieties. But its real claim to fame is the flavor.
“Big taste for such a small tomato,” Carolyn Male notes, and she’s not exaggerating. I don’t think I was prepared for just how big that taste was. The first time I trialed it, I sliced one at my desk and assumed it had to be an outlier. Back out to the trial bed I went to grab a few more—and every single one delivered the same exceptionally bright, tangy, lightly sweet flavor. It’s the kind of vivid, citrusy punch you get from really good oranges in peak season.
Small tomato, enormous personality. Jaune Flamme is the perfect tomato to round out our list of the 10 best tasting tomatoes we've grown.
Honorable Mention
And there you have it—my ten standouts. But if you’ve gardened for any amount of time, you already know the truth: narrowing tomatoes down to ten is an act of madness. So before the pitchforks come out, here are a few honorable mentions that nearly made the list.
Anna Russian
Early tomatoes are at a disadvantage in taste competitions—they mature when the weather is still too cool for developing truly exceptional flavor. Even so, Anna Russian came incredibly close to making the top ten. In fact, if this were a list of my 11 favorite tomatoes of all time, she’d be there.
Rich, sweet and juicy, Anna Russian is usually one of the first truly delicious tomatoes I get to experience each summer. Sure, there are others that mature earlier, but none of them are this good.
For gardeners with short growing seasons, or anyone who wants one of the earliest genuinely great-tasting tomatoes on the block, Anna Russian is one worth growing.
Big Rainbow
Bi-color tomatoes are irresistible to many new growers—and I’ll admit, even after all these years, I keep coming back to them myself. The trouble is, with many bi-colors, the beauty is only skin deep. But every now and then you find one that delivers flavor as stunning as its appearance, and for me, Big Rainbow is that tomato.
Its taste is sweet and mild with very little acidity, making it a favorite among gardeners with sensitive stomachs or anyone who prefers a gentler, easy-eating tomato. Among the bi-colors I’ve trialed, Big Rainbow consistently stands out as the one that offers more than a pretty face.
Brandywine Red
Like its sister, Brandywine Red is a truly great-tasting tomato. It shares many of the same qualities as Brandywine Pink (Sudduth’s Strain), but its transparent yellow skin gives it a classic red appearance. Flavor-wise, it’s every bit as good as the pink version in my book. I only left it off the main list because Brandywine Pink is the better-known “OG” and carries the reputation most gardeners recognize.
Still, if you love Brandywine flavor, the Red version deserves a place in your garden, too.
Paul Robeson
I’ve trialed many black tomatoes over the years—some quite good, others not nearly as impressive as their reputations suggest. Paul Robeson, however, is one of the standouts. It has a clean, attractive form and tends to avoid the shoulder-ripening issues that plague many dark varieties. Flavor-wise, it’s excellent. When we first trialed it several years ago, it quickly became a favorite among everyone who tasted it.
Still, I had to draw the line somewhere, and for me, Carbon edges it out by just a hair. Even so, Paul Robeson remains a variety I make room for year after year. It’s a consistently great-tasting tomato with all the depth and richness people love in a dark heirloom.
Final Thoughts
There you have it—20 years of heirloom tomato growing summed up in 10 varieties. Every gardener has their own palate, their own soil, their own stories stitched into the varieties they love. But after years of trials, taste tests, and more tomato sandwiches than I should probably admit, these are the ones that continue to rise to the top for me.
If you’re planning your garden and wondering which tomatoes will deliver big, unforgettable flavor, I hope this list gives you a place to start. And if you already grow some of these, maybe it inspires you to try one or two you haven’t met yet. There’s always room for another great tomato in the garden.
In the end, the “best” tomato isn’t the one with the most awards or the fanciest history—it’s the one that with one bite makes you exclaim, "Now this is why I garden."
Did your favorite make our list? Let us know in the comments. Or if you're new to gardening, you can start building your own top ten list by checking out our full selection of heirloom tomato seeds.
