Orbitz (drink)

Orbitz
Type soft drink
Manufacturer The Clearly Food & Beverage Company
Country of origin Canada
Introduced 1997
Related products Clearly Canadian

Orbitz is the product name of a discontinued noncarbonated fruit-flavored beverage, made by The Clearly Food & Beverage Company of Canada, makers of Clearly Canadian. It was introduced 1997 and quickly disappeared due to poor sales. Made with small floating edible balls, the drink was marketed as a "texturally enhanced alternative beverage" but some consumers compared it to a portable lava lamp.[1][2]

The small balls floated due to their nearly equal density to the surrounding liquid, and remained suspended with assistance from an ingredient known as gellan gum. The gellan gum provided a support matrix—something like a microscopic spider web—and had a visual clarity approaching that of water, which increased with the addition of sugar. The gellan gum creates a very weak yield stress which has been measured to be ~0.04 Pa.[3] The product's website was bought by the Internet-based travel agency named Orbitz.

Unopened bottles of the beverage have become a collector's item, appearing on online auction websites.[1] In July 2013, Clearly Canadian stated that it was considering producing a limited run of new products to satisfy "nostalgia demand", with the possibility of annual issues thereafter based on consumer reception of the initial batch. In 2015 Orbitz was launched and available in the US.[4]

The flavors upon introduction were Raspberry Citrus, Blueberry Melon Strawberry, Pineapple Banana Cherry Coconut, Vanilla Orange, and the company later added Black Currant Berry.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Top 10 Bad Beverage Ideas". Time. 23 April 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  2. ↑ Kealey, Helena (November 19, 2014). "The Apprentice: how many of these soft drinks from the past do you remember?". The Telegraph. Retrieved November 19, 2014.
  3. ↑ http://www.rheology.org/sor/publications/rheology_b/Jan99/default.htm#Yield%20Stress%20in%20Orbitz. Retrieved August 27, 2018. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ "Orbitz to Return!". fizzledout.com. July 7, 2013. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
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