Orbitz (drink)
Template:Short description Template:Infobox drink Orbitz was a non-carbonated fruit-flavored beverage produced by The Clearly Food & Beverage Company of Canada, makers of Clearly Canadian. The drink was sold in five<ref name=":0"/> flavors, and made with small floating edible fruit-flavored jelly beads. Orbitz was marketed as a "texturally enhanced alternative beverage" but some consumers compared it to a potable lava lamp.<ref name="Time">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
History
It was introduced in test markets around May 1996, then went to most markets by 1997, and then quickly disappeared due to poor sales.
Post-discontinuation
The product's domain name was bought by the Internet-based travel agency named Orbitz.
Unopened bottles from the drink's original launch have become a collector's item, appearing on online auction websites worth $30-$50 on online sales. The Clearly Food & Beverage Company states that the proprietary equipment that made Orbitz broke down and the trademark is no longer owned by the company.<ref name="Time"/> 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.Template:Update inline
Ingredients
The small balls floated due to their nearly equal density to the surrounding liquid, and remained suspended with the assistance of gellan gum. The gellan gum provided a support matrix and had a visual clarity approaching that of water, which increased with the addition of sugar. The gellan gum created a very weak yield stress which has been measured to be ~0.04 Pa.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Flavors
Several flavors of Orbitz were produced:<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Raspberry Citrus
- Blueberry Melon Strawberry
- Pineapple Banana Cherry Coconut
- Vanilla Orange
- Black Currant Berry
In popular culture
The drink is featured in the 1999 Gregg Araki film Splendor when Kelly MacDonald's character opens a fridge full of Orbitz and drinks one.
In 2025, the drink was featured in Matt Johnson’s Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie as the secret ingredient to time travel.