Spray Coffee?

In a fun little article, the Bradenton Herald gives a short history of all the other things Tropicana tried to sell over the years besides orange juice. From spaghetti sauce to a failed carbonated fruit juice, it seems that Tropicana was unafraid to go where the market led them. But was the market really ready for aerosol canned coffee? Not really.

Some say Rossi [Anthony Rossi, Tropicana's founder] was ahead of his time with a brewed coffee that was packaged in a spray can.

"We had a very delicious liquid coffee in a push-button can," remembered retired company executive John Ogilby. "The only problem was at the end of the can it would spurt all over the place, so he (Rossi) cut it out."

"The cleaning bills just ruined us," remembered Hamrick [David Hamrick, retired executive]. "People that would get coffee all over them on the last cup."

These days, we have Starbucks cold coffee in a can, along with all sorts of caffeinated energy drinks, so I don't think Tropicana can jump back into a glutted market. But with just the right gimmick, maybe another culture can show us the way. A culture that, apparently has no fear in making juice out of anything, or putting that anything in a can. Like putting hot coffee in a can! Are we ready for it?