LTN Phobia

Is it normal to be served orange juice from concentrate in F on BA?
I encountered this on my most recent long haul flight, and I don't recall this happening before.

The crew member's explanation was that they only carry the "not from concentrate" type on flights that involve a breakfast service, but I am sure I have been served not-from-concentrate orange juice on flights that do not involve a breakfast?

Is this a new thing, or has it always been that way but I simply hadn't noticed it?

I don't always drink orange juice on a flight (I mainly drink water with occasional green tea or cranberry juice, or very occasional tea, and extra strong espresso if I absolutely have to stay awake and work), so I may simply not have noticed it before.

orbitmic

It sounds entirely unacceptable to me! Good pasteurised 'fresh squeezed' would strike me as a minimum for F, and airlines that would actually carry a juicer and nice stock of fresh oranges and grapefruit would get my sincerest love and strongly contribute to reducing my Champagne consumption!

HilFly

Having a quiet day, Lady Phobia?

Even I can't work myself into too much of a frenzy over whether the orange juice is from concentrate or their being 3 days late changing the magazines!

Then again, I only drink orange juice when it's mixed with some kind of alcohol........

TheAAdmiral

^

LTN Phobia

I forgot the disclaimer about my second attempt at the trivial topic award

But don't you find it much nicer when you mix alcohol with not-from-concentrate juices as well, like you might at the LHR F lounge?

And saying that, for those who don't drink on board, soft drink quality becomes about as important as the difference between Lanson and Cristal.

HilFly

I've never been in the F lounge. I know my place!


Except when I'm travelling F and I use the CCR.......

HIDDY

When you say concentrate....was it made from one of those things that you put in a bucket and add a gallon of water?
Or was it a carton of Tropicana like juice?

LTN Phobia

Sorry! I suppose you know what I mean though, mixing the alcoholic ones with the likes of the orange juice you get in CE isn't as nice as mixing it with the one you get at the CCR...

Tropicana is an OK one. That hasn't been concentrated and then diluted again. The "made from concentrate" are the average ones that tend to come from unrefrigerated cartons and don't taste quite like orange juice that has been squeezed from oranges. The average sort of orange juice that you used to get before Tropicana became popular and commonly available.

I doubt the cabin crew put the actual concentrated juice into a bucket and diluted it though

HilFly

There are good juices from concentrate and not so good juices from concentrate. Tropicana sells chilled OJ both from concentrate and not.

Mix any OJ with enough alcohol and it makes no difference which it is!

HIDDY

It may depend on where the aircraft departs from. Some countries just don't have very good orange juice in cartons.

The orange juice here is quite expensive yet is nothing great. If you ask for an orange juice in a cafe they freshly squeeze them.....I can't see PUCCI GALORE doing that in the F galley.

LTN Phobia

I didn't even know that there were 'from concentrate' versions of Tropicana. I'd better watch out for those!

It was the 'obviously from the concentrate' tasting orange juice, exactly the same as what would have been served in ET/WT. Not a very premium experience, especially for this passenger who doesn't mix it with alcohol on board

You're quite right, although my favourite mix is vodka and cloudy still lemonade rather than orange juice, or in fact rather have the brandy (not mixed with fruit juice, thankfully!).

Kuchen

I'm pretty sure that if you stick to straight orange juice then Tropicana do not do 'From Concentrate'... Certainly in the UK anyway. The blended fruit juice drinks (Tropicana Creations, I think) may use concentrates for the exotic fruit added to the OJ.

I used to work for the parent company (PepsiCo) and know that they are very proud of the 'Not From Concentrate' monicker.

DWFI

FWIW I've never seen a Tropicana pure OJ that didn't have "Not from Concentrate".

I agree with LTN - there is a serious and significant taste differential and nothing less than not from concentrate is acceptable for F!
Just like farmed vs wild salmon has a very significant taste difference. It's not even close.

Gshumway

From the Tropicana.com website:

And that would be one of the orange juices I buy when I go to the store and not my wife. I tend to taste the OJ which is from concentrate and I prefer the none.

Flexible preferences

I think LTNphobia is right to question this! If you can get Ł60 bottles of wine in F then they should ensure the soft drinks are up to scratch too.

Squeezing oranges, heating the juice, concentrating it, then later on adding tap water and putting it in a carton is not very appetising.

There is even an argument in going a step further and saying F orange juice should be freshly squeezed (ie unpasteurised).

edited to add: Tropicana is flash-pasteurised