In lieu of our earlier post today about our newfound appreciation for an air freshener at the office, we wanted to follow it up with a very specific plug. WE HATE FAKE STUFF which is usually toxic, and so we were surprised to find that someone in our office had put a bottle of Orangemate (okay, bad name) in the bathroom (maybe it's us?) and that it was all natural and pretty much good in every way - except the packaging, of course....

This bottle of air freshener above is 100% natural grapefruit oils and essence taken from fresh, naturally grown grapefruit. In addition, the bottle uses no flourocarbons or propellants of any kind. So when you spray some of this stuff in your bathroom, it actually smells really good.

We did a little research and Orangemate is a family company started in 1988 in Oregon by a father and son, who had experience developing natural flavor enhancers for the orange juice business:

"In 1979, Ray retired from Vita Pak and founded Food Processing and Engineering, a consulting and product development company. In that same year, Food Processing and Engineering was hired to develop a product to enhance the flavor of reconstituted orange juice. Ray developed an all natural flavor additive, which was a special blend of recaptured oils and essences taken from freshly squeezed citrus. The product was appropriately named Orange-Mate.

Orange-Mate, when blended, permeates the air of the entire manufacturing facility. Since this fragrance is identical to an orange grove in blossom, the potential for an air freshener was easily recognized. In 1988, Ray’s son, Steve, joined him to develop and investigate the possibility of manufacturing an air freshener of this class. The first observation of Orange-Mate Mist was its unique physical properties. Unlike other air fresheners, Orange-Mate Mist was not just a cover-up type fragrance. Instead, it actually seemed to eliminate the offensive odor and, at the same time, leave a natural scent of freshly peeled oranges. At that point and time, the company knew it had a dynamic product. There was only one small but important problem, however. The cost factor of production was quite high when compared to the synthetic variety of air freshener. The question then became: Would the average consumer be willing to purchase an air freshener at an upscale price of $5.99? It was decided to hold off production due to the uncertainty of the market...."

You can read more here. They now sell fabric, laundry and air fresheners as well as glass and surface cleaners.

As far as products go, we think this one is pretty darn good, whether you're into air fresheners or not. However, if you are, we'd recommend checking these guys out.