Sambazon's assets include not only acai fruit's nutritional attributes but also the romance of the Amazon rainforest, the ideological allure of Sambazon's "sustainable-agriculture" platform, a ringing endorsement from a popular diet expert, and the fact that other well-known beverage brands are jumping on the acai bandwagon. The success of Pom Wonderful, a hip brand that markets the juice of the heretofore obscure pomegranate, has given Black further confidence.

Yet Tom Pirko, a beverage consultant, had never even heard of acai until this reporter asked him about it. Pirko doubts it ever could sell broadly without the backing of a huge beverage company. "Even if a new ingredient is exotic and can promise exorbitant health benefits, it's very difficult to get consumers' attention and to get them to buy into it," he says.

There's no doubting the current marketplace momentum for products derived from acai, a berry found in the tops of an Amazonian palm tree that is cultivated by rainforest denizens. The berry is nearly completely seed; the skin is stripped off at the point of processing and mixed with water to make a pulp.

Acai's taste generally is described as that of a berry with a hint of chocolate. In Brazilian beverages, acai usually is mixed with guarana, a stimulant extracted from another native-grown berry that has effects similar to caffeine and is found in many energy drinks.

Acai pulp contains an impressive nutritional elixir. At the top of its nutrient list is anthocyanins, a powerful antioxidant, of which acai contains amounts 33 times greater than in red wine and significantly more than other fruits that recently have been gaining attention for their antioxidant content, including pomegranates and blueberries. Acai also contains omega-6 and omega-9 cholesterol-fighting fatty acids, more protein than the average egg, essential amino acids, and vitamins and minerals ranging from Vitamin E to calcium.

American doctor Nicholas Perricone has juiced prospects for acai by recommending it in his book, The Perricone Promise, as one of the top foods for combating aging and otherwise living a healthy lifestyle. Another acai-juice startup, San Francisco-based Zola, also is trying to gain a nationwide foothold.

A number of US beverage companies and retailers also are exploiting the potential offered by acai. Naked Juice introduced a Mango Acai product in February. Trader Joe's, the natural-foods retail chain, offers a ready-to-drink acai smoothie. Honest Tea sells a ready-to-drink mango-acai product. Jamba Juice, the smoothie-bar chain, introduced in March a new menu item called Acai Supercharger.

"It's really delicious, one of our newest flavors, and we think it has phenomenal potential," says Julie Tarry, director of marketing for Azusa, Calif.-based Naked Juice. "A lot of really educated, health-conscious consumers have been reading about acai."

But Sambazon could provide the biggest boost to acai if the ingredient is ever to make it out of the new-product jungle to popular appreciation in the United States. Revenues are still under US$ 10 million, says Black, but they doubled last year compared with 2003. He says that Sambazon is "just starting to break a profit" but "we're growing rapidly."

Black was on vacation, surfing in Brazil, several years ago when a friend took him to a local "acai bar" for his first taste of the fruit. Similar to American juice bars, these outlets typically serve club-goers an acai-based concoction in the evening before they go out on the town. It consists of liquefied acai pulp and guarana served in a bowl and topped with granola and sliced bananas.

Dale Buss is a journalist and editorial consultant in Rochester Hills, Michigan. He's a former reporter for The Wall Street Journal and a former contributing editor of Brand Marketing.