It’s been a while since I’ve been to a hot tropical country, and one of the first things I’ll seek out when there is a coconut stall. Drinking the water from a freshly hacked coconut is too delish for words and signals the proper start of a holiday. Coconut water is not to be confused with coconut milk. The milk is the liquid that comes from the grated, firm white flesh of a coconut – I use this mainly in curries. Whilst the water comes from a young green coconut where the flesh is more jelly-like. You can get fresh green coconuts over here at the odd stall – I know of one in Notting Hill, but as I’m nowhere near the tropics or Notting Hill, the next best thing for my coconut water fix is Vita Coco.
The flavours are not too dissimilar. It carries all the benefits of the fresh coconut meaning it’s packed with electrolytes; fat free, has heaps of potassium, is low calorie, with no colourings, preservatives or flavourings and not produced from concentrate. I’ve been drinking it for a while and have a stash for my hangover days as it really helps with re-hydration. I would drink it more often, not just because of the benefits but because I really like the taste. However, the cartons are priced £1.49 – £3.49, which is not overly expensive but it would add up if I were to drink as often as I’d like.
Vita Coco is also available in a range of other flavours. I was recently sent; orange, peach and mango, and passion fruit to try. The flavour combination in the orange was too odd for me and seemed to conflict, whereas the passion fruit, peach and mango were a better match with the flavours subtly coming through at the end.
Another thing to note is that the packaging is visually appealing, although the 500ml does not function as well as the 330ml. The nozzle on top is designed in such a way that make it difficult to get the last swigs worth of juice out – you’d have to use a straw or dismantle it like I did to get the rest.
Overall I much prefer the original pure Vita Coco. The added flavours were mostly fine but don’t really add a lot. The full Vita Coco range is available nationwide in Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and independent health food stores.
Many thanks to Vita Coco for the samples.
Hello Tash,
Drinking coconut water from a green coconut is one of my great pleasures when travelling, too! Great minds think alike! 😉
But have you thought about cooking with the Vita Coco? Uyen Luu of supperclub and Love Leluu fame has a Vietnamese recipe which uses coconut juice/ water and is really tasty.
http://www.leluu.com/2011/03/recipethit-heo-kho-trung-braised-pork.html
Best wishes
Snigdha
Hiya – indeed they do!
No, it never occurred to me, but what a great idea. That recipe does look good and not fussy either.