I bought 10 different coconut waters to see how they would compare to the real thing. I made a visit to 2 different grocery stores to get a wide variety of coconut water brands. There was definitely a lot, so I made sure to get at least 10. Originally I wanted to get 5, but 10 ended up in my basket.
I tried 10 different coconut waters so you don’t have to make any mistakes. All of the drinks were chilled and cool before consuming, which is the best way to drink coconut water.
#10 Tropico 100% Young Coconut Water
Tastes like chemicals. No. No. No.
#9 Grace Coconut Water with Pulp
Weird sweet finish yet somewhat citrusy. No.
#8 Frozen Young Coconut Juice
Needs to thaw before drinking. Very sweet but it does have large chunks of coconut meat.
#7 CoCos Pure
Meh.
#6 Vita Coco
The only one that had coconuts from brazil and also has Vitamin C. It had a weird tang to the aftertaste.
#5 Chaokoh Brand Coconut Water with Pulp
My childhood favourite but it is a bit sweeter than the rest. Nostalgia.
#4 Coco Libre
The only one that is from concentrate, but it is organic. It was alright as well.
#3 Blue Monkey
Good and tolerable.
#2 Thirsty Buddha
Very good but still missing more natural sweetness.
#1 Taste Nirvana
Hands down the best one, but not a 100% replacement for a real coconut.
BONUS: A real young coconut from Thailand
The best! Nothing compares…but it’s really hard to open. You’ll need a hefty knife.
I know I didn’t cover all the different coconut water brands in the market, but I tried my best in one sitting to drink 11 coconut waters. We had a good batch of coconut waters and a few terrible ones. Taste is very subjective , but Taste Nirvana was by far the best.
7 Comments
T.A.S. brand coconut water is my absolute favourite. It just tastes more real than other brands
so much goes into it. is it heated. heated it is no longer active/good. worthless. most have sugar added. has to be kept cold. is it pinkish…. taste is not important when it comes to quality. top 2 are only sold in Washington state… nationwide harmless harvest is ranked 1. bottled at source, never heated. kept cold, straight from coconut to bottle. zico in tretra box is better than nothing. not in the bottle or can.
There is some UFC brand I tried a month or two ago. No, not the actual UFC MMA company. This was just some random brand called UFC. It’s the best I’ve had so far. Vita Coca is the worst. The aftertaste is just too much.
You haven’t tried King Island.Its from young coconut. Unfortunately it goes out of stock often. I buy it from TNT grocery and I stock up.It taste yummy
I have heard that some brands use monkeys to pick the coconuts. The monkeys are mistreated, kept in very small cages, chained and often have their canine teeth removed. Apparently chaokoh uses these practices. I would recommend that people check into the practices of brands they enjoy. Third party watchdogs are a good place to begin. Hope this is useful for you.
Grace brand is very close to what an actual coconut tastes like. I’m Caribbean and spent my entire childhood drinking the real thing from coconuts straight from the trees, So I know. It might have helped with the goal of your article if you had mentioned that this article was heavily influenced by your taste in coconut water, rather than turn people off from brands that are very close to the original, and that many people find to be very good; and than present your conclusion as fact and the last word in what people should buy.
You picked the wrong kinds of coconut water to review. The best packaged brand is King Island, hands down. Not even a competition. Thirsty Buddha is disgusting. You can tell its made with old coconuts.