Kona Red

Product Type:Juice: Coconut Water and Juice; Container: 16 oz PET
BevNET Review: Kona Red’s Antioxidant Juice + Young Coconut Water is the first product that we’ve seen to blend coffee fruit and young coconut water. We’re not sure why they call it “antioxidant juice” (it certainly doesn’t tell you the flavor or whet the palate), but the product does use apple and pineapple juice in addition to the coffee fruit and coconut water. Ultimately, this gives the drink a fruit punch-like flavor, with nothing overly distinguishable from the mix. We’d like to see more coffee fruit and coconut water flavor, and the branding should be focused on these two ingredients -- the coffee fruit in particular is notable in its absente. Visually, the 16 oz. bottle has a murky color, which isn’t a look that really plays to the strengths of a coconut water-based product from Hawaii. Making it brighter and showing a cut coconut would make this product much more appealing to the senses. And finally, the name of the drink (which is almost absent right now) could be much more creative. In any event, we think that the current state of the product’s positioning feels very middle of the road, which might make consumers move on to the next product on the shelf rather than picking it up and reading the back panel to figure it out. Overall, decent taste and packaging, but we were expecting something with more coffee fruit and coconut water to both the flavor and branding. If Kona Red can manage to do that, we think that there’s some good potential for this product as both a standalone and as something that turns consumers on to coffee fruit.Reviewed on: 11/2/2011

Product Type:Juice: Juice Drink; Container: 16 oz PET
BevNET Review: KonaRed is a new player in the superfruit game and while this is not the first or best coffee fruit drink we have come across it certainly holds its own. KonaRed has a sweet, yet slightly sour nose and pours a deep rich red color. The flavors of apple, raspberry and blackberry are apparent and necessary to combat the sour notes of the coffee fruit. This marriage of fruit flavor is a palate pleaser, however this product really stands out with its vitamin and antioxidant content. Kona Red has 100 percent of the RDA of vitamin C and 200 percent of vitamin E per serving, as well as a 7,909 ORAC (an antioxidant unit count which has been growing in popularity). This drink has no added sugar but does contain Stevia Leaf Extract and a somewhat surprising 27mg of caffeine per serving (caffeine is not mentioned anywhere except in the nutrition facts). Kona Red is packaged in an emerging stock PET 2 opaque bottle with a full red wrap label. The deep red color plays well as a gateway to the color of the juice inside and is offset by a simple yet concise logo, a detailed shot of the coffee fruit and a marginal amount of descriptive text. The tagline "“Wellness you can feel!"” comes off as a bit forced and may not be entirely necessary in the execution of this product. Similar to other juice drinks containing coffee fruit extract, some education in the marketplace will be needed to entice consumers to pick a bottle out of the cooler. Overall a well executed product, that also comes in a highly marketable 3 oz. shot.Reviewed on: 2/11/2011