Taste Nirvana: Coconut Water with Thai Chili Extract

With the coconut water category having exhausted the spectrum of “normal” flavors, it’s no surprise that products like this one, which blends coconut water with chili extract, are popping up. The flavor is surprisingly simple and easy on the palate, with a base of coconut water followed by some light heat from the added chili extract. It’s not really a spicy flavor, but more of a “spiced” flavor, and we think that anyone could drink this regardless of how they feel about spicy foods. However, the flavor seems at odds with the visual design of the product, which, with its massive chili pepper and red font on the word "chili," seems to be trying to convey that this is a spicy product. In addition, it’s lacking a visual cue for the coconut water in the drink. This, in turn, might make it easy to miss this product. Otherwise, the look of what Taste Nirvana has created is clean and polished. Ultimately, as technically sound as this product is, we think that the potential for this flavor pairing is niche rather than mainstream.