Original Coconut Smoothie is the latest from Genius Juice, a company that has been through a series of pivots within their product portfolio. Announced back in August, Genius Coconut Smoothie is a throwback to the company’s original product offering.

The product, which is USDA Organic certified, is a blend of coconut water and coconut meat. These two ingredients have been blended together (without any added sugars -- a point of differentiation against many coconut water products) into a thick and creamy “smoothie.” Being made exclusively with coconut might make you think that Genius has an intense flavor, but it doesn’t. Instead, it’s mellow and smooth and has less sweetness (and sugar per ounce) than a comparable coconut water. There’s also a slightly savory note to it, which goes nicely with the viscous liquid.

On the nutritional end, the product has 2g of protein and 2g of fiber highlighted as its key benefits. It’s lower in electrolytes than straight coconut water, but it does have more sustenance to it (along with 120 calories and 4.5g of fat) which is certainly a plus.

Packaging is a 12 oz. wrapped plastic bottle. It’s more squat and compact looking than some of their previous efforts, but it also feels more substantial in your hand. The label is a nice evolution of what they’ve done in the past, with the Genius “head” logo and green as an accent color. It’s readable, clean, and does a nice job of calling out the benefits.

Putting all of this together, we feel as though this is a step in the right direction for Genius. However, we wonder if getting in on the whole coconut / MCT oil game wouldn’t be something that would further boost what Genius is offering and make the product more marketable.

Beyond that, we wonder about the approach of going with a single SKU. On the one hand, it doesn’t offer anything in the way of variety and, unlike coconut water where consumers who are into it drink a lot of it, this seems like a product that has a more narrow use occasion. On the other hand, both Genius (in its past efforts) and the coconut water category have proven that unflavored sells best. Both of these things being said, it’s hard to understand what sort of legs there are to a single SKU coconut smoothie brand.

All in all, we think that Genius is taking the right step by refocusing on a pure coconut offering. The execution of both the flavor and packaging is solid, with our only concern being if this is still too limited of a niche.