Vita Coco Coconut Water
by Vita Coco (All Market, Inc.)
Review: Vita Coco Coconutmilk
Covers Products: Original- Coconut Milk (1.25L), Vanilla-Coconut Milk (1.25L)
Launched at the Natural Products Expo 2017, Vita Coco’s
For Vita Coco, which was one of the pioneers of coconut water and is still the category leader, the company has a reputation to uphold in any new category. And as a category, coconut milk hasn’t been the most exciting dairy alternative option out there, at least in part due to the category having a plethora of off-tasting and poorly branded products. This product introduction is leaps ahead of just about everything that they compete with.
The product comes in two Non-GMO Verified flavors: Original and Vanilla. The primary ingredients in the product are coconut water and coconut cream, which, when blended together, deliver the base coconut milk flavor (They’ve also added additional vitamins and minerals as well as stabilizers to keep the blend together). And it’s a really great-tasting base, with notes of coconut water and a slightly rich (but definitely not too rich) body from the added coconut cream. We really like that the sweetness from the product comes from the coconut rather than added sugar. Even the vanilla flavor, which can sometimes be overpowering, is spot on.
Visually, this product, which is packaged in a 1.25 L (42.27 oz.) fully wrapped plastic bottle, makes great use of the Vita Coco brand equity. It’s clearly something that is made with coconut, but, thanks to the white background instead of the standard blue, it’s also obvious that it’s something different. Not to mention that the white backdrop subconsciously says “milk” to us.
In the end, the question that looms is whether this product can pull well when it’s on the store shelf. While we’re confident that it will be a hit with those consumers that pick it up, Vita Coco has a challenge ahead of it in terms of building category awareness -- and in some cases undoing the baggage from some of the other stuff that has come before. If they can crack that, we think there’s a really nice opportunity to offer a meaningful alternative to soy or nut-based dairy alternatives. And they’ve certainly come up with a great product offering to make a solid run at it.