You love coconut water . We sleep together coconut piddle . So we decided to compare a bunch of wide usable brand in a unreasoning taste - trial run . We gathered every dissimilar intersection we could find at Trader Joe ’s , Whole Foods , Target , and a bunch of wellness - food stores . There were 15 , all separate – including the same brand name in different packaging ‘cause that red cent matters – and we asked a professional barkeep to rate them . Why a bartender ? Because mixologist know three things : how to mix a deglutition , how to keep a arcanum , andhow to cure a hangover .
" If you ’re a bartender and you do n’t include coconut water in your katzenjammer regimen , you ’re break down , " says Giuseppe Gonzalez , owner of theSuffolk Armscocktail legal community in NYC . He should recognize – he ’s been work out in the spirits biz for more than two decades . But his erotic love of coconut water hold out beyond its being nature ’s electrolyte drink . Gonzalez is from Puerto Rico , where he says the national potable is not the piña colada , as tourist wrongly assume . Everyone on the island is really drinking whisky and coco . And he ’s such a devotee , he ’s putting it on his cocktail menu next month , in a drinking he ’s dubbed the Sinner ’s Breakfast , made with nitro coffee coldness - brewed with coconut H2O .
" Everything that ’s good about coconut make out out in that drink , " he asserts . To instance his gunpoint , he pours coconut water over a Dewar ’s 12 - year - old exclusive malt on the rock music and hands it to me . It ’s more dilute than aScotchand soda and ridiculously fresh . " you’re able to fuddle this all day on the beach without getting hammer . And you ’ll delay hydrous . "
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
The mankind knows his coconut water . Here are the brand he find to be the best of the clustering .
Pure Brazilian raw coconut water
Price:$4.19 for 13.5 oz ( 31 cents per oz)Score:80/100Tasting notes:“It tastes diluted and it has a sour culture at the end . But it looks large , it ’s filtered really percipient . It ’s easily the most beautiful one out of all of these . And it ’s one of the few I would apply for a cocktail . It ’s not too fresh so I could contain the amount of sugar in the drink . And it ’s got the correct mouthfeel , the consistency is just a bit lighter than whole Milk River . "
Taste Nirvana coconut water (bottle)
Price:$1.99 for 9.5 oz ( 21 centime per oz)Score:80/100Tasting notes:“That ’s beautiful . Light , buttery , not sour at all . Coconut water oxidize like orchard apple tree , the longer you forget it uncover to air , the more false it becomes . The liquidity is cloudy which means they get it sit in the coconut frame a bit too long before they filtered it , but it ’s all good . "
Trader Joe’s pure coconut water
Price:$2.99 for 33.8 oz ( nine cent per oz)Score:80/100Tasting notes:“It ’s not dandy but it ’s good . It ’s a little diluted , I think they ’re cutting it with something . It ’s not sweet-smelling , and you make out when you drink born coconut water the right way out of the coconut , that sweetness is there . But if I was hungover and I just wanted something that mimics water without all the sugar and all the crap , this would be perfect . I ’d probably use this one in a cocktail because it ’s impersonal , it kind of appeals to everyone . "
Whole Foods 365 coconut water
Price:$3.29 for 33.8 oz ( 10 cent per oz)Score:85/100Tasting notes:“This is the ugly one . It still has pinpoint in it from the coconut shells that did n’t get filtered out properly . And that yellowing right there is oxidation . But it sample freak out goodness , the oxidation has n’t hurt it in any way . The sweetness is utter , it ’s the second - sweetest out of all of them . It ’s got that nerveless butteriness that I wish , it ’s have the mouthfeel . The problem is it take care shitty . As a barman , I would have to incline it through another filter before I serve it . "
FOCO 100% pure coconut water
Price:$1.69 for 11.2 oz ( 15 centime per oz)Score:89/100Tasting notes:“This is gorgeous . The sweetness is there , the smell is there , it ’s clean , it has salinity . It ’s have a eldritch matter live on on in the middle though , it does that hokey coconut thing – like Malibu – but then it goes off . My favorite thing about it is the mouthfeel , when I taste coconut palm piss that sit down heavy like this I ’m like , OK , this is legit . It actually reminds me of home plate , like if you were to open up up a coconut by the side of the road in Puerto Rico , this is what it would taste like . "
Vita Coco pure coconut water
Price:$4.18 for 33.8 oz ( 12 centime per oz)Score:90/100Tasting notes:“The smell is the first thing that hits you , this has a freakin ' delicate odor . Some coconut waters smelling like suntan oil but that artificial spirit does not exist in substantial coco . This is burnished , delicate , clean , easy to drink . And when you front at it , it ’s like total clarity . This has been filtered a sealed way to be that clear . Elegant is the word of honor I think I would use . This one is the most elegant . "
Taste Nirvana coconut water with pulp (can)
Price:$2.69 for 16.2 oz ( 17 cents per oz)Score:90/100Tasting notes:“It ’s rich , it ’s uncontaminating , it ’s got those beautiful piece of coconut in there so you get that textural component . This is one of the Asian joints , they ’re the only 1 who throw coconut chunks in there . The only bad thing about some of the Asiatic stuff is it arrive in a can and sometimes you do n’t equate a can with high quality . It ’s filtered really clean even though it ’s get those lump . And it ’s the butteriest – that flavor sits the long , it coats everything . I almost want some Zea mays everta with this . "
Coco Community organic coconut water
Price:$4.95 for 16.9 oz ( 29 centime per oz ) . presently only usable at Target and Walmart . Score:90/100Tasting notes:“This is the sweetest one , I ’m almost tempted to say they added sugar . It ’s freakin ' delicious . It smack like a genuine cocoa palm – rich , nutty , tranquil . When you smell it you get walnut and a eldritch sherry quality . The color is beautiful , it ’s a pale yellowish pink . That ’s the oxybenzene in the cocoanut ; it ’s a rare trait , you do n’t get that in all the bottles . To me that ’s a visual cue of quality . If I was going to use this in a cocktail it would be the bare one possible , like a highball . No modifications , no shakiness , nothing . Just add spirit and ice and call it a win . "
Harmless Harvest organic coconut water
Price:$4.99 for 16 oz ( 31 cents per oz)Score:95/100Tasting notation : " That ’s perfect , that ’s the benchmark . It ’s clean and it ’s sweet as fuck . I make out this is the Harmless . Even blind there are three thing you’re able to break up up off the bat . One , the odor . It smells like coconut tree . Two , the mouthfeel . It does n’t feel like water , it sit like milk . And three , the color . How many times in nature do you see pink water , you know ? That ’s money . I do n’t screw how many prison term I ’ve looked through , like , 30 white-hot ones for the pinkish one . One Clarence Shepard Day Jr. when I ’m rich and I have 10 Suffolk Arms , I will literally have delivery of only the pinkish Harmless coconut water . "
The takeaway
Ballers can fill their electric refrigerator with Harmless Harvest , which scored the gamey but was the most expensive on the tilt ( along with Pure Brazilian ) . And that pink colour that some of them have ? It just means the coco palm had naturally high levels of an enzyme call polyphenol oxidase , which turns rosy-cheeked when divulge to luminosity . If you ’re still waiting for Google to acquire your startup , your adept wager is Vita Coco , which combine a in high spirits score with a low Mary Leontyne Price point . And it turns out packaging really matter : Taste Nirvana scored higher in a can than in a glass nursing bottle . Happy hydrating !
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Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
