Monday 14 May 2012

New Coconut Water Discovery

If you're a regular reader then you probably know that I believe that coconut water helped me out massively the last time I was glutened. I've been drinking Vita Coco for probably a year now and though I do think it's wonderful, it's a bit on the pricey side at £3.49 per litre when you drink as much of it as I do.

Last week I discovered a new brand of coconut water in the world food aisle of my Tesco, so I gave it a go along side Vita Coco and it proved to be a success.


ufc coconut water verses vita coco
£1.99 Vs £3.49
UFC coconut water isn't refrigerated in store like Vita Coco, but it says on the carton that the only ingredient is 100% coconut water, which is the same as Vita Coco, so I don't quite understand that, it tastes just as fresh. Is it possible that Vita Coco doesn't need to be refrigerated but it is so that the price can be marked up? I would love to know the answer to this.

You need to refrigerate the UFC one once opened, although I just put them all in the fridge as soon as we got home from shopping. The taste is slightly sweeter but there isn't that much difference, VC use Brazilian coconuts and UFC use Thai.

The obviously difference here is in the price, UFC coconut water is £1.99 per litre, a whopping £1.50 cheaper per carton than VC. Is that purely down to in store location?

This week I didn't get any Vita Coco at all, I'll test out UFC for a couple of weeks and see how I feel. If I don't feel as good as I did when I was drinking VC I'll change back over, but if UFC has the same effect on my well being as VC did, I'll be drinking even more litres per week than I was before. As of yet, I can't feel any difference between the two brands, I feel great.

Something that I noticed this week in the juice aisle was the introduction of a new Vita Coco, one with Pineapple. There was also a new brand Zico which had a plain coconut water flavour and one with mango. The Zico coconut waters were £2.49 for 414ml which works out even more pricey than VC at 60p per 100ml, VC is 35p per 100ml.

Coconut water is obviously big business! I can't help but feel that something is a bit fishy here though. If the UFC 100% coconut water can safely be stored without refrigeration, why can't the Vita Coco? My marketing mind is thinking £££, but of course, I could be wrong.

UPDATE: After asking on Reddit why one would need to be refrigerated and not the other, the most likely answer seems to be that it is because of how the UFC one is processed.

This would explain why a 1 litre Vita Coco carton has more potassium than 2 bananas and a 1 litre UFC carton has more than 1 banana. Nutritional values can be lost in pasteurisation.

I'm also noticing other disappointing nutrition facts from UFC. Less vitamin C plus others. My natural inclination is to go back to 4 litres of Vita Coco a week, I guess it's just a better product. In this instance, it really does seem that you get what you pay for.

14 comments:

  1. I will definitely have to see if I can find some of this for myself, especially seeing as though it sounds so affordable. Especially after my last glutening had me in hospital due to a swollen large intestine. Not good.

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  2. Still can't believe what happened to you, I'm so sorry.

    After months of feeling good for the most part, today I feel dreadful and I'm putting it down to changing coconut water brands. Don't go for pasturised get a brand that is refrigerated in store, I can definitely feel a difference today and it's not good at all. I'm back on Vita Coco indefinitely now.

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  3. Both are sold from the shelf so just a question of taste.
    both are good

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  4. I actually sell Coconut water and thought that I would let you know that ALL Coconut water is and needs to be pasteurized. It needs to be to kill any living bacteria in the liquid or you can get really sick! The difference in nutritionals is because of the source of the Coconuts, however yes some nutritional value is lost in all Coconut Water during pasteurization. Brazil, Philipines, Indonesia, India and Thailand will all have different nutritional values based on their final content and how they were treated and grown. Anyways, just thought I'd let you know.

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    Replies
    1. YaY! I'm so glad someone said this already!

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    2. Errrrr WRONG!!!!

      NOT ALL coconut water is and needs to be pasteurised! If anything you're just killing the natural flavours and nutritions.

      Raw coconut water (that’s not being served fresh from the nut) can only retain its natural properties (nutrients, antioxidants and electrolytes) if it is bottled and processed, using HPP (High Pressure Proccessing)

      Unoco is one of them and as far as I am concerned the easiest to attain in the UK in a bottled form.

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  5. Interesting! Thanks for sharing.

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  6. Been drinking UFC coconut water for five weeks now. Three litres per week. Feel great. I Can afford to drink more now that I don't have to buy the overpriced tiny cartons that have added preservitives that previously were my only option where I live.

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  7. Thanks to your blog I found coconut water at Tesco. I had no idea it was available there and was looking/buying online at exhorbitant prices. Presently Tesco were doing a deal for Vita 1L cartons so I got mine at £2.3/L which I think is pretty good. Will keep looking to see where I could buy Vita/UFC cheaper, as to me, both are equally good!

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  8. Whenever there's a special on Vita Coco at my Tesco they always sell out before I can get any, please report back if you happen to find it anywhere cheaper :)

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  9. I wonder why I'm so ultra addicted to this water. I

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  10. Vita Coco has had a lawsuit against them for false claims on their nutritional information. Cost them $5 million in payouts.

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  11. Anything tetra packed or cans have either added sugars or other additives and/or they are pasteurised wich is "nicht so güt" Unoco's raw coconut water is the way all the way

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