coco community coconut water

Vita Coco is about to get a premium sister brand, with parent company All Market poised to bring its new Coco Community coconut water to the UK this side of Christmas.

Coco Community is positioned as an artisanal coconut water, with high-end, ethical sourcing credentials: it is single-sourced from Thailand and made with premium Nam Hom ­coconuts grown by a ­dedicated group of organic Ratchaburi farmers in a community partnership model.

The new brand will be sold in PET bottles as opposed to the Tetra Pak cartons used for Vita Coco and most other mainstream coconut water brands on sale in the UK today. As Nam Hom are naturally higher in sugar, Coco Community will also have a sweeter taste profile than Vita Coco.

Listing and recommended retail prices have yet to be disclosed.

Giles Brook, Vita Coco EMEA chief executive, said ‘premium’ was a big opportunity now the coconut water market was starting to mature.

“The category is already developing, with blended drinks and - increasingly - use as a cooking ingredient. This is an obvious next step.”

Many artisan coconut waters are not pasteurised but instead processed using cold pressure (HPP). Coco Community, however, will be UHT treated.

Demand for coconut water has soared in recent terms. In value terms, the UK category is now more than 20 times the size it was in 2012 [Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 22 Jul 2012 vs 17 July 2016].

Click here for The Grocer’s detailed infographic on the UK coconut water market.