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ranked #136,441 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★★★★
Good tasting sweet coconut water
I purchased a case of three different brands of coconut water from Amazon to compare; UFC (the brand is actually UFC), C2O and Vita Coco. While at Whole Foods I talked to the man who stocked the coconut water section and I learned two things.
First, he told me when I asked which coconut water tasted best that it depended on the lot. He explained that since coconuts were plants, each harvest was different and that the SAME brand varied in taste depending on the lot. I guess it is kind of like wine.
Second, he said that different coconut waters contain different levels of sugar and that I should note the sugar content on the package.
With that additional information in mind, I considered that various lots may be different in taste but the sugar content on the label should remain fairly consistent.
Among the three coconut waters C2O tasted the sweetest but I liked the flavor of UFC best. That's purely a personal opinion. My guess is that most would like C2O best due to it's sweeter taste.
C2O was sweetest, UFC next and Vita Coco least sweet.
I then compared the amount of sugar listed on the label. Although there should be no added sugar, coconut water contains natural sugar. I am listing the sugar per ounce since the sugar is listed on the label as per serving but serving size varies from 8 ounces to 11.1 ounces therefore a grams per ounce measurement gives you an apples to apples comparison.
C2O 1.5g/oz, VitaCoco 1.35g/oz and UFC 1g/oz.
UFC actually tastes sweeter to me than VitaCoco (or rather more flavorful) but has nearly a third less sugar and much less sugar than C2O.
For me the choice is clear, UFC. It has the least amount of sugar and it tastes best since I don't prefer overly sweet drinks but I do like the flavor. I bought the UFC in 1L wax paper containers, C2O in 17.5 oz (530ml) cans and VitaCoco in 11.1 oz. wax paper containers.
All of the coconut waters tasted very good and I don't think that you will be disappointed in either of them.
UPDATE: Oct 2015:
C20 has actually reduced the sugar content in the latest 1L carton that I purchased. It is now 7g/serving which is 0.875g/oz. I now buy C2O. C2O is also rather widely available in stores. I changed my rating from 4 stars to 5 stars since the sugar content of C2O is lower than any other that I've seen and it tastes just as good.
August 2013 · Grocery and Gourmet Food · verified purchase