Coco-nuts about Vita Coco Kids

*Ad – gifted for review

I used to think that I’d only ever give my child water or milk. Milk was going well until we moved to lactose free, and now N won’t drink ‘milk’ at home. He’ll have it on cereals sporadically (grr to the massive cartons while get opened and then only a little bit used before it goes off). At nursery he will drink whatever milk substitute is given – but won’t drink the equivalent at home.

He will thankfully drink water still – generally when we’re out and about he’s happy to have that, but at home he always wants squash. I try and keep it to mealtimes, but he’ll help himself to it if I’m not around, so at least I can get away with making it really weak.

But he loves treat drinks when we’re out in town and he gets the chance to have something a bit different. Straws, smoothies, and flavoured waters go down well, but I think it’s more the novelty of a different pack format that he likes. So when we had the chance to try out the new Vita Coco Kids drinks, I was interested to see what they were like.

I’ve tried coconut water in the past, plain and flavoured. I love the coconut water straight out of the coconut (school fetes and the coconut shy of my childhood!), but have never been that keen on the taste of the standard drinks that are now available.

Of course, any interesting looking boxes that come through the post, N’s there trying to help me open them, and this box was no different. Nothing like a beautifully put together sample box either.

We had the tropical mango and pineapple flavour, and the classic apple and blackcurrant. The benefits of these drinks are numerous and put the drink ahead of other children’s chilled juice drinks:

• almost half the sugar and calories of leading children’s chilled drinks
• no artifical colours, preservatives, flavourings or sweeteners
• electrolytes to maintain hydration

N was straight in wanting to try the first flavour.

And the result was a definite thumbs up. He did let me try it too, and although I wouldn’t usually choose a ‘tropical’ flavour, I was really impressed with this. Not too strong a flavour, I could taste the coconut but it wasn’t bland as the pineapple and mango went really well with it. Definitely a hit with both of us.

N told me I could try the blackcurrant and apple one. This one I wasn’t as keen on. Less of the coconut water came through, but it was a bit more of a ‘squash’ like flavour. It was ok, but not as great a taste as the first we tried. N agreed and said his favourite was the mango and pineapple one.

I kept them in the fridge as drinks always seem to taste better when cool, and N had the second pineapple and mango one with his tea the next evening. I thought the other blackcurrant and apple one was safe and would last until the weekend, but I opened the fridge a couple of days later to find that he’d removed the straw from the last carton, poked the hole out, and had taken a surreptitious sip before leaving it in the fridge. He really is cheeky and will help himself to any food given half a chance. When I asked if he’d done it, he just said ‘yes, I liked it’ and that was it.

What about the design?  Well, N liked the design, telling me about the monkey and parrot.  The tetrapack cartons are recyclable in my area, and N loves having a straw, so the packaging type is a success with us too.

We’ll definitely be buying some of the pineapple and mango packs when we find them in store. I looked in our Sainsbury’s the other week and couldn’t find them, so will keep a watch out in Tesco. He won’t be able to have them at nursery, but I can see them going down well when we’re out and about for picnics.

Vita Coco Kids drinks come in multipacks of 4, and are available at Waitrose, Sainsbury’s Tesco, Holland and Barrett, plus health stores and independents, for an rrp of £2.99.

If you head over to the Vita Coco Kids club page, there are activities to download.

Have you ever tried coconut water? What do your children like to drink?