Coco Fresco Hyderabad-Promoting tender coconut water

Coco board of Hyderabad has launched a new concept for promoting tender coconut. It has set up over 20 mobile units dispensing tender coconut water. These units are called COCO Fresco. The green coloured carts have a chamber to store over 100 coconuts in it, mechanical devices to cut open the coconut, filter the coconut water and then the coconut water is distributed in a plastic glass to the customers.

This post contains a video on how this Coco Fresco unit works and also analysis pros and cons of buying tender coconut water from these units, vis-à-vis buying from other street side coconut vendors. Read related news article [here]

Video on how the Coco Fresco tender coconut juice vending card operates:


Advantages:
1. Guaranteed volume:
You get one glass full of coconut water (Priced at Rs 10 per glass)
When you buy individual coconuts, there’s no guarantee on volume of consumable coconut water inside, because the outer size of the shell is not always proportional to the volume of the core containing water.

2. Cooler
This cart stores coconut under a closed chamber, unlike other roadside vendors who usually expose the tender coconut to direct sun. The cart also comes with an umbrella, under which you can take shelter while drinking.

3. Filtered coconut water:
The water is filtered and free from non consumable objects

4. Slightly hygienic:
This cart appears to be more hygienic than a roadside vendor, but coconut shell is heavily protected by itself and is usually free from external infections. Contamination if any can happen only while opening and drinking.

5. Ease of operation: Cutting open the tender coconut will take some extra effort if one is not physically strong. This unit has mechanical tools to assist the operator in that

Disadvantages:
1.Mixed water:
If one single coconut doesn’t fill the glass, water from another coconut is mixed with it. Though coconut from a same bunch of a given tree will be usually similar in taste, not all coconuts will have same taste. Some are sweet, some are plain, and some are even sour. If you’re not lucky, the combination of different flavors might spoil the taste.

2. Loss of gravy:
Tender coconut often contains white gravy (cream, Known as Coconut Meat in English (Thanks to Dharani for this input)) which is also a consumable part. But Coco Fresco doesn’t have a mechanism to extract that and allow consumers to eat it. The operator simply throws coconut shell after extracting water.

3. Use of plastic:
They’re distributing coconut water in plastic cups, which is non bio degradable waste. The cart doesn’t have a place to store these waste plastic or consumed coconut shell and the operator simply throws them away to the roadside.

4. Non competitive pricing:
Rs 10 per glass is not competitive enough I feel. (Retail pricing of tender coconuts in Hyderabad is Rs 5 onwards and go upto Rs 10 (depending on size, freshness etc))

I still prefer to drink coconut directly from the shell by placing it next to mouth, instead of drinking via a straw or from a glass. But Coco board’s Coco Fresco will certainly manage to attract those people who prefer branded and well marketed products.

Because the concept is new people are checking it out at least out of curiosity. I find at least one or two people around this cart whenever I drive by...

Related: How to select good tender coconut?* Upadhya's tender coconut Opener (A trendy and easy to use tool to drill a hole into tender coconut and extract water)