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Sipping on a coconut water beverage as she strolled through Brooklyn’s McCarren Park a few years ago, 30-year-old Bianca LeRoux had a brainstorm that hit her like, well, a coconut.
Why not add the trendy drink to espresso at CUP — the new coffee shop she and her husband Jeremy had just opened in Greenpoint — and make the perfect hangover cure? Hence, “The Cococano” was born.
“I guess I kind of jumped on the coconut-water craze bandwagon,” says LeRoux, who has a 3-month-old baby girl. Yes, LeRoux reveals, she did drink coconut water while pregnant, and now as she’s breastfeeding, too. (No surprise there. Some doctors say coconut water’s electrolyte balance can actually help with the slow digestion and heartburn common to pregnancy.)
From coffee shops to new moms to celebrity fans such as A-Rod, Madonna and Gisele, Manhattanites are increasingly reaching for the drink, made of water from a coconut, with variations in processing and additives ranging from vitamins to high-fructose corn syrup.
Once found mostly in natural-food stores such as Whole Foods, the coconut water drink is now so commonplace, just about any corner bodega stocks it. With sales hitting the $200 million mark, the US coconut-water market is skyrocketing; one popular brand, Zico, has increased its sales by 150 percent each year since 2006.
But many purists, including “Jackass” star Steve-O, who recently revealed he only buys coconut water frozen in Asia to avoid processing, insist that marketing a product as “coconut water” means nothing. In fact, high-fructose corn syrup can cancel out any potential health benefits — and often a product’s labeling doesn’t live up to its promises. (One claim is an abundance of potassium, a mineral credited with helping prevent strokes, heart attacks, dehydration and hangovers.)
So is it possible that this tropical water is actually somewhat less than healthy?
After independent researchers at ConsumerLab.com released a report over the summer showing that two of the biggest brands were exaggerating their electrolyte content, with only Zico living up to its labeling, a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court against Vita Coco and O.N.E. claims that consumers have been lied to about health benefits. “I think celebrities should really check out the products they’re recommending before they put their endorsements on them,” says Dr. Tod Cooperman, the president of ConsumerLab.com. “But for all I know, Rihanna’s endorsing coconut water for the taste alone.”
Health experts agree that there are benefits to the drink, but it’s simply not the miracle beverage it’s made out to be.
“It’s more popular than ever,” concludes Harry Balzer, an industry analyst for NPD, a consumer market-research firm. “But it needs to provide a measurable, immediate benefit for it to be around for a long time.”
In the short term, coconut water is a p.r. machine. Sophie Pachella, a nutritionist and the CEO of EatStrong.com, explains that the hype around the drink is the equivalent of “claiming that broccoli alone will cure cancer.”
“Like most miracle foods with its time in the sun — blueberries, POM juice, soy — the hype can take on a life of its own,” she says. Which is why New Yorkers can expect to see coconut water everywhere in 2012, predicts John Sicher, editor of Beverage-Digest.com.
“Pepsi just announced three new coconut water SoBe drinks,” says Sicher. “Coconut water isn’t going to go from niche to mainstream in one year, but it has years of double-digit growth ahead of it.”
The key for consumers, according to Dr. John Adams, an internist with New York Dermatology Group, is to be wary of coconut-water drinks that dilute purity with stealth calories, such as those added by high-fructose corn syrup.
“Hands down, I would choose coconut water over some fake, jacked-up orange or apple juice that has too much sugar and salt,” Adams says. “To point the finger at one of the most natural, low-calorie hydration drinks and say it’s bad is ludicrous.” (Coconut water usually ranges from 36 to 74 calories per 8-ounce serving.)
The best bet, cautions Karen Reznik Dolins, a sports nutritionist at Columbia University, is to “experiment with different beverages,” and to remember that “most of us will rehydrate by normal eating and drinking over a 24-hour period.”
Still, analysts predict that more people will become coco-nuts. “Pomegranate, acai berry and now coconut water are all darlings of the gym set,” says Larry Genta Jr., editor of beverageunderground.com. “And interestingly, they are all popular as additives to martini and cocktail flavors, too.”
And New York night spots have dutifully jumped on the bandwagon. The Hotel on Rivington offers the “Pink Bazooka,” which includes vodka, watermelon juice, lime juice, syrup, Thai basil and a coconut-water ice cube. For a non-alcoholic concoction, Rouge Tomate offers its specialty, Nieve de Pina (pineapple juice, coconut water, vanilla, cinnamon and pineapple soda). Health nuts are also demanding that facilities stock up. David Barton Gym says it will soon carry the drink at its Astor Place and Chelsea locations, due to customer demand.
But is the drink itself the magical ingredient? “We never really bought into the idea that coconut water was necessarily better for you or hydrates better than regular water,” says LeRoux, creator of the Cococano. “But the drink does seem to be growing in popularity every day!”
mstadtmiller@nypost.com