How much would you spend on yogurt?
Review #6 - The Coconut Cult š„„
What can I say, gut health is king.
Review #6 - The Coconut Cult š„„
What Is It
The Coconut Cult makes āartisanal probiotic yogurtā that delivers āgut health that feels and tastes goodā. They claim to offer a non-dairy means of restoring digestive health through āinsanely probioticā living foods, creating an actually healthy yogurt unlike other ādeadā alternatives on the market.
They offer jars of plain, chocolate, and strawberry coconut yogurt at health food stores, along with limited edition/collab flavors that drop sporadically on their site for their subscribers.
The kicker? Itāll cost you a pretty penny. A one-time purchase on their site will run you up ~ $80 ($40/jar with a 2-jar minimum). There are other ways to get your hands on the stuff without dropping major billsā¦ more on that later.
Aesthetic
Iām not sure I have the words to describe The Coconut Cultās visual identity, but hereās my attempt.
Retro Miami Minimalism with a Sprinkling of Emojisā¢ļø
Thereās something endearing about the way The Coconut Cult doesnāt adhere to the colorful, high-contrast branding that screams Wonderkind was here. The packaging feels purposefully outdated and deprioritized, in that charming old-school-health-food way. The fact that their wordmark changes with each new flavor could be scoffed at, but to me, itās silly.
Itās a breath of fresh air in the world of ultra-produced, VC-budget branding and a good reminder to the creative strategists of the world (eyeroll but Iām one of them) that at the end of the day, none of this s*** is that deep.
*UPDATE FROM THE AUTHOR: After writing the above section, Iāve since been informed that The Coconut Cult debuted their new branding at Expo West earlier this month. Check back in on me in 2-4 months for a formal retraction.*
Brand / Marketing
Their marketing is untraditional and weird, which I guess is to be expected from a small batch fermented, highly-active, living plant-based yogurt company. Thereās clearly a copywriting issue here (Iām available for hire!), but the clunky language on their site doesnāt really matter when the majority of their owned content is video footage of their founder being a goofball.
Make no mistake, goofball is not a pejorative. In fact, itās the absolute genius behind this whole brand and the reason itās exploded online (literally š). The only thing this man takes seriously is differentiating his product from yogurt flops of yore, democratizing health foods, and, like any good wellness-lover, the dangers of seed oils. Thus, heās able to utilize social media the way God intended: spewing conspiracy theories and dancing on video.
Noahās joie de vivre (ok, chic) is now synonymous with the brandās persona, a humanness that he assures wonāt go away even with their new branding. Noah essentially treats thecoconutcultās Instagram and TikToks more like personal accounts and less like those of a business, meaning heās having actual conversations with people on posts and in the DMs. Iād imagine this is what paved the way for long-lasting influencer and brand friendships, which is actually how I learned about The Coconut Cult years and years and years ago.
So with these genuine relationships, in addition to hiring Ari Raz as CEO, their team has been able to direct all creative energy towards innovating on limited edition collab flavors, like Matchafulās Iced Honey Frappuccino and @kalejunkieās Apple Pie.
I do find it annoying that these drops sell out in a matter of hours and require you to spend $70 on two jars as a baseline. And thatās only if thereās any left once the subscribers with first dibs snatch them all up.
Alas, some people refresh their browsers for sneaker drops, others do the same for dairy-free yogurt.
I should add, I understand that fun flavors with a quick turnaround comes at the expense of production quantity, so hopefully Whole Foods actually responds to Noahās plea so I can finally get my hands on a jar of the Hu Kitchen Chocolate Banana Bread.
Efficacy
Two parts here: this yogurt is meant as an edible probiotic supplement, so Iām judging on both gut benefits and taste.
Gut Stuff: Yep, these cultures are alive and active. They mean it when they say to start with a 1-2 TBSPs before you eat a whole bowl of this stuff. Since this shit isnāt cheap ($10 at Whole Foods is the cheapest Iāve found) I donāt use their yogurt as a replacement for my probiotic (more on that here). However, I can say that I have absolute faith in its digestive health powers, given that a yogurt of mine once exploded.
Taste: I love this stuff, especially the chocolate mousse flavor as an after-dinner treat. The best word I could use to describe the whole experience is āeffervescentā so props to their copywriter for that one. Itās not as overwhelmingly sweet as a DF Chobani or god forbid, Oatly, but thatās the whole point ā the ingredients are 10/10. Also, the Harvest Strawberry flavor tastes like Go-Gurt, if youāre into that sort of thing.
Overall Thoughts
I cannot in good faith recommend this product without warning you that itās a financial commitment. Now that Iāve tried it, itās pretty hard for me to go back to my longtime love, Cocojune. Iām not yet a member of the cult though, itāll take some advancements in flavor accessibility for me to fully get on board.
Rating: āļøāļøāļøāļø/5
In Other Newsā¦
My sincerest condolences to the members of the Huberman Haremā¦
So long, Stevia, thereās a new natural sweetener on the block now.
Snack-sized apples are now a thing, because apparently apples arenāt already naturally snack-sized.
Unfortunately, I must admit that I did indeed take a quiz to unlock an opportunity to purchase a Rizzoli book about the beauty of bacteria. I wish I could put those words back in my mouth. It was for research, ok!
Gwyneth-dupe alert! You know her, you love her, ladies and gentlemen, Meghan Markle, former Duchess of Sussex.
Thatās all for now. If thereās a product you want reviewed or just want to chat, reply to this email. :)
Thanks for the fun, well-written review! Would love to try the yogurt but not at the current price!
This was such a fun read!!! Your words are so wonderful :)