Living Coconut kefir review
Here we will give a hands-on, taste-tested review of Living Coconut’s Coconut Kefir Mylk. We’ll look into the benefits, ingredients, nutrition, use and flavour of this plant-based kefir. We’ll also compare a few health factors against other kefir.
You can find this kefir in some health foods stores in Australia. It is made in Western Australia but you can find it elsewhere around the country.
About kefir
The most common type of kefir is a fermented dairy drink made from milk (either cow or goat milk). However, there are other versions of kefir like this coconut one and also water kefirs.
All of these types of kefir are made adding kefir grains - full of different strains of bacteria and yeast - to the base liquid to ferment the sugars in it.
The result is a tangy drink with a lot of microbial diversity.
Read more about the benefits of kefir (and how the dairy version differs to yoghurt).
Ingredients of Living Coconut kefir
This is very simple and natural kefir which only contains organic coconut milk, organic cane sugar and vegan kefir cultures.
So there is no additives of any kind such as thickeners, stabilisers or sweeteners.
No complaints so far!
Benefits of Living Coconut kefir
Apart from being dairy free (if that’s important to you), this kefir comes with various health benefits particularly related to its probiotics - however more information would be appreciated. For context, we’ll compare a few key factors against Table of Plenty kefir - which is one of our favourite kefirs, but please note it is a dairy kefir.
Probiotics
Probiotics are live cultures (usually bacteria) which have been proven to give us health benefits.
One their website, Living Coconut state they ‘use a range of lacto [ie lactobacillus] cultures’. While some of these are likely to be considered probiotic, we can’t be sure without knowing the specific strains.
In contrast, Table of Plenty specifies the 10 strains of live cultures it includes - and around half of these are considered probiotic.
Living Coconut also gives no indication of the actual amount of live cultures present (ie colony forming units) - whereas Table of Plenty has over 37 billion colony forming units per 100g.
Learn more about the benefits of probiotics.
Minerals
Coconut kefir is a decent source of potassium and magnesium - however it is not as rich in potassium as dairy kefir and both have similar levels of magnesium.
Potassium helps regulate blood pressure and muscle function, while magnesium supports nerve function, energy production and bone health.
Other health measures
Aside from having lower sugar, this coconut kefir generally doesn’t have as good health measures as most dairy kefir.
Fat: This kefir has high fat levels at 7.4% - which is far higher than Table of Plenty which is 2.7% fat.
Protein: Its protein content is low at 0.6% - which again is far below Table of Plenty at 2.9%.
Calcium: Its calcium content is not stated likely because it would be very low - and indeed tiny compared to the calcium in dairy kefir.
Sugar: This kefir has low sugar at 0.9g per 100g - whereas Table of Plenty has double that at 2.2g.
What it looks like unshaken
Appearance
As the photo above shows, the kefir does split after being left for a while.
Once lightly shaken, it has a frothy ultra white appearance. And some big bubbles form on the surface. (Do shake it gently because if you shake it even moderately it will explode over you when you unscrew the cap - as happened to me!)
There is also a cap of fat at the top of the bottle when you first open it so some of this may gloop into your glass.
Texture
The texture is lovely through the high fat content and its effervescence from the fermentation.
Flavour
The aroma is just like coconut milk without any funky characteristics from the fermentation.
The taste is quite sour and of clean coconut milk. Again, it doesn’t have any kefir funky farmhouse vibes which you sometimes get.
Overall, the taste is very nice. The sourness and effervescence make it super refreshing.
Use
I would say this kefir is best had on its own to appreciate the taste and bubbles, rather than putting in a smoothie or on cereal.
Cost of Living Coconut kefir
We bought a 500ml bottle from a health store for $11.35. This makes it very expensive compared to other kefir.
Summary
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5.
Verdict: Living Coconut kefir is a great tasting, refreshing and plant-based kefir. It is expensive though and some health measures don’t match those of dairy kefir.
Pros
clean, simple ingredients
refreshing taste
plant based, lactose free
low sugar (compared to dairy kefir)
Cons
more information is needed on the strains of live cultures included and the amount of them
high in fat, and low in protein and calcium (compared to dairy kefir)
very expensive
Other health benefits of kefir
Along with the specific benefits of this kefir mentioned above, kefir in general is good for our health in the following ways.
Probiotics
These are the beneficial living microbes you are ingesting when you drink kefir. And kefir in general usually has a lot more different strains of probiotics than yoghurt or kombucha does.
Probiotics offer many health benefits including:
better digestive health
better immune function
reduced inflammation
reduced allergies
better nutrient absorption
Postbiotics
Postbiotics are essentially things probiotics produce during fermentation. These include healthy short-chain fatty acids which nourish our gut lining and may help reduce symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome.
Your reviewer
This hands-on review was written by Travis, the founder of this website, long-time gut-health enthusiast, science nerd and passionate kombucha maker of over 10 years!
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