Today I'm thrilled to have a giveaway with Harmless Harvest Coconut Water.
One of my favorite ways to naturally hydrate is with Harmless Harvest 100% Coconut Water.
It is what coconut water should taste like; not watered down, not filled with crap or loaded up with extra sugar and in most cases extra water!
This is all natural, in it's purest raw form, and 100% safe and 100% sustainable!
I am one of those people that is just so tired of all those
energy-sugar-laden sports drinks or ‘heavily’ watered down “so-called” coconut
water drinks. These drinks do nothing
for me on a hot summer day, on a medium-heavy workout at the gym; that if
anything they make me feel unhealthier, drained, or worse ready for a nap after
a workout. I do seek out those coconut
water drinks, but am always so disappointed by how much water they contain, and
not enough electrolytes, minerals, etc.
You can imagine my surprise when I found Harmless Harvest
pure 100% coconut water. I’ll admit I
was a little setback by how small the bottle was thinking another company
selling a watered-down product in a small bottle.
But in all honesty, after one
drink I noticed a huge difference. I am
one of those people that tends to get low blood sugar and dehydration during
the summer and have to keep an eye on my potassium levels.
Watching those survivor shows on TV I would learn just
how good for you pure coconut water is, but never truly understanding the
mineral/electrolyte compound that helps to make you feel (truly feel
hydrated). Harmless Harvest coconut
water has all five electrolytes naturally: sodium, magnesium, phosphorus,
potassium and calcium.
What energy drink, sport drink, etc… out there has all of
these in a naturally occurring environment?
Exactly. None.
After your next intense workout out, gardening day, hot
summer day—or any day where you sweat a lot, and not to forget those days when
you are dehydrated, try a bottle or two of Harmless Harvest and see just how
better you feel.
And lastly, I can guarantee you that if you’ve never had
pure coconut water you will be shocked at just how good it is. There are a lot of “so called” coconut waters
out there that have fillers, flavorings, and added sugar to them so that you can
never really taste just how good coconut water is.
So what does it really taste like then?
Pure coconut water has a nice nutty undertone (in foodie
terms: an all natural almond joy taste) with gently sweet water like taste.
My favorite part of drinking harmless harvest coconut water
is there is NO after taste and no crash and burn either. If anything, this coconut water is exactly
what your body needs—daily, workout or not.
The owners of Harmless Harvest: Justin Guilbert & Douglas Riboud were kind enough to take some time and answer a few questions for me.
There is also a giveaway at the end of the interview! Read through to find out!
Thank you Justin and Doug for doing this and taking time out to help educate us a little better about your company. Tell me a little bio about your company first.
We founded Harmless Harvest in 2010 to develop beverages
that provide the raw nutritional integrity of sustainably harvested
ingredients. By combining innovative scientific techniques with local
traditional knowledge, we launched the world’s first raw and organic coconut
water ethically sourced from small agroforestry systems. Without spending any
money on marketing and relying on word-of-mouth, popularity skyrocketed and it’s
now available in retail locations nationwide.
Was this your first business venture?
We had zero experience in the
beverage industry before starting Harmless Harvest, both coming from
traditional corporate careers. Perhaps a little naively, we believed products
should taste like the original, maintaining the aroma, flavor and nutritional
integrity, and focus on social & environmental progress. So we decided to
make them.
And what made you want to do this? A raw, organic, all
natural coconut water drink?
By rejecting the disconnect between brand promise and
reality, we wanted to make a product that created the brand. Instead of people
purchasing the name on the bottle, we want people to choose our coconut water
because of the quality inside. Harmless Harvest exists due to the reputation of
100% Raw Coconut Water, not the other way around. It was important to prove
that quality can trump marketing, and people want a great product as much as we
do.
Your labeling is perfect.
You really zoned in on the key words of the importance of pure raw
coconut water: never heated, 100% harmless, raw.
Was this your intention to do it this way as a means of
educating the public?
I ask this because so many other new drink products are
geared towards “energy this” or “energy that”.
By Harmless Harvest, we’re saying that choices have an
impact, but it can be a positive impact. You don’t need to be harmful to the
source when you produce something.
The name of our product is also the only ingredient: 100%Raw Coconut Water. That’s it. We wanted it to taste like a freshly cracked
coconut and, not surprisingly, achieve that by adding absolutely nothing and
not heating it. We wanted people to understand that just from the label, no
gimmicks.
Tell us a little bit about how you get this raw coconut
water from Thailand to the USA? Is it
kept cold, how is it transported safely and in a safe manner?
After being cracked on location, our coconut water is
maintained in a deep frozen state until high pressure processing. Trust us, it
sounds a lot easier than it is!
How hard was it to start this business given that your
coconut water comes from Thailand?
Is
that right only Thailand or are you sourcing from other areas?
We spent years searching across the
world for coconuts of the highest quality, grown in traditional rural
communities. There were many false starts and mistakes before we found the
right opportunity in Thailand. Now we have strong ties to the communities we
work with there and are hoping to expand to new agroforestry locations that
grow our specific variety of coconuts.
In the beginning venture towards bringing this coconut
water to completion was there anything that threw you off, put the plans off to
the side temporarily. I know problems
happen with any new business venture, but did they have any major setbacks that
they plowed through?
Obtaining the level of quality that we wanted forced us to
create the entire system from scratch. We were utilizing technology that had
never been used with coconut water. This was in addition to setting up a system
for harvesting, bottling and transporting perishable goods where no system
existed. Finally, everyone was already familiar with coconut water lining their
pantry shelves, so educating retailers and consumers on the perishability of a
raw product and the variation that nature gives us (as seen in our pink
bottles) was imperative. Innovation requires effort, not just ideas. There was,
and still is, a lot of hard work involved in getting those coconuts from the
tree to your fridge.
I see that sustainability is a very important part of your
company’s mission.
Can you tell us why this is important to you?
Sustainability is not just important, it is essential to
Harmless Harvest.
Why do we assume that production needs to be destructive?
Why
can’t it be neutral or even positive? The question should be really asked of
other company’s: how they can stay in business without sustainability?
And with this sustainability any farming, plants/trees can
die, be injured, or damaged.
What process do your farms use to sustain their
crops over time? In other words, how do
they plan for future crops—do they let land lie fallow, plant new trees each
year, etc…?
We work with centuries-old
operations in Thailand. These are agroforestry systems that have other crops such
as mangos, bananas, mangosteen, mingled with the coconut palms. The farmers
work with what they have and implement traditional techniques. It’s a
long-established natural method of growing and harvesting.
There is a video on your website that explains quite simply
how your coconut water is minimally processed.
It’s called the HPP process, or high pressure processing using high pressure
instead of heat to stop potentially harmful bacteria getting into the coconut
water.
You say this is the safest but most expensive process. Why is it so costly?
HPP extends the refrigerated shelf life of our coconut water
while maintaining the delicate organoleptic compounds found in a freshly
cracked coconut. It requires specialized machinery, facilities and the staff to
perform the process, but also a dedicated management.
I drink this coconut water a lot, I’ve come across a
couple of bottles that are pink coconut water?
We don’t mix or homogenize our coconut water so, just like
in whole coconuts, there can be variation among bottles. One of these
variations is the level of antioxidants. While all of our coconut water is
perfectly clear when it’s bottled, those that contain the highest levels of
antioxidants can spontaneously turn pink with time. Additives could hide the
harmless color variation, but we love that the delicious pink bottles show that
we add nothing to our coconut water. We were afraid people would run from the
pink bottles, but by telling them the truth, we now know many people who seek
them out.
Can coconut water go bad?
Like all freshly squeezed juices, coconut water will
naturally go bad shortly after the coconut is opened. With the use of HPP, Harmless
Harvest coconut water achieves a longer refrigerated shelf life. It is similar
to milk in that there is a risk of spoilage if it is not kept refrigerated or
drunk before the best by date.
Once you extract the fluids from the coconut, what do you do
with the remaining husk and meat?
Currently, most is resold locally. We are also working on
several options, ranging from new products to energy sources for our facilities
in Thailand.
Do you have any recipes using your coconut water?
I know I use mine in smoothies in lieu of milk or water, for
that extra boost of nutrition.
We have seen lots of recipes with our coconut water ranging
from simple additions of chia seeds, mint or even jalapenos in the bottle to smoothies
and sauce for mussels. We still love it straight.
Are there any other Harmless Harvest products that we can
look forward to?
Oh I hope we can see coconut bars? Almond Joy like clones that are all natural
and tastier? How about chocolate-coconut cups?
OK, you get the idea here.
But seriously do you plan on expanding your product line to
foods or more drinks?
We are so excited to introduce our
next project: 100% Raw Tea.
You will be able to find Unsweetened, Honey, andPeppermint varieties in stores as of this summer. We freeze the tea leaves
right after picking, pulverize with spring water, filter and use HPP to extend
the shelf life and extract maximum flavor of the 100% Raw & Organic
ingredients.
On the coconut front, we have many innovative
products coming soon. Stay tuned!
To find out more about Harmless Harvest, please visit their
website HarmlessHarvest.com.
To find out where to buy Harmless Harvest please click here: stores.
Most Whole Food stores do carry Harmless Harvest.
Thank you so much for this interview; very informative.
For the giveaway, they were kind enough to donate three (3) free coupons for their coconut water + a free t-shirt to two winners.
To enter leave ONE comment telling us if you've tried Harmless Harvest before and what other products you'd like to see made with all natural coconut water and/or coconut.
PLEASE have a valid email address in your signature line.
ALL ANONYMOUS COMMENTS will be deleted; you must have a full name and email in your signature line.
We'll do the drawing next friday 4/12/2013. Good Luck!
