Kato - 4 Reviews

Our buddy Donnie over at Buffalo Eats gave us this little number. He thought he was going to get us something gross and to most people he would have succeeded but we're not most people. We've been around the block. Yeah, this is laden with chunks but you know what, son? Nata de coco has a pleasant chewiness to it and the flavor isn't too bad either. Apple lemon? That's new. That's different. It tastes like kind of a cruddy apple juice with some cruddy lemonade in there but together mixed with la chunks (French) it somehow comes together in a nice and chunky way. I love this chunky drinks category.

I really enjoyed the last Kato drink I had, so I've been waiting to try this flavor. I forgot this was a nata de coco drink, and not aloe like I first thought it was. I like nata de coco, but not as much as aloe. The chunks are harder, and chewier. In comparison, aloe is really squishy and needs no chewing at all.

The lychee flavor in this is nice, but not amazing. It's not too sweet which is nice seeing as I wanted a thirst quenching drink on this hot day. It had the consistency of a watery juice.

I was drawn to this drink because of the color. This pink colored drink really stood out in the Asian markets cooler. After I picked it up and noticed that it was a chunky drink, I was sold.

At first I thought the chunks were aloe, but then I looked a little closer. I saw 'nata de coco' in the ingredients. I had no idea what this was, but a quick Google search found the answer for me. Taken from Wikipedia: "Nata de coco is a chewy, translucent, jelly-like food product produced by the fermentation of coconut water, which gels through the production of microbial cellulose by Acetobacter xylinus. Nata de coco is most commonly sweetened as a candy or dessert, and can accompany many things including pickles, drinks, ice cream, puddings and fruit mixes."

Now I can see these chunks with drinks and fruit mixes. Ice cream and pudding are ones I wouldn't have thought of, but I'm sure it's delicious. The one that throws me off is pickles. So are there jars of pickles with these chunks floating in it? If so, I really want to find one of these because I love pickles.

The drink itself is good. It's really refreshing and taste like something between juice and vitamin water. It's not too sweet which actually works in this case. I feared it was going to be very syrupy. The strawberry flavor is good, but I wish it had more of a tart flavor to it. This is quite possibly the chunkiest drink I have ever had. It is impossible to take a sip and not get any chunks. It's pretty awesome.

I enjoy chunks in my drinks. I like pulp in my orange juice, I like aloe vera drinks and for these reasons I was excited to try this. What's in it? Coconut jelly. They're gummy, too, so you have to chew it. You can swallow them whole, but I like the texture. Also, apple and lemon? Sign me up. This drink did have a little...bite(?) that you get from artificial flavors sometimes. Especially with Asian juice drinks, I feel that I get this strange tangy taste. This, unfortunately, kills my review.

I don't know why, but I think kids will like it. Kids are more adventurous than adults.

I've got more coconut themed drinks on the way thanks to a newfound Asian market.