Dr Antonio Martins’ answer – coconut juice. The only problem was, you could not buy coconut juice in Europe because coconut palms cannot grow here.

Dr Antonio Martins simply could not rest. It had to be possible to bring coconut juice to Europe as a drink. But not just any kind. Only the best possible quality. Produced as an organic product, as sustainably as possible, solely from young coconuts. A very simple idea, really. And yet so difficult to achieve …

Many years were spent looking for small farmers, certifying coconut plantations as organic and developing a process that gets the delicate coconut juice from the fresh, young coconut into bottles and packaging in such a way that it retains both its value and its flavour. This is not so easy if you want the coconut juice from young coconuts to be processed as little as possible and do not want to use any preservatives or other chemicals.

In 2004 it was finally accomplished. That is how long original Dr Antonio Martins’ coco has existed. And how long many thousands of satisfied people all over the world have been saying, “For me, coco is the best coconut juice ever”.

Thank you for always believing in your idea, Dr Antonio Martins. Now we can drink coconut juice that tastes like it is fresh from the young nut. So easy to buy from the shop around the corner.

The coconut palms for Dr Antonio Martins grow in the tropics. More specifically, 1,000 kilometres either side of the equator. This is because in order to be happy they always like it to be consistently warm and humid. To be even more specific, the mothers of our coconuts grow in Brazil, Sri Lanka and in the Philippines. For over 22 years we have spoken to many small farmers and local cooperatives and established long-term contracts. Many even with just a handshake, because trust is our greatest asset. We know that we can trust our suppliers, and our suppliers know that they can trust Dr Antonio Martins.

Together we have certified the plantations as organic and we continue to work on ensuring that more and more plantations are managed sustainably, so that we can harvest valuable organic coconut juice.

All of the growing areas have existed for many years. No rainforests have ever been cut down to create space to cultivate coconut palms for Dr Antonio Martins. Since the very beginning we have made sure we only buy coconuts from existing plantations. And that will not change in the future. We do not want any coconuts from new growing areas for which rainforest is often destroyed.

We would rather accept the fact that you will not always be able to find every coco product on the shelves. Because we know that our customers appreciate that nature cannot simply be expanded at will.

The cultivation of organic coconut palms is very natural. They grow as nature intended. No greenhouses, no fertiliser. No GMO. All organic. Pure taste. And the raw material recovery process is also no secret. Nut open – juice out. The coconut farmers harvest the coconuts and take them to our partner businesses in the country in which they were grown. There, the young nuts are opened and the fresh coconut juice is immediately filtered, gently pasteurized and flash-frozen. As fresh juice, not concentrated. Dr Antonio Martins coco juice is an honest product: the liquid contained in the young coconut, as unadulterated as possible.

Coconuts do not grow at our latitudes. A long transport route is therefore unavoidable. But right from the outset, Dr Antonio Martins has aimed to keep the negative impact of our actions in the production and sale of coco products as low as possible.

In order to minimise CO₂ emissions, we do not transport any whole coconuts, instead we extract the coconut juice in the country in which they are grown. We flash-freeze it for best quality and send it by sea on the journey to Europe in special freezer containers. This allows us to save weight and volume and make use of the excellent efficiency of large container ships. According to recent studies, the amount of CO₂ generated when transporting oranges from Sicily to Central Europe by truck is similar to that produced by intercontinental container ship transport of oranges from Brazil to Central Europe; calculated relative to the number of oranges, of course.

Of course we are not yet satisfied with this. That is why in a project in 2010, we already analysed the CO₂ emissions during the cultivation, transport and processing of Dr Antonio Martins coco and interpreted this as a carbon footprint.

If you are still not sure, put your trust in Dr Antonio Martins coco – then you can’t go wrong. We promise you with conviction.

Dr Antonio Martins coco is juice that is completely free from preservatives and chemicals. We do not use any other problematic preservation techniques, which often negatively alter the flavour and nutrient composition of other coconut juice products. What we do is unique and it is the reason for the special quality and the natural taste of our coconut juice. For Dr Antonio Martins coco we have devised a very complex mechanical processing technique and continued to refine it over the 22 years we have existed:

Nut open – juice out. This sounds easy but requires a lot of experience and expertise – especially with the demand of being certified organic – to provide a coconut juice to you which is as close as possible to the young coconut on a sandy tropical island.

The coconut farmers harvest the coconuts and take them to our partner businesses in the country in which they were grown. There, the young nuts are opened and the fresh coconut juice is immediately filtered, not or just gently pasteurized. As fresh juice, not concentrated. Dr Antonio Martins coco juice is an honest product: the liquid contained in the young coconut, as unadulterated as possible.

The bottling itself then takes place in a finely coordinated cold aseptic process. All of this together makes original Dr Antonio Martins coco coconut juice hardly any different from that of a fresh coconut.

Pay close attention to which coconut juice you buy. Particularly products that have not been produced in the EU are often made with preservatives (products in cans are often questionable). And intense pasteurisation also makes products long-lasting, quickly and cheaply – but this also changes the quality and taste of the coconut juice (you should be dubious about noticeably sweet products, often with an obvious caramel taste).

After intensive research and several hundred hours of testing, in 2002 Dr Antonio Martins developed a complex mechanical treatment process and had it patented. Over the years we have intensively developed our entire raw material chain, from cultivation through harvesting and production to transport and storage, in order to always be able to offer the best coconut juice in the world outside of a young coconut.

This is not actually just our belief and our mission – independent testing institutes and international competitors are of the same opinion. Dr Antonio Martins coco is always won top awards – for example, the Gold Best Taste Award from the Fine Food Guild in the United Kingdom.

But awards aside – you must decide for yourself which coconut juice tastes best to you and what level of quality is important to you. We know that Dr Antonio Martins coco is something very special …