Surfing Coconut
The days are longer, the temps are warmer, and it’s only a matter of time before the searing summer heat makes staying hydrated a serious challenge. Good thing Amanda Champ created Surfing Coconuts to make getting your daily recommended water intake extra tasty—and a lot more fun.
“Coconut water has essential vitamins, potassium, even electrolytes, and can actually replenish you,” says Champ. “Coconuts are great in this climate.”
Champ sets up her Surfing Coconuts stand at area beaches and farmers’ markets and helps keep people happy and hydrated. But these are not just any coconuts.
“I have traveled the world drinking coconuts, and I have this one favorite coconut,” Champ says, very seriously.
Champ only sells the organic Nam Hom coconut from Thailand. At least once a week, Champ drives to the Port of Tampa to bring home pallets of just-picked Nam Hom coconuts, shipped fresh within a week of harvest from a farm in Thailand, and shaved down into a diamond. Why all this effort when Florida grows coconuts too?
“All coconuts taste different wherever you go, depending on the soil. Florida’s are a little salty and sour,” Champ says matter-of-factly. “These coconuts have a distinctive taste, with a hint of vanilla and cinnamon in it. They are just amazing. It’s an experience.”
And because they taste so great, there is no need to add anything to them. Each coconut is opened fresh in front of you. A special tool helps pop the top off to reveal about 12 ounces of liquid. Then an environmentally friendly sugar cane straw is dropped in, with a drink umbrella for that tropical feel. There are wooden spoons if you want to go the extra mile and scoop out the meat. Customers watch the whole process and know what they get is pure and natural.
Champ decided to make her coconuts cute by branding them with cheerful sayings, because “life’s a beach” when you are “sipping on sunshine.” She got the idea from working in Hawaii and realized there was nothing quite like it when she moved here. Surfing Coconuts also makes custom coconuts for weddings, festivals, and corporate events and sets up a coconut bar to share the whole experience with the lucky guests.
But Champ says the local markets are her favorite. She is especially fond of the Sunday Lakewood Ranch farmers’ market and its sense of community.
“We have a following of toddlers there … and their parents,” laughs Champ. “They ride by in their strollers and yell ‘coconuts, coconuts.’ It’s amazing.”
So say cheers to the coconut and all the help we can get keeping cool and hydrated this summer.
