Cocobella +Protein Vanilla Coconut Yoghurt | Chewsday Review

It seems the dairy free aisle wanted to get in with the high protein crowd! Let's see if Cocobella +Protein Yoghurt compares well to the big protein players, but do you even need to be looking for high protein yoghurt?

Ingredients

Coconut yoghurt (water, coconut milk, pea protein, faba protein, native starch, cane sugar, calcium phosphate, carob bean extract, agar, yoghurt cultures), vanilla blend (water, cane sugar, native starch, natural flavour, natural colour (caramelized sugar), vanilla bean (<0.1%), lemon juice concentrate).
Immediately my eye goes to the calcium phosphate. This means it’s a calcium fortified dairy-free yoghurt!
No common allergens. Although let’s not forget the recent controversy Cocobella faced with dairy contamination… I suspect dairy free families will take some time to build back their trust.

Positives

I already mentioned that this is calcium fortified and it is so great to see. But this point should almost be under negatives as the amount of calcium is so low. It only contains 52mg of calcium per 100g. It’s confusing because the bigger vanilla Cocobella tubs don’t contain any calcium, but the small vanilla pouches do (75mg per 100g). So it’s a better option in terms of calcium than the big tubs, but if we’re looking strictly at calcium I’d be saying choose the pouch. Vitasoy Soy Yoghurt and Vitasoy Oat Yoghurt still seem to be the only dairy-free yoghurt hitting the 120mg calcium per 100g target.
Regular Cocobella yoghurt only contains 1g of protein per 100g. So to be fair to Cocobella, they have made what is considered a low protein product into a product that contains some protein. Cocobella +Protein yoghurt contains 6.3g of protein per 100g, which for context sits in the middle of most dairy yoghurts (often ranging from 3-8g per 100g), is similar to soy yoghurts, but less than the high protein yoghurt brands (often >10g per 100g). Keeping in mind a young child (4-8 years) needs only 20g of protein per day, so if they ate the whole tub, they’d be meeting half of their daily protein needs.
The +Protein range does have some added sugar, but the amount is still well within recommendations at only 5.9g per 100g.
Being dairy-free these are also naturally lactose free. This is really only relevant to the lactose intolerant population.

Negatives

It’s $2.90 for a small 160g tub but works out cheaper than the Cocobella pouches per 100g. There was a 500g tub available at Woolies which was slightly more economical, but it wasn’t there when I checked last (maybe it’s going to be discontinued!?). Small tubs of high protein yoghurts, like Yopro and Chobani are around the $3 mark too but seem to go on special more frequently.
Thanks to the coconut milk the saturated fat is high at 7.4g per 100g (we’re aiming for <3g per 100g).

Marketing

“10g of dairy free plant protein per serve”. True and this is a standout feature against other coconut yoghurts which contain very little protein.
“Source of calcium”. It’s not wrong, but the amount is so low they can’t even say “Good source of calcium”…
“Seriously thick and creamy”. Cocobella yoghurts do tend to be quite thick, but I’ve not tried this one. I just hope the plant proteins haven’t added a grainy-ness to the yoghurt! Can you tell me if they do?

Alternatives

This Cocobella +Protein Vanilla Coconut Yoghurt ticks the box for low added sugar and contains a similar amount of protein to regular dairy yoghurts (so I wouldn’t count it as a high protein product). I’m pleased these contain some calcium, but it feels like a missed opportunity given it’s so low.
It seems we’re still waiting for the perfect coconut yoghurt that has a good amount of calcium, doesn’t contain much added sugar, is a source of protein and comes in a family-sized tub. If anyone wants to chat about what the dairy free community need from a coconut yoghurt please get in touch. I have notes!
For those that need dairy-free but tolerate soy or oats, the Vitasoy yoghurts contain more calcium. These might be an option for your family while Cocobella is out of stock due to the recent recalls.
And if you were reading along to find out if kids need high protein yoghurts… they don’t! Aussie kids easily get more protein than they need without choosing high protein products.

The composition of food products changes regularly. The nutritional values of the products in this Chewsday Review were correct at the time of publishing.