The Fastest Way to Crack a Coconut
Close your eyes and imagine you’re lounging on a white sand beach without a care in the world. In your mind’s eye, look down at your hand. What’s in it? That’s right, a cocktail-filled coconut. “Coconuts have an awesome social power,” says Yair Tygiel, co-owner of CoCo & Co. “They allow people to slow down, relax and take a delicious handheld vacation in cities that otherwise seem to grind on endlessly.”
You can find CoCo & Co slinging ethically-sourced ‘nuts all over NYC and at events across the country in their fleet of bike-powered tiki carts. Flag a CoCo & Co cart down and you’ll get a freshly-cracked coconut, ready to drink—fast. Speed is important to the company—because no one wants to wait to relax—which is why they invented the Coconut Spike, a one-piece tool made to safely crack up to 15 coconuts in one minute.
What makes the Coconut Spike more efficient than the Coco Jack? The Coco Jack is two pieces. There’s the actual jack and then there’s the mallet used to drive the jack into the coconut. Because both hands are occupied holding the tool parts, you are unable to get a lot of leverage or stabilize the coconut, and you end up having to strike the coconut multiple times to create an opening. The Coconut Spike, on the other hand, is only one piece, leaving one hand free to support the coconut while the other swings the tool. Plus, the heavy steel head comes to a point, which easily punctures the coconut in just one strike.
The spike is handcrafted by toolmaker Chris Harth in Red Hook, Brooklyn, from high-quality stainless steel and black locust wood. Not only will it get your coconut straw-ready ASAP, it also makes it ultra-easy to build a cocktail inside the ‘nut. “My cocktail of choice is our Ancho Chile/Mezcal Coconut concoction,” Tygiel says. “The coconut’s sweetness is perfectly complemented by the smokiness of the mezcal and spice of the Ancho Chile liqueur.”
To make your own, crack a coconut and drink down 2.5 ounces of its sweet nectar in order to make room for the booze. Then, pour 1.5 ounces of mezcal and 1 ounce of Ancho Reyes Liqueur directly into the coconut. Give it a good shake, and voila, an instant vacation with no muss and no fuss.
If you want to give the spike a try, they’re available for purchase on coconutsnyc.com for $140 each.