Table of Contents
Overview
Bourbon Oishii Coconut Milk is an Asian coconut milk drink from Japan. It has an excellent opaque white color but maintains a lighter consistency than cow’s milk. Flavor profile is semi-sweet and well balanced, and when chilled the drink is absolutely refreshing on a hot day.
Flavor Profile
Milky Drinks rating: 4.5/5
Bourbon Oishii Coconut Milk is one of my favorite drinks. It is a non-carbonated, semi sweet, light and delicious drink, and does not have the heaviness in cow’s milk.
I find it a really wonderful beverage to drink during hot weather (when iced the drink goes down very smoothly). I also like to drink this in the mornings, as an alternative to coffee since it is light, not very sweet, and is similar to having a glass of milk in the morning.
A couple of notes about the drink itself – the milk is a more watery texture than you would expect given how opaque and milky the color of the drink is. Despite the drink looking very creamy, it is actually not creamy at all. When you shake the bottle, the liquid almost has no resistance and has the consistency of water. The color of the drink really does match the color of coconut flesh exactly – it has a very neutral white color. The drink is also flat and not fizzy, which you do find sometimes in japanese drinks.
I also love the balance of the flavor profile. The drink does not taste like coconut milk that you typically buy in American stores, such as Harmless Harvest or Vita Coco, but is very similar to other Asian coconut milk drinks. Bourbon Oishii Coconut Milk smells sweet when you open the bottle, and tastes only mildly sweet with a slight coconut cream taste that lingers for a few seconds. I find myself drinking these bottles way too fast in the morning because of how delicious it is, especially when it is chilled!
Calorific content is 9.6 calories per fl oz, which is a lighter ratio than many other asian milky drinks. This makes Oishii Coconut Milk one of the more low calorie coconut milk drinks out there in relation to how much volume you get in the bottle (~15 fluid ounces).
Make sure to keep Bourbon Oishii Coconut Milk refrigerated even when it is unopened.
Ingredients & Nutrition Information:
Water, sugar, coconut milk powder, salt, dextrin, soya lecithin flavor, cellulose, casein sodium, xanthan gum, acesulfame potassium, tocopherol (contains: soybean, milk powder, coconut)
| Nutrition Facts | ||
| Serving Size: 7.27 FL OZ (215 ml) | Servings: 2 | |
| Calories: 70 | Fat Calories: 30 | |
| Value | Percentage (based on 2,000 calorie diet) | |
| Total fat | 3 g | 5% |
| Trans fat | 0 g | |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg | 0% |
| Sodium | 85 mg | 4% |
| Total Carbohydrates | 10 g | 3% |
| Fiber | 0 g | 0% |
| Sugars | 10 g | |
| Protein | 0 g | |
| Vitamin A – 0% | Vitamin C – 0% | |
| Calcium – 0% | Iron – 0% | |
Packaging
Packaging rating: 2/5
The Bourbon Oishii Coconut Milk bottle is compact with semi-firm plastic with a height of ~8.2 inches and ~2.4 inches bottom diameter. Packaging is very busy and fits quite a lot in all at once, with call outs and various annotations about the product, its nutritional information, and the high ratio of coconut oil in the product (6.4g/bottle). However, the bottle does have an interesting design in that as you turn it 180 degrees, there is an English brand in addition to the Japanese brand.
While it is definitely noticeable in grocery stores and easy to pick out, the packaging does look a bit messy. My speculation is that if the design were slightly cleaner and more streamlined, and perhaps targeted towards a specific market (those that love milky drinks, more modern and streamlined, etc.), the product would be more popular in the US.
I would love for it to be more widely available like the Calpico / Calpis drinks! Unfortunately this drink is only available occasionally at Japanese grocery stores in New York, so whenever I see them I buy them out completely at the store to hoard them. There are regular stretches where the product is not available for months!
Similar Products
There are some similar products to Bourbon Oishii Coconut Milk, but they are unfortunately not part of the Bourbon brand. As I find more I will add them here!
Product Summary
Overall Bourbon Oishii Coconut Milk is one of my favorite coconut milk drinks out there. Despite it being somewhat difficult to purchase commercially, it has a great ratio of calories to liquid and has a great flavor profile that is easy to drink. Highly recommend purchasing Oishii Coconut Milk if you see it at your next grocery store!
| Category | Description |
| Milky Drinks Rating | 4.5 / 5 |
| Packaging Rating | 2 / 5 |
| Country | Japan |
| Milk Type | Coconut & Soy |
| Lactose | No Lactose |
| Sugar %* | Brix meter: 7.3% sucrose (23.5℃) |
| Dietary Restrictions | Vegetarian (product contains casein sodium, which is derived from cow’s milk) |
| Purchase Difficulty | Difficult |
*Sugar content is measured by a brix meter (amazon link to popular one). Brix meters are refractometers that use light to measure the level of sucrose in a particular solution. You can learn more about them here.
About the Manufacturer
Bourbon is a Japanese manufacturer of confectionery and snacks with roots dating back to 1924 in Kashiwazaki, Niigata. You can learn more about the company here: https://www.bourbon.co.jp/english/about/enkaku.html.
They make several popular snacks that you often see in asian grocery stores such as Choco Anpan (the chef with buns of bread with chocolate inside).
Where to buy
I typically buy from the following locations:
- Dainobu (New York City)
- Sunrise Mart (New York City)
- Sugoi Mart (Online store)
