President Aquino last week raved over what he thought was buko juice from our country that is a fad in gyms in the United States.   He proudly brandished, the way Madonna did, in press conferences in the US and in Manila the two brands of the coconut-water beverage popular in the US:  Vita Coco and O.N.E. (for One Natural Experience).

Unfortunately for us, both are Brazilian drinks, widely known in the US as such, except to Mr. Aquino and his party.  Ira Liran, one of the two owners of Vita Coco, got interested in the drink (agua de coco), which was the favorite of a Brazilian beauty he met at a Manhattan bar, who would later on be his wife. His company has been getting for the past eight years all of its coconut water from his spouse’s country.

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