Virgin Coconut Oil Brands in the Philippines: a Comparison

I started using virgin coconut oil more than 2 years ago. I've taken it as food supplement and used it as lotion and moisturizer alternative, and I never went back to using lotion or moisturizer again. In those 2+ years, I've tried a few brands available in the Philippine market, but I always kept coming back to one brand.

First of all, what to look for in selecting pure virgin coconut oil?

• explicitly says VIRGIN coconut oil in the packaging
• cold pressed
• provides manufacturing and expiration dates

How do you tell you're getting good quality VCO? Here are my two best indicators based on my experience:

• smell - It should smell coconutty, similar to "latik" (you'd actually end up smelling a bit like food).
• taste -  You should be able to taste fresh coconut in the oil. Stale coconut oil has a sour taste.

VCO Brand Comparison

Here's a comparison of the three virgin coconut oil brands that I've tried and what I like and don't like about each one of them.

SM Bonus VCO

I tried this brand because I was searching for a cheaper virgin coconut oil. I believe it cost about 149.00 for a 250ml bottle when I bought this about 2 years ago at SM Hypermarket. I only tried it once and used it only a few days.

What I like:

• cheapest of the three brands

What I don't like:

• smelled like rancid coconut oil mixed with plastic
• tasted even worse than it smelled; I couldn't bring myself to swallow it.

Was it effective? I don't know because I couldn't bare to use it any longer. It was a waste of money for me, because at that time, I bought two bottles. I don't know if the SM Bonus VCO quality is like that until now, or it has improved. But I just can't go back to it.

Peter Paul VCO

Image source: Cory Quirino World of Wellness

I bought this at SM Hypermarket as well. It was one of the two brands available at SM. I don't recall how much it cost, but I think it was a little more pricey than SM Bonus VCO, yet a little cheaper than my preferred brand.

What I like:

• a little cheaper than my preferred brand

What I don't like:

• had a rancid smell like old, stale coconut oil (though not as bad as SM Bonus VCO)
• tasted only a little better than SM Bonus, but I could still taste a bit of a sour, stale taste.

ProSource VCO

The image below shows my loyalty to Prosource VCO.
bottle 1: the one I use as moisturizer & lotion

bottle 2: the one I take as supplement

bottle 3: my sister's bottle

Among the three, Prosource is the best brand of VCO that I've tried, and this is the brand I went back to, and I've never changed brands since then.

This costs 195.00 pesos at Mercury Drugstore. At that price, I thought it was a little expensive, hence I started looking for a cheaper brand. But 195.00 for 250 ml that lasts me for more than 2 months as moisturizer and lotion is not expensive at all in my book.

What I like:

• the food-like smell I described earlier - the smell of latik
• no rancid smell
• often comes with a free calming oil
• tastes fresh and not sour or stale

What I don't like:

•  None.

I like Prosource VCO a lot that it's the only brand I recommend to friends and family. One might contend that it was probably that particular batch of SM Bonus or Peter Paul that had gone rancid and not all of it is. But in my POV, that just speaks of the standard of quality that each brand has. And from my experience, Prosource VCO has always maintained its quality. I am sure that every time I buy one from Mercury Drug, I won't buy a bad VCO.

When I was starting, I thought all coconut oil brands are most likely the same, especially since they all claim to be virgin coconut oil. However, that isn't the case with these brands. Maybe you have a different experience than I did. Let me know and comment below.