How To Make Pink Nata De Coco At Home With Natural Colors

You can make pink nata de coco at home by partly drying plain nata de coco and then soaking it in a warm syrup colored with red dragon fruit, beetroot, strawberry, pomegranate, hibiscus, or raspberry. Nata de coco tastes almost neutral, so it takes on both the color and the flavor of the syrup around it.

This guide explains why nata de coco absorbs color slowly, gives a step-by-step method adapted from a 2018 food science study, compares six natural colorings, and shows how to store the result. The last section lists ready-made pink options for drinks and shops. This guide comes from Nico Brands, the brand portfolio of Nico Trading Company Limited, a Vietnamese manufacturer and exporter of nata de coco drinks.

Can You Make Nata De Coco Pink At Home?

Yes, you can make nata de coco pink at home with natural colorings from red fruits, roots, and flowers. Plain nata de coco is white and packed in syrup, and its flavor comes from that syrup, so a pink syrup gives you pink nata de coco. Food researchers favor natural colorings for nata de coco because artificial colorings need strict control of both dose and type (Juda et al., 2018).

Why Does Nata De Coco Absorb Color Slowly?

Nata de coco absorbs color slowly because it is a dense mesh of cellulose fibers that is already full of water. The gel consists only of water and cellulose (International Coconut Community), so a colored liquid has little room to move in. Researchers who developed naturally colored nata de coco dried the cubes first and then heated them in a colored sugar solution, so the nata de coco drew the colored liquid back in as it rehydrated (Juda et al., 2018).

How To Make Pink Nata De Coco At Home

To make pink nata de coco at home, drain and partly dry the cubes, warm them in a pink fruit or flower syrup without boiling, and let them soak overnight in the refrigerator. The method below is adapted from a 2018 study by Juda, Suharno, and Nugraha, which colored 1 cm (0.4 in) nata de coco cubes with red dragon fruit, strawberry, and beetroot; the home quantities are estimates, not tested amounts.

1. Drain and rinse. Drain about 200 g (7 oz) of nata de coco from its syrup and rinse it in cold water.
2. Dry the cubes. Spread the cubes on a tray and dry them in the oven at 50°C (122°F) for about 2.5 hours, until they shrink. The study dried nata de coco at 50°C for 150 minutes (Juda et al., 2018).
3. Make the pink syrup. Dissolve about 75 g (2.6 oz) of sugar in 500 ml (17 fl oz) of strained fruit juice or flower infusion, close to the 15% sugar solution the study used.
4. Warm, do not boil. Add the cubes and hold the syrup at about 70°C (158°F), steaming but not bubbling, for 30 minutes, as in the study. Boiling fades red plant pigments: beetroot betanin turns orange-yellow when heated (Aztatzi-Rugerio et al., 2019), and dragon fruit betacyanin keeps its color best below 77°C (171°F) (Madzuki et al., 2024).
5. Cool and soak. Let the cubes cool in the syrup, then cover them and refrigerate them overnight so the color deepens.

For a stronger pink, use more fruit juice in the syrup rather than more heat. The study tested coloring concentrations of 0.5%, 1%, and 1.5% in the sugar solution.

Which Natural Ingredients Make Nata De Coco Pink?

Six natural ingredients make nata de coco pink: red dragon fruit, beetroot, strawberry, pomegranate, hibiscus, and raspberry. Dragon fruit and beetroot color with betalain pigments, while strawberry, pomegranate, hibiscus, and raspberry color with anthocyanins (Madzuki et al., 2024; Aztatzi-Rugerio et al., 2019; Khoo et al., 2017).

Ingredient	Pigment	Color on nata de coco	Tip
Red dragon fruit	Betacyanin	Bright magenta-pink	Keep the syrup below 77°C (171°F)
Beetroot	Betanin	Deep pink-red	Do not boil; heat turns it orange-yellow
Strawberry	Anthocyanins	Soft pink	Add a squeeze of lemon juice
Pomegranate	Anthocyanins	Ruby pink	Add a squeeze of lemon juice
Hibiscus (roselle)	Anthocyanins	Bright pink-red	Steep dried flowers in hot water, strain, and cool to 70°C (158°F)
Raspberry	Anthocyanins	Pink	Strain out the seeds

Anthocyanins stay red in acidic liquids and turn blue as acidity falls (Khoo et al., 2017), so lemon juice helps strawberry, pomegranate, hibiscus, and raspberry syrups stay pink. Red dragon fruit was the most popular choice in the 2018 study: 42% of 100 respondents chose red for nata de coco, and 38% preferred the red dragon fruit color (Juda et al., 2018).

How Do You Store Pink Nata De Coco?

Store pink nata de coco covered in its syrup in a closed container in the refrigerator, away from light, and use it within a few days. Natural red pigments fade with heat and light: dragon fruit betacyanin degrades under high temperature and sunlight (Madzuki et al., 2024), and anthocyanins break down as temperature rises (Khoo et al., 2017). Homemade syrup also contains no preservatives, unlike packaged nata de coco.

Where Can You Get Pink Nata De Coco Drinks And Toppings Ready-Made?

You can buy pink and red nata de coco drinks ready-made, and shops can buy bulk nata de coco and pink popping boba to color or serve as they like.

Pink And Red Juice Drinks With Nata De Coco

Nico Nico juice drinks contain 15% nata de coco and 30% not-from-concentrate (NFC) juice, and the 320 ml (10.8 fl oz) range includes strawberry, pomegranate, watermelon, and red grape flavors; see the Nico Nico juice drink with nata de coco. In the United States, Mexico, Brazil, South Korea, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Arabic-speaking Middle East markets, Nico Trading sells the Zuni Zuni brand, which includes a pink guava flavor in 250 ml (8.5 fl oz) cans; see the Zuni Zuni NFC juice drink with nata de coco.

Bulk Nata De Coco And Popping Boba For Shops

Bubble tea shops and dessert makers can buy bulk nata de coco and popping boba from Nico Trading. Nata de coco comes in 3.2 kg (7 lb) boxes and 10 kg (22 lb) bags, and popping boba comes in 3.2 kg boxes in 9 flavors, including strawberry and pink guava.

Pink Nata De Coco: Key Takeaways

Pink nata de coco gets its color from a pink syrup, not from the nata itself. Because nata de coco is a dense, water-filled cellulose gel, the color sinks in best when you partly dry the cubes and then warm them in the colored syrup at about 70°C (158°F) without boiling, a method adapted from a 2018 study. Red dragon fruit, beetroot, strawberry, pomegranate, hibiscus, and raspberry all work; lemon juice keeps berry and flower colors red, and gentle heat keeps beetroot from turning orange. For background, read what nata de coco is, how to make nata de coco from coconut water, and a nata de coco pudding recipe to serve it in.