Coconut cups...
How to make them at home
What better way is there to enjoy a tropical cocktail than the way nature intended it? Straight from the coconut! Right?!
If you’re holding a Caribbean or Hawaiian inspired party, or just plain looking for something a bit different to put your drinks in, homemade coconut cups are a cheap and easy way to add a new twist to your next round of Piña Coladas.
Just make sure you make the most of every part of this amazing fruit (nut… seed?) – from it’s super nutritional flesh to the water found inside. If you’re holding a party, maybe offer your guests glasses of iced coconut water to help them re-hydrate? Or better still, try a rum and coconut water cocktail on for size. You could even freeze squares of the white flesh and use them as ice cubes in your Painkillers and Flaming Coconauts!
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Supplies needed
- A coconut (quelle surprise)
- Electric drill – or if you want to go all medieval on it you could substitute with a hammer and a nail
- Handsaw or hacksaw
- A course file or rasp
- Paring knife or a spoon
- Sandpaper – a couple of different grades if possible, going from rough to light
- Strong glue – hot glue is fast but epoxy will last
- PVA glue
- Food safe mineral oil (or groundnut oil)
- A lint free cloth
- A jug
- Some twine
Let's get started!
Step 1: Drain the water
Locate the three indents or ‘eyes’ on the end of the coconut. Hold it firmly in one hand with the indents facing upwards and use your drill to make a hole through two of them.
Or, if you’re using a hammer, bang the nail into one of the eyes until it goes about halfway in, then wiggle it around until you’ve widened the hole a bit. Now do the same on the other eye (one of them is always softer than the others as this is where a shoot from the germinating seed inside emerges from).
Tip the coconut over and allow the water to drain into your jug.
Step 2: Smooth the outside
Using your file or rasp, take the husk off of the outside of the coconut.
If you don’t have either of these tools then a hacksaw blade or knife can be used to scrape the exterior – just be careful with your fingers
When you’ve removed the ‘hair’, start with the course sandpaper, making sure you remove any of the file lines and then finish off with the light grit paper.
The level you take it down to is based on how rough or textured you’d like your exterior to be. On ours we didn’t go too heavy as we wanted to keep it looking quite organic.
Step 3: Mark the sections to be cut
You’re going to be making two cuts laterally across the width of the nut, but first you’ll be marking them with a pencil to give you a guiding line.
The first line is going to be a fingers width from the top, just beneath the eyes.
- We’re basically looking to cut the apex off without going too far down the shell.
- Ultimately this piece will be discarded.
The second line should be 1-2cm down from the first.
- This piece will form the base that your cup sits in.
- The exact amount is dependent on the size of your coconut and how high you want the edges of your cup.
- Whatever you do, don’t cut beneath the halfway mark of the coconut.
- We recommend making a small base with a high cup, so that you can fit as much drink in there as possible!
When drawing your lines:
- Hold the coconut on its side on a flat surface.
- Hold the pencil in your other hand, perpendicular to the coconut, with your hand braced on the flat surface.
- Keeping the coconut in place, rotate it against the pencil so that it marks a full circle around the width of the nut.
- After doing this, hold it up and ‘eyeball’ it to make sure it’s where you want it to be. Adjust if needed. Don’t worry too much if the second line is out, as in a minute we’ll go back over it and make it spot on.
Step 4: Cut the sections out
If you’ve a vice then we recommend using this to hold your coconut with, if not then you’ll need to brace it firmly against a hard surface with one hand.
Then, with the other hand, lightly but firmly make your first guiding cuts along the first line that you marked off at the apex of your coconut.
Once you’ve made a few cuts into the shell and created a line for the saw to run through, dig in a bit harder and continue till you’ve cut the top off of the nut.
Before you make the second cut, hold the tip of your index finger against the now flat end of the coconut, with your pencil pointing down to the line you made earlier (see pic above). Now run the pencil back round the coconut, ensuring the line is as parallel with the flat end as possible.
The reason we’re doing this is to ensure that when we cut the base section out it’s a nice equal shape, rather than tilting at an angle.
Now start the second cut the same as you did the first, but instead of going all the way through in one cut, rotate the coconut slightly as you go. This will help you keep an eye on the line you’re following and get a good bite on the shell as you cut into it.
A final note here – if you want to eat the flesh afterwards, make sure your tools are clean!
Step 5: Hollow out the inside
First, to help release the flesh from the shell, microwave your two coconut pieces for 30-60 seconds, or place them in the oven on a mid heat for 5-10 mins. Either way, they’ll be very hot when you take them out so be careful when you handle them.
Then use your spoon to push out the white flesh from the base section. The heat should’ve loosened it from the edges and it should pop out real easy.
For the cup section, use a knife to cut into the meat as if you were marking segments of an orange. Then dig behind each piece and pry it out chunk by chunk.
We started doing this with a spoon, then we nuked the coconut briefly a second time and finished taking the last half out with the knife.
Once all the white flesh is removed, wash both pieces and put them aside to dry.
Step 6: Smooth the inside
Place your sandpaper grit side up on a bench or table. Then, holding the larger piece of shell upside down, rub the cut edge across the paper until all the burrs are taken off.
Do the same with the smaller piece that forms the base.
Then start the smoothing process with your sandpaper inside the shell, working from course to light grit paper.
Step 7: Make the shell waterproof
Once you’re happy with the finish, use a lint free cloth (unlike the one I used!) to apply 2-3 coats of food safe mineral oil or liquid paraffin to both the interior and exterior of the coconut. If you can’t lay your hands on either of these, a food based oil such as groundnut is fine to use, just be aware that over time it will start to go rancid if you don’t clean and refresh it.
Take a look at this article for other alternatives, plus oils you should definitely stay clear of. And please do bear in mind that you’re serving guests a giant nut potentially covered in nut oils, so always check whether they have any allergies you should be aware of!
Step 8: Join the two halves
Place the base section on the table with the wider end at the bottom, then put the ‘cup’ onto the base. When viewing it sideways it should look like a disproportioned egg timer.
Wiggle it around until you have a good fit and the cup is in the right position for you.
Now holding both pieces, carefully flip it over so the cup’s flat rim is on the table and the base section is now on the top. You may need to look at it sideways again and make sure the base is completely flat and parallel to the table. If it’s wonky then so will your cup be when you’ve glued it together.
Looking top down, apply the glue around the inside of your base where it touches the main shell. Then leave to dry.
When set, turn the cup over onto its side and apply more glue around the intersection of the two pieces (the thin neck of the egg timer shape). Smooth the glue around with your finger to create a clean seal. Allow to dry.
Step 9: Finishing touches
Take your length of twin and wrap it firmly around the intersection of the two pieces. It should be enough to cover your glue and create four or five visible lines. Tuck the trailing end underneath a section of the wrapped twine. Use a knife to poke it in with.
Then slather PVA all over it with your fingers – making sure it’s really coated well. Wipe the excess off of the coconut with a damp cloth. Leave to dry. Once set it will harden and form an extra bond as well as waterproofing it.
The twine should darken slightly with the PVA, but if you’re not happy with the color, touch it up with a bit of wood stain to darken it.
That’s it, you’re done!
Optional extra
If your coconut is a large one and you’ve made your cuts high enough you could drill a hole just beneath the top lip, giving you easy access for a straw, allowing you to dedicate the top of the drink to ALL those crazy tiki garnishes.
Using your new coconut cup
Looking for some tiki drinking inspiration? Both the Painkiller and the Blue Hawaiian are classic tropical libations. But if you’re after that feel good creamy coconut vibe then the Caribbean Coco is the alcoholic beverage for you.
We put a whole lotta love, lime and rum into our work, so if you think your friends would find this article useful, we’d be thrilled if you could share it with them!
Thank you. Mahalo.
