Customer Reviews

Coshell COSAZ9 9-Pound Bag Coconut Shell Charcoal Briquettes

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm more of a fan of gas-fired BBQ (heresy, I know for the BBQ purists) or electric (smoking). When I do go for the traditional coal, I usually use hardwood briquettes since I don't care for the way regular briquettes make the food taste.

These coconut shell briquettes were a nice change. They did take a bit longer to catch than regular briquettes (used a chimney-type device to get them lit) but once they got started they burned evenly. Best of all, no taste impact - nice and clean. The manufacturer claims they burn hotter and longer, but I didn't notice a huge difference. A bit longer, perhaps, but the heat seems to be no different. That's just my impression, however - didn't do any side-by-side tests.

While they burn clean, they are not clean when it comes to handling them. Lots of black soot comes off on your hands, and quite a bit of messy powder is in the bag, probably due to the bouncing about during shipping. Much messier than hardwood. The mess knocks the rating down a star.

While these won't convert me away from gas and electric, it is a viable alternative to hardwood charcoal.

Charcoal made from coconut shells- who would imagine such a concept? Well, that is exactly what you get with Coshell charcoal briquettes, an environmentally- friendly alternative to ordinary charcoal. This product claims to burn longer and hotter than regular charcoal and since it is all- natural, it produces less waste and the leftovers can even be used as fertilizer.

Given the lofty claims and uniqueness of this product, I was anxious to give it a try. Opening the bag, my first impression was mixed. The briquettes are more evenly shaped and smoother than ordinary charcoal, but I noticed that they were quite dirty, leaving a black, powdery coating on the hands. Oh well- at least they look good. So far, the product seems acceptable.

Now, it was time for the real test: lighting the briquettes on fire and using them to cook some burgers and steaks. I noticed that the product took a little longer to catch fire, but once it was caught, the briquettes slowly turned gray in color and they held their heat for a good long time. Of all the positive qualities during the heating and cooking process, the one I remember best is the cleanliness of this product. It doesn't produce much smoke and it imparts almost no taste on the food.

If there is anything negative to say about this product (aside from the initial handling), it would be the fact that coconut shells do not accomplish much in the way of adding flavor to the food. Like I said, they impart almost no taste difference due to their cleanliness and while this will be considered an asset to some, others will immediately give this product a failing grade because they will want to taste mesquite or at least some smokiness in their food. You don't get any added flavor benefits, so it is almost like cooking on a stovetop.

Coconut shell briquettes are an interesting concept and this product is certainly an unusual one. I like that it is more environmentally- friendly than ordinary charcoal and I like knowing that there is no landfill waste to worry about. The powdery mess is an annoyance, but I still like this product overall and I consider it one worth trying.

Didn't expect this. This product heats hotter and lasts longer than any other briquet out there. I really wasn't anticipating having to manage the cool down time like I did.

I used some in my cooker and used to much. The heat went way over what it should have been. Ended up having Salmon jerky stuck to my grill. I should have believed their description of the product, but any more, who can trust advertising, you know?

For what I normally would have used to grill two steaks, I ended up putting a 2" roast on the grill. I probably did 10 pounds more on the grill with this stuff than I do with "other" brands.

The charcoal clean up was about the same.

The odor was a bit odd. If you're a grill freak, this might throw you.

Also, these chunks are dense. They are twice the weight of a regular briquet.

I loved it and am getting more. I'm not going to back to the petroleum impregnated charcoal I used to use. Probably healthier too!

Coshell's Coconut Shell "Charcoal" Briquettes are fantastic! Made of 100% coconut shells and cornstarch, these lack all the bad stuff like additives that can be found in other charcoals. Since they're so environmentally sound, they use up way less carbon emissions than regular charcoal and don't require trees to be chopped down in the making of the briquettes. In my use of the coconut charcoal, though still messy, I found it extremely easy to light and it only took about five minutes before the grill was ready. My food cooked up fast and evenly over the briquettes, with a delightful smokey flavor. The charcoal stays hot for a very long time and there were even briquettes left over for reuse. To top it off, after the charcoal's been used to its full capability, it can now be turned into fertilizer. It's great to find charcoal that is not only good for the environment, it's also a better alternative for my family, and if that means paying a bit more, it's worth it.

I am still using this type of briquette, it is one of the best. I use a chimney to heat my coals, it works very well with these. They heat pretty quickly, but what I really like is that they stay hot for a long time, I am able to cook everything I have tried, even chicken. I will definitely purchase this in the future!

We have a small Weber grill we use to cook out occasionally. When we do cook out, I usually just buy whatever kind of charcoal is available at the corner supermarket. Last weekend we tried these coconut shell briquettes to make hamburgers. My husband loaded the briquettes along with some tinder in a metal chimney style charcoal starter. The coals got hot as quickly as regular charcoal and the burgers cooked up just fine. The only difference we noticed was that the coals were a little smokier to start off with than the charcoal we regularly use. This may have been partly our fault as we ordered these briquettes awhile back and then left them sitting in our garage for some time during all kinds of weather before we tried them. It is possible the smoky part wouldn't have happened if we hadn't let the briquettes sit around for as long as we did in a sometimes damp, uninsulated garage. Beside a little bit of extra smoke at the beginning the cookout, the burgers tasted fine and we didn't notice much difference compared to regular charcoal.

I received these free from the Vine program and am considering stocking up on these on a regular basis. I like the idea of recycling natural coconut shells into a useful product.

I live in NYC and by the time I received these last year, the BBQ was packed away. So I was extremely happy when we got a batch of nice weather, the BBQ urge hit and I didnt have to go out to buy charcoal. These are made from coconut shells but but dont look much different from reg charcoal. They took a while to light but once they got going they stood lit longer. They get very hot, something i didnt expect so make sure you check your food. I liked how they smelled while they were cooking but was dismayed to realize when tasting the food that it didnt have that BBQ flavor I love. No coconut, no hint of anything. Its the whole reason I use a coal grill so this was a big negative for me. It was like cooking on a gas grill....w/o the gas. Maybe if I marinade my food w a lil smoke seasoning next time it might add that smoky flavor I'm looking for, but I think I'll stick to reg charcoal. I really did like how clean they burned so if you are eco concious these are great. The price is a bit much for me as well but if you want better, you pay more.

Contrary to expectations, this eco-friendly charcoal made from coconut shell burned clean and delivered a clean taste to the food grilled (steaks, chicken, asparagus). There was no coconut flavour (nor does the product claim that) as some might expect.

Coconut shell charcoal is the everyday charcoal made and used in many tropical countries where hardwood is too valuable. I'm hoping that this charcoal becomes more widely available and in larger bags as transporting smaller bags for longer distances seems to create a lot of dust and broken pieces in the bag.

Compared to Kingsford charcoal briquettes, this product did burn cleaner. Heat output was about the same. Compared to hardwood lump charcoal, heat output was much lower.

If you use a Cobb grill, these work wonderfully.

The Coshell worked well. They gave plenty of heat and burned a good long while. They imparted little flavor to the food compared to other charcoal. I think that would be great for seafood or other more subtly flavored grillables and you could use smoke chips for meats, if desired.

They were a bit dustier than other charcoal, but the bag was sturdier and less messy. I didn't find the Coshell any harder or easier to light than regular charcoal.

So, I liked them, but they are too expensive for my taste. I guess you have to pay to be green.

This is a great way to recycle coconut shells! Make charcoal biquettes out of them. I used these in my good ol' grill and they worked like a charm. The Porterhouse steaks I cooked tasted great! Gonna try chicken breasts text time... Very recommened by this man!