Cocoavia vs Vital Purple High Flavanol Cocoa

In this article we'll discuss the main ways that Cocoavia and Vital Purple compare and what both products have to offer in to each other in comparison. Which high flavanol cocoa powder is "best" and why? Where are the advantages that each brand has in general and which scenarios present a clear advantage for one of the brands? Let's start with the industry leader, Cocoavia. 

Cocoavia stands as one of their first high flavanol cocoa supplements in the cocoa industry and they were able to effectively market their new supplement to the general public because of strong backing from Mars. Cocoavia offers a consistent product, patented processes for manufacturing and formulation, good marketing and a study conducted on their own branded product. With all of these factors combined, Cocoavia has been able to educate people on the antioxidant that is most important for people to focus on for cardiovascular health, and put it at the front of the conversation for cocoa. Cocoavia has been a net positive in people's lives. The mass public now have an option to affordably and consistently incorporate cocoa flavanols into their diet with the Cocoavia product line, and safely eat cocoa flavanols than are not available with most cacao and chocolate brands in the world. Cocoavia got it's start technically when Mars began research in the 1980s on cocoa flavanols and it's official start was in 2003 with a different product line. They have their own patented processes and products, unlike Vital Purple. 

How does this compare to the Vital Purple story? In May 2025 Vital Purple officially launched with Energy Nibs. Inspiration came from Phillip McCauley's life in Ecuador and the enthusiasm around non fermented cacao in the cacao community. After 12 months of R&D, Vital Purple released Powerful Cacao Powder, which was the first scalable purple cacao powder in the world. Non fermented cacao is quite poor in taste, which is why very specific sourcing of Arriba Nacional is at the center of Vital Purple's operation. With no private equity backing or and a lot of discovery by failure, Vital Purple is the boot-strapped competitor to Cocoavia as they both cater to the same customer based. Their focus is to preserve cocoa flavanols naturally with technology and cater to adults focused on improving their cardiovascular health. 

So where do the two actually differ?

Cocoavia flavanols are tough to beat when it comes down to a high flavanol cocoa powder that is easily accessible and gives the same rich familiar chocolate taste as regular high temperature roasted cocoa powder. Why? Because Cocoavia produces a flavanol extract and adds this back to regular, high temperature roasted cocoa powder. This way, someone who is not familiar with the 100% cocoa powder flavor is not completely thrown off, and they can enjoy an easy way to incorporate cocoa flavanols into their diet. As the cherry on top, to add extra plastic waste to our planet, they put the powder in unnecessary stick packs.

Cocoavia also offers "cocoavia flavanols" in pill form. This makes it even easier to incorporate into your supplement routine or health regimen, without needing to make a hot chocolate every time you want cocoa flavanols.

With the foundation of research, patented manufacturing process, supply chain resilience and now a Convenient ready to use product line for anyone to start with that doesn't know need to know about cacao, it is no mystery why Cocoavia has been such success.

There is a reason why purple cacao is not a global hit or there are a lot of companies trying to offer it. Non fermented cacao usually tastes quite poor, intensly bitter, and with the wrong source completely unpalletable. Besides this, the process is expensive and very hard to build from harvest to final product. Several factors need to be ironed out and it's costly to set up. The only reason Vital Purple has a tolerable flavor is because of very stringent sourcing from Esmerelds Ecuador. The Ecuadorian Arriba Nacional Cacao is "fine aroma" and needs to have an excellent flavor at it's origin, to have a nice flavor without fermentation. However, this introduction of technology for prevention in fermentation and meticulous sourcing is how Vital Purple High Flavanol Cocoa Powder has superiority with cocoa flavanols per gram in comparison to Cocoavia.

In a direct comparison Cocoavia Cocoa Flavanols Powder offers 12.8% cocoa flavanols per gram, and Vital Purple High Flavanol Cocoa Powder offers 19% cocoa flavanols per gram. 

The deception is to compare flavanol serving sizes, because Vital Purple offers 10 gram serving sizes, meaning the flavanols per serving is 1900mg and Cocoavia flavanols offers 6.4g serving sizes, meaning their flavanols per serving is 500mg. The serving sizes are different, so this is not where we want to compare. 

Where you can see the clear advantage is % of flavanols per gram. Vital Purple offers 190mg of cocoa flavanols per gram, and Cocoavia offers 128mg of cocoa flavanols per gram.

How does Vital Purple compare on cost? 

Vital Purple Powerful Cacao Powder (with subscription of 12oz): $1.32

Cocoavia Cocoa Flavanols Powder: $2 per serving

Vital Purple High Flavanol Cocoa Powder offers almost 4X the amount of flavanols per serving at 34% lower cost per serving.

Here is where we see the real cost difference: Flavanols 

1. 1900 mg of Vital Purple powerful cacao powder costs $1.32 per serving
2. 500mg of Cocoavia Flavanol Cocoa Powder costs $2 per serving

A higher amount of flavanols per serving, at a lower cost. The only cost of Vital Purple: An intense bitter flavor. 

Are you aware of the strength and impact of Epicatechins? Epicatechins are a powerful flavanol that noticeably improve cardiovascular health through reducing inflammation and improving arterial flexibility. The monitoring and preservation of this specific cocoa flavanol is critical in the long term results of the those actively trying to improve their blood pressure and cholesterol.

In the chart below, you will see a direct comparison of Vital Purple and Cocoavia Epicatechins per serving. Again, the serving size is different but Vital Purple still offers a higher amount of Epicatechins per gram by far.

Where does Cocoavia have the advantage? In the big picture, the most critically important areas for a brand. They own a good amount of branded cocoa flavanol studies and had the first mover advantage in the US market place as a cocoa flavanol supplement. This foundation gave them the advantage to build on their brand and reinvest more into innovation and patents.

Without Cocoavia investing into cocoa flavanol studies and educating the general market place, millions of people wouldn't understand cocoa flavanols and their cardiovascular health would be worse. There would not be a niche of high flavanol cacao brands and every one would still be guessing why cocoa is healthy, and making baseless claims about it's "mystic properties". Cocoavia has provided a net good to society by combining their research with a convenient product anyone can enjoy and improve their cardiovascular health as a result of. However, their diligence in the science surrounding high flavanol cocoa powder has birthed the opportunity for competition. Their studies are focused on cocoa flavanols, not just cocoavia products, which makes their science relevant for other high flavanol cocoa powder brands- like Vital Purple. However, the sentiment remains that Cocoavia has done a justice into funding this research for decades now. 

Within the lifecycle of every brand there the labor bears fruit and then what inevitably follows- lethargy, a lack of innovation in the product line and a lack to push the boundaries further in regards to sales or product development. Looking at Cocoavia, there are 5 more products they could start this year easily that their current customer base would enjoy and could open the doors for them for new customers to learn about cocoa flavanol supplements, but they are "fat and happy". 

Vital Purple is lean, hungry, and needs to make a name for themselves. They have little reputation, and they continue to stay driven through anecdotal reviews from customers stating they're seeing a drop in blood pressure, cholesterol, and an improvement in over all well-being.

With this superiority in efficacy and price, the slow taking of market share from Cocoavia by Vital Purple is a math equation. It will come down to marketing, and how Vital Purple will develop their product line to improve it's flavor and use cases to the general public looking for a tasty drink to improve their cardiovascular health and give them energy.