Coco Latte launched by Northern Irish Keen Nutrition

Keen Nutrition, the Northern Irish specialist in nut butters, has strengthened its healthy food credentials by launching a highly innovative Coco Latte butter blended from cashew nuts, coconut and espresso.

The new nut butter follows the earlier launch of a100 per cent cashew nut butter by the award-winning small business, which recently signed an agreement to supply the 11

Jan de Vries health stores in Scotland with its portfolio of nut butters.

Nutritional expert Aimee Beimers, who launched the company in 2012, says the introduction of coconut is designed to appeal to health conscious consumers and will strengthen its market standing following the development of almond and other nut butters.

"Coconut is now widely seen as offering a range of health benefits as also do cashews. It made sense to create a blend of nut butter using both. We decided to blend it with espresso because an earlier product using this continues to be successful. The espresso adds significantly to the overall flavour of the new butter," she adds.

Based at Bangor in county Down, the company operates from a state-of-the-art processing plant and is now selling its products to almost 400 stores in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, where it is distributed by Whole Foods in Dublin. It currently employs 12 people in Bangor.

Keen has distribution agreements in England with Diverse Fine Foods and Green City Wholesale in Scotland. Retailers include Delilah's Fine Foods, the Royal National Theatre Cafe and the Caracoli group of shops. Sales to England now account for approximately 15 per cent of Keen's total business, with total sales outside Northern Ireland, including to the Republic of Ireland, accounting for 70 per cent of our business."

The new butter is available in 170g jars.

A UK Great Taste Award winner, Keen Nutrition was recently voted runner up in the People's Choice Award in the Northern Ireland Food and Drink Awards. The awards, held bi-annually and sponsored by Ulster Bank, celebrate the best food in Northern Ireland. The People's Choice awards are the only award chosen by a public vote.

The company has also been shortlisted for Richard Branson's #VOOM competition.