As the energy demand is increasing and conventional energy sources are declining, renewable energy sources are becoming increasingly popular. It is very important to store this energy efficiently. The use of phase change materials (PCMs) as latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) technology has utmost importance to researchers due to its high storage density and stable thermal characteristics. During charging and discharging of PCM, correspondingly occurring phase change processes (i.e. melting and solidification/ freezing) have been the crux of discussions in most of the subject-related articles in the recent literature. The objectives of those articles are to analyse and understand the phase change properties of PCM in its natural form, with nano-additives, and with or without metal foams. This manuscript provides a detailed review of energy storage, heat transfer, and melting process characteristics of coconut oil, which is an organic phase change material in its nature. Melting features like the progression of solid–liquid interface, time to complete the melting process, rate of melting, and augmentation in the rate of heat transfer owing to a colloidal suspension of nano-material inside PCM are reviewed and presented.