Toasting the fruit won't affect the flavor in that way. At a homebrew club fundraiser last year, I made a porter with toasted coconut and another member made one with fresh. The two tastes were entirely different--hers actually had more "coconut" flavor than mine did. If anything, I'd say that fresh coconut comes off more like the aroma that many sunscreens are going for, albeit in a good way, while the toasted coconut has a warm, roasted flavor from the caramelized sugars that makes it more like a chocolate-dipped macaroon. Both these flavors are good, it's just a question of what you want. Scaling back might be a better choice: I use 12 oz of toasted coconut and it comes out tasting fantastic.
I also wonder whether you might have used sweetened coconut instead of unsweetened? This could make for a big difference in flavor.