Is Orange Creampop Crunch a dream bop of a cereal?

I scream, you scream, we all scream for Orange Cream?

Labor Day marks the unofficial end to summer, so what better time to buy seasonal cereal than now, especially when it’s on clearance?

Strolling down the cereal aisle of Target, I spotted this family-size box of Cap’n Crunch’s Orange Creampop Crunch for the mere price of $2.47. Did I need a family-size box? No. But a large box of cereal for under $2.50… in this economy? It was a no-brainer. Plus, I needed it for content, if nothing else.

If you know me, like I know myself, you know I love me some Cap’n Crunch (Cap’n Crunch with Crunchberries is one of my all-time favorites, despite what it does to your GI tract). So, I was intrigued by this seasonal variety. I like orange creampops, and with the Cap’n looking suave in a tropical shirt, I can only imagine that this cereal will taste like a Carnival Cruise in your mouth. Let’s find out.

Aesthetics

First off, let’s judge a box of cereal by its cover. I will give credit that Quaker Oats did their thing with this summer vibe edition of Cap’n Crunch. From the teal/aqua color and orange creampop – the colors just scream summer. Also, kudos for switching up the Cap’n’s wardrobe a bit with the tropical shirt that makes him look like a cruise ship captain.

With some fun puzzle games on the back that play into orange flavor, the only thing missing is a coupon redeemable for a box of orange creampops

The cereal itself remains shaped in the classic, rigid-textured Cap’n Crunch pieces.

Snackability

If you want a jaw workout, then any version of Cap’n Crunch is for you. If you walk on the wild side and want to build up strength on the roof of your mouth, then grab a handful of this crunch and get to munching.

Structural integrity

For being how infamously textured the cereal is dry it doesn’t do all that well when sitting in milk for a handful of minutes. For me, the cereal starts getting a little mushy after 5 minutes. If you still want a little bit of crunch, as in the namesake of the cereal, then I advise stirring it like you would a pot of boiling pasta periodically to keep it from resting at the bottom too long.

Cereal Concept

Don’t let the packaging fool you. The concept of this cereal is nothing crazy. It’s just switching up the flavor of a classic cereal, similar to what they do with peanut butter crunch, etc.

Flavor

Before taking a bite, I always do a whiff test, so I can get a sense of the cereal’s aroma in its raw form.  I was expecting to smell the orange flavor, but oddly enough, it wasn’t there.

However, when you eat it dry, you can definitely taste a pleasant orange flavor that isn’t overpowering, but just enough to let you know it’s there. To be honest, and without caring for the wellbeing of the roof of my mouth, I actually prefer eating this cereal dry than in miilk. I will say though that the milk does bring out a bit of that orange cream taste

Final thoughts

A fun seasonal cereal, but one I will probably forget about by the time winter hits.

While it doesn’t taste like a Carnival Cruise, which is probably a good thing, it does taste good, especially if you’re already a Cap’n Crunch fan, but it just isn’t a must-have in the pantry. Now, I wonder if next summer they do a Bomb Pop version or some other summer treat combination. Either way, I’ll be one of the suckers who tries it, all in the name of being a novelty sucker.

About the 5-spoon rating system: Every good review needs a rating system, and when it comes to cereal, I have derived my own. Each cereal I try will be reviewed in a few different categories and given ratings of 1 to 5 spoons, with 5 being the best. In addition to the categories I will use to rate the cereals on, I will also give a final verdict about the cereal.

The real magic of this cereal is the cash disappearing from your wallet

When I first heard the words, “Magic Spoon” I wasn’t sure what to think. Is it magic like the old trick of making the bend look like it’s rubber? Or, maybe it’s like being the big spoon or little spoon when cozying up next to your partner, but you’re wearing a wizard’s hat. Much to my chagrin, Magic Spoon was none of these.

Magic Spoon promotes itself as tasting as good as the usual cereals you’re used to but is healthier for you with more protein and less sugar and carbs than your grocery store shelf suspects. The key selling feature promoted by the brand is that it tastes as good as those unhealthy cereals and instead gives consumers 14g of protein, 0g of total sugars and 4g of net carbs with each serving.

While that sounds good, the price tag for a healthy bowl of cereal does not. Currently, the retail price is $8.99 per box, which comes to more than $1 per ounce of cereal.

Aesthetics

The artwork on Magic Spoon boxes is always very interesting and very distinct to its brand. This one features some sort of person lunging with an elephant on its back, because sure, why not? The back of the box features messaging from Magic Spoon to further differentiate itself from other cereals, but it’s not all education. They also included a maze for you to do on the back.

Opening the bag, the peanut butter aroma smacks you in the face like opening a Nutty Buddy for the first time. The cereal pieces themselves look like Cheerios but the ones that didn’t make the cut due to not being perfectly circular.

Snackability

Magic Spoon Peanut Butter has a really nice crunch. It would be good to use to make a bar out of or for a travel/hiking snack, or even as a topping for a parfait. In fact, I prefer chomping on this cereal without milk.

Structural Integrity

The biggest surprise for me when it came to this cereal was in this category. Having eaten plenty of circle-shaped cereals in the past, I assumed this one would fare like the others and be mushy and soggy within minutes. But alas, I was proven wrong. Many minutes went by and the pieces of the cereal that hovered at the bottom of the cereal bowl still had a crunch to them. Maybe this is the real magic behind Magic Spoon.

Cereal Concept

The cereal itself as far as look and flavor is nothing new. What I give Magic Spoon credit for is the concept of making a healthy cereal taste as good as it does. However, as mentioned earlier, eating healthy can come with a price tag.

Flavor

The flavor was as advertised. I nice peanut butter taste  without having to deal with peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. As you eat more of the cereal, especially in milk, you really begin to taste the butter flavor.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Magic Spoon Peanut Butter is a really good cereal, and if it didn’t cost so much, and I got more cereal for the price, I’d buy it regularly.

It’s a nice healthy option as far as breakfast cereal goes, however, I’ll stick to buying unhealthy cereal like Reese’s or Nutter Butter cereals and just eat them in moderation, sparingly due to the better value and better treatment on my wallet.

 

It’s no smelly cat, it’s Friends’ vanilla bean latte cereal

How you doin’? (hopefully, you read that in the proper Joey Tribbiani voice). I’ve returned with a new cereal review of our favorite Friends. This new-ish Friends cereal is brought to us by General Mills in a small box that packs a heavy punch of hearty whole wheat and cornflakes. You can find it in your local cereal aisle if you want to pair it while watching reruns of the classic sitcom.

Aesthetics

As always, we begin this review by judging (er, reviewing) the box by its cover. If you’re a Friends fan, which I assume you would be if you were buying and eating this cereal, then you automatically recognize the colors used, the photo frame that adorned the door of Monica’s rent-controlled apartment, and the inspiration of the cereal: Central Perk.

However, the best part of the packaging comes on the back of it where there is a fun little game where you have to move a sofa up flights of stairs. Just remember to always PIVOT! PIVOT! PIVOT!      

Now, let’s talk about the aesthetics of the cereal itself. What you see depicted on the front of the box is basically what you get, except the flakes are obviously larger and darker in color. Picture the flakes from Raisin Bran, but maybe a tad bit bigger and more dense. You catch the aroma of the vanilla bean latte smell when you first open the cereal, but with most cereals, the flavor dissipates a bit when you add milk.

Snackability

Maybe try the cereal dry upon initial opening, but I would not recommend eating it dry as a snack regularly. I think the flavor could get tiring, as well as your jaw getting tired from chewing on the cereal. It left me feeling like Goldmember from Austin Powers when he would eat his special chips.

But to be fair, these kinds of wheat and cornflake cereal are probably not geared toward dry snacking.         

I wouldn’t snack on Raisin Bran or Cornflakes. I have snacked on Frosted Flakes, but that only happens in moments of weakness when I need a sugar fix. (Remember, we listen, and we don’t judge)

Structural Integrity

Here is where the Friends cereal really surprised me. With the cereal being more crunchy rather than crispy, (so not like biting into a Club cracker, but more like biting into a handful of Crunch ‘n Munch) if that makes sense. Despite being flakes, the structural integrity of the cereal held steady for longer than anticipated. Where I expected it to be a puddle of mush at the bottom of the cereal bowl, like with other flake cereal, it was still crunchy until my last bite.

Cereal Concept

Where was this cereal during the initial run of the hit NBC series? Who knows, but better late than never, I guess. If you’re a fan of Friends, this cereal is fun because memories of the show stirred in my mind as I stirred my spoon in the bowl.

Have I had other coffee-flavored cereals? Sure. Have I had vanilla-flavored cereal? You bet. But wrapping both of those under the Friends banner just gave me all the nostalgia feels. So while there are more interesting and groundbreaking cereal concepts out there, this one hits the mark on what it’s attempting to do.

Flavor

When opening the bag, you certainly get the whiff of vanilla bean and a hint of the coffee smell. The reason I am only going with 2 spoons though is that the smell of the cereal doesn’t carry over as strongly when you eat it. I was left thinking that I could use some more vanilla flavor to it, as the wheat and cornflakes seemed to overpower the hit of vanilla bean latte flavor. As mentioned earlier, that flavor only disappears more when milk is added. But, if you’re someone who thinks cereal is often too sweet then maybe this combination will be right up your alley. In the end, I can safely say it tastes miles better than eating wax.

Final Thoughts Friends cereal is a fun trip down the sitcom’s memory lane. Just looking at the box, seeing the iconic logo and imagery triggers all the fun moments replayed in your head. The cereal itself is perfectly okay. It gave me the alusion I was actually eating something healthier than it probably was. The areas where it felt lacking were the lasting flavor and also size of the box compared to how much it costs, but then again all groceries are expensive. For me, I had hopes that this cereal would be a Joey, but it felt more like a Gunther.

I’ll leave you with this final, totally original, song as my ode to cereal reviews: “I’ll be there for you (when the milk begins to pour,) I’ll be there for you (like I’ve reviewed cereals before,) I’ll be there for you, (’cause you’re here reading too.)”

Cookie Butter cereal tastes like neither cookies or butter, but that’s okay

I haven’t done a cereal review in a while and now that I’m doing one, it just so happens to come when I’m trying to eat healthier. Let it be known that I am a man of the people and I am sacrificing my health to deliver this review to you. Now that we got the housekeeping items out of the way, let’s talk about this Great Value Cookie Butter cereal offered at Walmart.

Cookie Butter is a new cereal flavor that was brought to Walmart shelves for the first time this year. It joins a returning Caramel Apple cereal, as a seasonal offering.

Aesthetics

Let’s start with the packaging. It’s your basic Great Value brand cereal box template. You see an image of the cereal, but this time it has “Limited Edition” flagged at the top.

The textured sweetened wheat and corn cereal itself is reminiscent of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Golden Grahams.

Snackability

Not the greatest to snack on dry due to the size of the cereal and its texture. If you do, eat one or two at a time. While it does taste good dry, I’d be interested to see how it would do as some sort of dessert bar.

Structural Integrity

Like similar cereals that use this similar style of morsels, the Cookie Butter cereal absorbs the milk at an above-average speed. My advice is don’t wait too long to start eating the cereal and spoon up the pieces at the bottom of the bowl first before they become saturated. Otherwise, you may be left with a spoonful of mush that feels like the bottom of the Platte River. 

Cereal Concept

I know what you’re thinking, “Five spoons?! What? How? Why?” I applaud a “generic brand” for doing a new flavor like cookie butter. In fact, it’s the first time in my memory that a company has done a cereal flavored as cookie butter. So, for that reason, I gave it all the spoons possible. The marketing and packaging isn’t flashy, but the idea behind the cereal is something different, so you have to tip your cap to them for this one. 

Flavor

The first sniff of the cereal after opening the package and you’re greeted with a “cookie butter” aroma. It tastes just like it smells – sweet and buttery. You do get some Golden Graham flavor vibe to it too. Eating it dry, the flavor can become a little overpowering if you eat too many pieces of it.

The flavor quickly dilutes when milk is added, but not to the point where you can’t still taste the cookie butter flavor.

Final Thoughts Let’s unpack what we just experienced. From my perspective, if you come in expecting this cereal to taste exactly like cookie butter then you haven’t had a novelty cereal based on an existing food. (I still feel some kind of way about being duped by the Cookie Crisp marketing. Those things do not taste like cookies!) So while it may not be a 1:1 flavor of real cookie butter, you can taste some sweet buttery flavor transformed into cereal. Now, If you want the real cookie butter flavor, put the $3 you would have spent on a box of this cereal and just apply it to the purchase of a jar of Biscoff cookie butter and have yourself a night!

If AEW Wrestlers Were Cereals

Welcome to the first installment of “If AEW Wrestlers Were Cereals” where I combine a couple of hobbies: cereal eating/reviews and professional wrestling. The premise is simple, I picked 18 AEW wrestlers and matched them to cereals I thought fit their characters and personalities. Without further ado, ring the bell and let’s get it going!

Samoa Joe and Cap’n Crunch go hand-in-hand. Joe is the captain of the ship as the current AEW Wold Champion. He’s a savvy veteran with a stout build and like Cap’n Crunch can tear up the roof of your mouth, Samoa Joe can rip any opponent to shreds. 

 

Timeless Toni Stom and Life Cereal may seem like an odd pairing, but hear me out. What cereal is as timeless as LIFE? The cereal hasn’t aged in all these years, and you could indeed describe it as timeless, just like Toni.

 

Bryan Danielson as Grape Nuts – need I say more?

 

 

 

The current edition of The Elite (Mathew and Nicholas Jackson and Kazuchika Okada) are a powerful trio with a brand so powerful that it dominates globally. So what cereal trio is better to be than Rice Krispies’ Snap, Crackle and Pop?

 

Mercedes Mone’, the CEO, brings a big personality and a global brand. So, you’d assume I’d pick a flashy cereal to be her counterpart, I chose the No. 1 cereal seller globally, Cheerios. It’s untouchable and a leader among others. A true CEO of cereal.

 

Will Ospreay is the aerial assassin with infectious energy and athletic ability unmatched. When I think of those qualities and cereal, I automatically think of Tony the Tiger and Frosted Flakes. And like Frosted Flakes, this brub is f’n Grrreat!

 

Julia Heart is the princess of the black throne and keeper of secrets. Whatmore, she often overwhelms her opponents with mist, mind games and tricks. She’s no silly rabbit, but I’m pretty sure she has every color of mist to match the Trix cereal pieces.

Danhausen is very nice and very evil and to me he is very Count Chocula. Just look at him, what other cereal would you think of first when you see Danhausen? Maybe it’s the cape that really brings the two together?

 

We know whose house it is (Swerve’s house!) and just like Swerve is a household name in professional wrestling, it only makes sense that he’d be a household cereal like Cinnamon Toast Crunch. 

 

Much like how the OG, Cinnamon Toast Crunch is a classic household name, Thunder Rosa is one for AEW. But la mera mera brings some spice and edge to the ring with each and every opponent. So I’m going with Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros for her.

Harley Cameron as Cocoa Puffs, you know, because she’s cuckoo (don’t tell her I called her that though)

 

 

To me, when I think Darby Allin as a cereal I think of a sugar rush with as fast and reckless he operates in the ring. What comes to mind is Sugar Smacks with its mascot Dig’em. 

 

Willow Nightingale is one-of-a-kind. A powerhouse with personality and positivity. You could say she’s a unicorn in the industry. Therefore, I chose Kellog’s Unicorn cereal for Willow. 

 

Kris Statlander can be sweet and occasionally bubbly outside of the ring, but inside she’s pure power and grit. So when you think of a sweet cereal that’s rough and tough, but can pop with color, you have to think of Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries

 

Orange Cassidy as Fruit Loops —need I say more?

 

 

Abadon is the living dead girl, so what better cereal for her to be than Carmella Creeper cereal, the cereal whose namesake is a zombie character. 

I chose Golden Grahams for Deonna Purrazzo. The main reason is when I hear the words “Golden Grahams,” I think gold and I see gold in the future for The Virtuosa. 

Skye Blue as Boo Berry, because, you know, she’s somewhat spooky and is also blue. I tell you, some of these just write themselves. 

 

And that concludes my first edition of “If AEW Wrestlers Were Cereal.” There was no real scientific method used to choose which wrestlers and which cereals paired, other than my own opinion. There’s still plenty more talent on the AEW roster to match with cereals, so if you read this article, I’ll eventually do another.

 

 

 

 

Silly rabbit, Trix LOADED is for someone else

This Trix cereal isn’t your grandfather’s Trix. Because we live in a world where good enough can’t be left alone, and the pursuit of bigger and better is constant, we’ve gone from mini cereal to now LOADED cereal, with this offering from General Mills, Trix LOADED.

Trix is one of three cereal varieties that has received the LOADED treatment, in addition to classics, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cocoa Puffs. Each is basically the same size and shape but flavored as usual. The kicker is that LOADED cereal means you get vanilla creme filling in each bite. So does having a little shot of creme in the mouth with your breakfast cereal make a difference enhance the experience?

Aesthetics

As evident from the cereal box, you can already tell that Trix LOADED looks nothing like the traditional Trix cereal we’ve grown up with. They’ve taken it to the extreme.

Instead of fruity shapes, we get large rectangles that look like leftover accent/throw pillows from the Hannah Montana craze. The large blue, red and what I can only describe as blurple-colored squares look like rocks that belong in an aquarium instead of covered in milk in a cereal bowl.

Each piece has a sheen and texture that looks rough, like Cap’n Crunch. Needless to say, each spoonful of Trix LOADED is a mouthful and then some.

Snackability

Trix LOADED is actually pretty decent to eat dry, if you enjoy berry-flavored cereal. I liken it to eating Crunchberries from Cap’n Crunch, minus the hardness. The only trouble you may have with eating this cereal dry is the size of the large pieces, that mimic the size of frosted shredded wheat. For that reason, may smaller children shouldn’t eat this cereal as a  dry snack.

Structural Integrity

I think it’s been 4 years since I’ve awarded only 1 spoon in a category, but unfortunately, this is where I find Trix LOADED to be at its weakest. The large, light crisp flavored, almost airy pieces taste good, but after 5 minutes in milk, they soon become more mushy and overtaken by milk absorption.

Cereal Concept

General Mills has a history of creme-filled cereals (see Fillows), and there’s a reason why none really had staying power.

Trix LOADED sounds like something from an extreme era of the early 2000s. After doing Trix minis they overcompensate with this. Frankly, it’s more just using the Trix brand rather than doing something extremely different. Call me old fashioned, but I like it when the classics stay true to themselves, but I understand the business side of things of trying to evolve.

Flavor

Opening the bag, I didn’t note a strong scent of berry-flavored cereal. It wasn’t until biting into a piece that it reminded me of that Crunchberry flavor, sans the sandpaper texture of a Crunchberry. After eating the cereal both dry and in milk, it’s certainly sweet, as you might expect. I ate two bowls of it and my mouth still has that aftertaste.

But let’s talk about the elephant in the room that makes Trix LOADED loaded. The vanilla creme filling in each piece works well with the cereal, making it even sweeter than usual. It seemed to work better when activated with milk, in my opinion. Either way, the creme flavor wasn’t dramatic or overpowering like you’d imagine based on the depiction on the box. Each piece has very little of it, actually.   Final Thoughts Trix LOADED isn’t inventing the wheel when it comes to offering cereal with a vanilla creme filling. And for me, it was barely Trix as I knew it. It could have been any other berry-flavored cereal due to its unrecognizable shape and color. So while it doesn’t hit the nail on the head in breaking new ground, it does accomplish giving consumers a berry sweet treat with each spoonful. Does this make me want to try other LOADED varieties? Probably not, unless someone can for certain tell me that Cinnamon Toast Crunch LOADED tastes like a frosted cinnamon roll. If so, then we can talk. For now, leave well enough alone when it comes to the classic cereals. If we want to go wild and bold, then give me the whacky flavors, or create cereals that we’d never think should have ever been made into cereals.  

Is this cereal spooky good, or does it put the boo in Boo Berry

 

It’s spooky season, so what better time than now to do a review on a classic cereal with a twist. Many of us are familiar with seasonal classics such as Boo Berry, Franken Berry and of course Count Chocula. So what does Genera Mills do? In recent years, the brand decided to make a mash-up and now we have Monster Mash Remix that now features the newest monster character, Carmella Creeper. Before we dive into the review, you may be asking, “Who the heck is Carmella Creper?” Well, Carmella Creeper is a DJ who apparently is the long-lost cousin of Franken Berry.

Now that is out of the way, what does a bowl of this cereal taste like? Is it more than meets the eye, or is it more a trick than a treat?

Aesthetics

The seasonal cereal features all your favorite Halloween cereal mascots you’ve grown up with, along with Carmella Creeper. The box touts there are four different marshmallow shapes and then purple and green ghost-shaped cereal (what would have been great is if the marshmallows were monster-sized, meaning bigger than typical marshmallow pieces you find in cereal like Lucky Charms. A boy can dream, right?

Overall, the box tells you that there’s a monster mash going on and it appears they’re having a graveyard smash dancing. I guess I should also add that Fruit Brute, the werewolf, and Yummy Mummy are also on the box, but not really a part of the cereal, much like the Count.

Snackability

This may be one of the stronger categories for this cereal. I’d say it’s on par with something like Lucky Charms if you eat that dry, but instead of solid oat pieces, you get a lighter crisp of cereal pieces with the berry ghosts. It almost reminds me of little snacks toddlers eat (not that I’m suggesting you feed this to toddlers). I will say it has a rough, slightly frosted texture, but I didn’t find it as routh as cereal like Cap’n Crunch.

Structural Integrity

The weakest of the categories for this cereal. The light, airy, berry-flavored pieces invite milk to saturate them and any flavor that was there initially dissipates.

Cereal Concept

Mixing cereal is always a fun idea, and something many of us have probably done at home. At first glance at this cereal box, you might think you’re getting all the monster cereals in one, but you’re not. Overall, it’s a fun idea, especially for Halloween, but it’s not quite what I think most of us wanted.

Flavor

The box promotes artificially berry-flavored frosted cereal with monster marshmallows. There’s a hint of the berry flavor but it’s really not all that strong.

I get that Count Chocula cereal might not jive with berry-flavored cereal, but let my taste buds decide that. I guess I’ll have to buy each separately and make my own mash-up.

Overall, the flavor of this cereal reminds me of a couple of past General Mills-made cereals I reviewed such as the JoJo cereal and the most recent Star Wars cereal. Or, if you want to go old school, it’s reminiscent of Ghost Busters cereal.

 

Final Thoughts

A good idea but a slight miss in the execution. We’ve had so many other berry-flavored cereals with marshmallows so nothing is groundbreaking. As I mentioned earlier, when you promote all the classic monster characters on the packaging, my initial thought, if you passingly glance at it in the grocery aisle is that they are all included in the cereal. Fortunately, they still sell the classic monster cereals separately too, so I think that is what I would recommend buying instead of this, especially if you enjoy Count Chocula.

Now, trick or treat, give me something good to eat!

Silly Rabbit, Nesquik is for… Canadians?

Have you ever wondered what Canadian Cocoa Puffs would look like? Swap out the loopy coo-coo bird for a cartooony rabbit and you have Nesquik cereal. Although, Cocoa Puffs are sold in Canada, but I digress.

Nesquik cereal is no longer available in the United States, so our neighbors to the north get to enjoy it. As I continue the second part of my palette tour of Canadian cereals (see the last one on Tim Horton’s Timbits), we dig into Nestle cereal.

Aesthetics

Let’s first judge a book, or in this case a cereal, by its cover. The unmistakable Nesquik branding of the blue and yellow is instant nostalgia for me, thinking back to my youth when my sister would make glasses of chocolate milk with scoops of Nesquik powder and then leave the glasses strung around the house. Then there is my memory of mom making me what I called a “malt” when she would add a couple of scoops of Nequik powder with scoops of vanilla ice cream and milk and blend it all together with a hand mixer.

As for the cereal itself, the pieces are small round mounds of chocolate textured cereal, similar to what you’d come to expect if you have ever eaten Cocoa Puffs or any other similar chocolate cereal. The cereal box does advertise that the cereal will turn your milk into chocolate milk, and I will say it does a good job. I’m not one who typically drinks their cereal milk, but this did taste like Nesquik chocolate milk.

Snackability

Nesquik cereal is. a good size to snack on, but the chocolate flavor might limit how much you could snack on, unless you really, really like cocoa flavor. I will say that there is a nice, satisfying crunch with each piece.

Structural Integrity

Due to the small condensed nature of the cereal, the cereal maintains a crunch even after more than 15 minutes in milk. After about 10 minutes, the center was crunchy, but the outer layer of the cereal was beginning to soften, but there was a crunch nonetheless.

Cereal Concept

The concept is a little meh to me, especially since Cocoa Puffs seems to have far more brand power than Nesquik cereal, and is sold in a lot of places. I know there are other Nesquik cereals around that jazz up this version, so maybe that would help. In the end, it comes down to whether you prefer a friendly bipedal rabbit or an unhinged cracked-out cocoa-loving bird.

Flavor 

If you are a fan of chocolate/cocoa-based cereal then this is right up your alley. Although, it may not be as sweet as Cocoa Puffs, which I didn’t mind. Could I eat more than one bowl of Nesquik cereal in one sitting? Probably not, but as I mentioned previously, the fact that it does a nice job of flavoring the milk after all the cereal is eaten was an added bonus. If you ever made chocolate milk with Nesquik powder then you might be able to taste the words you’re reading.

Final Thoughts I’m not going coo-coo over Nesquik cereal. I think it does a fine job of being what it is: a chocolate-flavored cereal that may be a little more bland than Cocoa Puffs, and if that doesn’t describe Canada, I don’t know what does. (j/k Canada friends. We appreciate you, your kindness, hockey, lacrosse and maple syrup). Would I buy this cereal regularly? No, but I’m not a huge chocolate cereal fan. However, it doesn’t hurt to have something like this in your pantry’s cereal rotation when you need a little fix, or you want to go wild and mix it in with other cereal. PS: Do you know how hard it is to type the “quick” incorrectly because that’s how Nesquik uses it? I just had to go in and replace all the Nesquicks with Nesquiks. Good grief. 

Find out what Tim Horton’s timbits cereal is all aboot

Canada, the big landmass of a country and neighbor to the north. The country is so big it has two national sports: hockey and lacrosse. A country that has given the world artists like Bret “the Hitman” Hart, Celine Dion, and most importantly the rapper, Snow.

Canada has also given us Tim Horton’s and subsequently Tim Horton’s brand cereal in conjunction with Post Cereals.

So today, I put on the finest mountie hat money can buy on Amazon that goes with my Canadian tuxedo, holster a bottle of maple syrup, and give you a preempted “sorie” for reading this review. With all of that out of the way, how aboot we crack open this box of Tim Horton’s timbits birthday cake cereal and get into the review, eh?

Aesthetics

The packaging gives you that unmistakeable red and white Tim Horton’s branding and replicates the store’s carrier box you get when ordering timbits/donut holes. Also, it’s double-sided with one side fully in French. Now, I know how to say “birthday cake” in French. Thanks, Tim Horton’s!

       

The cereal itself looks like what happens when you have a box of Kix cereal in a bowl and then someone with a fresh ground pepper dispenser spreads crushed sprinkles all over it until you say when.

Snackability

If you enjoy sweet, crunchy cereal then this one is a solid choice for snacking. Think of it as the crunch berries from Cap’n Crunch, in terms of size and texture of these little cereal balls, sans the berry flavor. If you have kids eating this cereal, just make sure their chompers are well developed so they can get through the crunchiness.

Structural Integrity

Due to the small condensed nature of the cereal, timbits birthday cake cereal is decently strong and compact.

After 10 minutes soaking in milk, the cereal still had a crunch in its center, although the outer layer had gotten a little mushy. So think of the milk eroding away layers of once-solid cereal.

Cereal Concept

While not a new concept, I find birthday cake-type cereal to be consistently decent. Tim Horton’s timbits birthday cake flavored cereal is reminiscent of similar ones found in the states, such as the Funfetti cereal (which I reviewed in October 2020) and the Disney 100 Confetti Cake cereal, which is also made by Post.

Flavor 

Opening the bag, you get a whiff of the birthday cake right away, sans the moist part. The sprinkles don’t really add anything to the flavor, as they’re mostly there just for decoration. When adding milk, and letting the cereal soak up some of it, I think you get more of that spongy cake taste, if that makes any sense.

Final Thoughts Having tried other similar cereals, as mentioned above, this one was sweet enough, but not in a way that’s offensive to your taste buds, and when in milk, it certainly dilutes some of that sweetness. Perhaps my review of Tim Horton’s timbits birthday cake cereal is more kind than my Funfetti one, but that’s probably because of the branding. If you know one thing about me, it’s that I’m a sucker for novelty (hence this cereal blog), so you could have put sand from Wasaga Beach in a bag and slapped Tim Horton’s branding on it and I probably would have semi-enjoyed it. Plus, now I know more French thanks to reading this cereal box. Before, all the French I knew was the Canadian National anthem in French and English (shoutout to fifth grade for making us learn that) and items on the French Cafe menu. In closing, if you do happen to come across this cereal and try it and don’t like it, then I’ve got two words for you:    

KitKat as a cereal? Gimme a break…

General Mills brings us another cereal that I don’t know if anyone asked for, but perhaps dreamed about as a child?

I’m assuming most of us have enjoyed a KitKat before. Those sweet crispy wafters melded together by milk chocolate create one of my favorite candy bars, and apparently one of Kourtney Kardashian’s as well, although I don’t dissect mine and eat it in the most complicated way possible.

Now, General Mills has attempted to replicate one of our favorite candy bars in the form of cereal, minus the ease of breaking off just one bar at a time. But does it succeed, or is it just like all the other novelty chocolate cereals? Gimme a break. Gimme a break. Break me off a piece of that cereal review below.

Aesthetics

The thick, chocolatey squares look like rice chex on a human growth hormone. Or, perhaps a less pleasing description would be like large, dry dog food. As for the packaging, the bold KitKat font on top of that bright red branding only makes me hungry for an actual KitKat bar at 9:30 a.m., as I write this review. Hey, I’m an adult and make my own choices, and I can choose to eat candy for breakfast, no matter how unhealthy that may be. But I digress.

Snackability

Fine for a couple of pieces, but not something I could see myself snacking on while on a road trip. Also, the pieces are somewhat bulky, so smaller children may have trouble eating the square pieces dry, and even adults may struggle if they find themselves eating too many pieces of this cereal at once.

Structural Integrity

This is the category where this cereal really shines. In fact, I can’t recall the last cereal I gave a 4 spoon rating to for structural integrity. Due to the size and puffed-out shape of the cereal, I would have thought it would be soggy faster, but after 5+ minutes of soaking in milk, it still maintains a crunch. Even when I took the last bite in the bowl, the cereal still had some substance to it.

Flavor

If you have had other chocolate/cocoa cereals, you will know what to expect with KitKat cereal. For instance, you will get that same cocoa flavor and aftertaste you get from Cocoa Puffs, Cocoa Pebbles, Hershey Kisses cereal and those alike. It’s not something I can eat bowls upon bowls of, but if you have a hankering for chocolate cereal this will do. I will say the flavor definitely lessens as soon as you add milk to the bowl. 

Cereal Concept

Like looking at comic books from decades ago and then transforming them into movies, all anyone needs to do to generate an idea for a novelty cereal is a jaunt down the candy aisle of a store. “Hmm, Twing Bing cereal. Maybe that could be a thing?” or “Whatchamacallit? More like WhyNotCerealIt”

Final Thoughts

If you expect this to taste like a bowl of miniature KitKat bars, then you’ll be disappointed.

If you expected a chocolate-flavored cereal with a crisp crunch, like the satisfying break of a KitKat bar then that is more in alignment with what was executed.

Anyway you put it, whether it’s the traditional KitKat candy bar, or if it’s KitKat cereal, ice cream, or whatever else is in the pipeline, I think it’s safe to assume that what will forever resonate with us is the KitKat jingle.