Cocoa Puffs not up to snuff?

July 23, 2007

CerealBuzzer Tony Wisneske writes in to ask General Mills and his fellow cereal lovers about the current state of Coca Puffs…

I sent an email to General Mills about Cocoa Puffs that read the following:

“For the last couple years I’ve noticed a change in the taste of Cocoa Puffs cereal. And this is not a better change.

I’ve looked at older pictures of Cocoa Puffs boxes and noticed that they say they’re “made with Hershey’s Cocoa.” Have you stopped using Hershey’s chocolate? I looked at a box I recently bought and could not find Hershey’s name anywhere.

Or is there some other reason why the taste has changed? Have you reduced the amount of sugar from the recipe? Did you increase some of the vitamins to make it more healthy but less tasty?”

I just sent it so I haven’t had a reply back.
So what do you think? Am I crazy or did the taste really change? I remember last year I had one box that tasted like it used to but then the next box tasted bad like it usually does nowadays.

So what do you think, boys and girls? Is Tony right? Do Cocoa Puffs taste more like Caca Puffs to you lately? Has their recipe changed for the worse? Is it true, Big G?

Posted by Randy at 5:11am
7 Comments »

Reader review: Life Chocolate Oat Crunch

April 15, 2007

Hello Cereal Buzz readers! It’s been a while since I last posted here. Where have I been? Well, I’ve been distracted by a couple of other projects, namely Chachi and the MCDST and MCSA exams. The Cereal Buzz blog was left behind, and I figured the big Trix story was a good way to end it.

I’m pleased to note that during my absence, readership has remained steady. In fact, Jim Rayball from Cranford, NJ wrote in with his own cereal review:

Recently a box of Life Chocolate Oat Crunch appeared in our cereal cabinet, courtesy of my wife. It was meant for one of the kids probably, but I gave it a try (of course).

As background, it is widely known among cereal aficionados that the “classic” old-school chocolate-flavored cereals such as Count Chocula and Cocoa Krispies are well-loved and respected. They have a unique “cereal-sweet” chocolate taste that yields delicious chocolate milk in your bowl. Some don’t like them, but they deservedly have their fans. They have a consistent chocolatey taste that holds a niche in the marketplace.

Over the past 5-7 years, however, various cereals have arrived on the scene with chunks of real chocolate added. For the most part, these have been a disaster (e.g.: Special K Chocolatey Delight), with waxy chocolate that doesn’t sync with the cereal.

Life’s venture into this arena, however, is a hit. The classic Life gain/oat square is present, with the unique large sugar crystals embedded in the cereal square. Smartly, the chocolate is mixed with crunchy, oaty chunks that taste good and blend well with the chocolate flavor. The result is almost Granola-bar like, meaning that the flavors blend well together.

There appear to be dark and light chocolate bits mixed in with the oat clusters, but overall the chocolate and oat crunches complement and taste good with the standard Life cereal squares.

My preference for this cereal is dry, with no milk, but that holds for all Life varieties.

Give this one a try … you may be pleasantly surprised.

Jim Rayball
Cranford, NJ
Cereal Fan

Thanks for the review, Jim! Now, I’d like to hear from the rest of you as well. I know there are a lot of great writers out there, so send in your reviews, essays, whatever. Help keep Cereal Buzz alive!

Posted by Randy at 10:56am
2 Comments »

Trix Balls CONFIRMED

February 17, 2007

Although I stood optimistic when early reports started to hit the net in early December, I wasn’t going to believe it until I was able to see it myself:

There it is, sitting atop my shiny white microwave where I shoot all my cereal boxes. My pics are usually cropped tighter, but it seems more real this way.

It looked and tasted just like classic Trix, pre-1992. A small victory has been won. I did indeed take the day off to celebrate, just as any self-made cereal-lovin’ individual should.

Technorati Tags: cereal, trix, balls, new shape

Posted by Randy at 8:23am
15 Comments »

Full speed ahead for Breakfast of the Gods!

January 23, 2007

Ah, the best part about blogging cereal has been my discovery of the web comic (er, I mean “graphic novel”) Breakfast of the Gods. Since my last post about Gods, not even a month ago, Brendan Douglas Jones has added 3 new pages to his incrementally unfolding work of art. Not bad, Brendan! Keep up the pace!

Here are my favorite panels from the latest installments:

Technorati Tags: cereal, Breakfast of the Gods, comics, graphic novel

Posted by Randy at 11:52pm
1 Comment »

Cocoa Krispies Choconilla cereal review

January 14, 2007

I was very close to giving up on my semi-weekly cereal reviews. Cereal ain’t free, and having to eat a whole box of cereal every week is bad for my diet.

Then I saw Cocoa Krispies Choconilla AND Rice Krispies with Real Strawberries — two brand new flavors — stacked together on an end cap at the supermarket. I could not resist. I had to try one of them.

I’ve always been amazed by how often a new cereal variety is invented by the food scientists and marketing geniuses at Kellogg’s, Big G, and the rest. I mean they come out with new shit every month. Sometimes it’s bad, but other times it’s great.
I chose to buy Cocoa Krispies Choconilla. Big mistake.

Choconilla is awful. It’s just frosted Krispies, but some of them are brown. There’s also this artificial choco flavor that tastes and smells like leftover Tootsie Rolls from Halloween 1998. The thing is, regular Cocoa Krispies taste so much better because they use real cocoa and semi-sweet chocolate. This Choconilla garbage doesn’t… it’s all artificial. Why Kellogg’s, why?

My advice: buy a box of regular Cocoa Krispies and a box of Frosted Rice Krispies and mix them yourself.

Technorati Tags: cereal, Cocoa Krispies, Rice Krispies, Choconilla, review

Posted by Randy at 5:56pm
8 Comments »

General Mills pulls plug on reduced sugar cereals

January 03, 2007

The big news that starts the new year is Big G’s decision to cease production of their reduced sugar versions of Cocoa Puffs and Trix.

I never got around to trying either of them after learning that “reduced sugar” does NOT mean reduced calorie (see my review of Frosted Flaked 1/3 Less Sugar). I mean, why bother? Just buy the real thing.

PS: I got props on New Year’s Day from one of my favorite cereal blogs, The Breakfast Bowl. Thanks, Lloyd!

Technorati Tags: cereal, reduced sugar, general mills, cocoa puffs, trix

Posted by Randy at 8:37pm
No Comments »

Breakfast of the gods has moved

December 28, 2006

Alert: Brendan Douglas Jones has moved his online graphic novel from Blogger to Webcomics Nation. Update your bookmarks and feeds!

You can catch Brendan’s latest installment here. The Crunchberry Beast attacks!

Technorati Tags: cereal, crunchberries, webcomics nation, comics

Posted by Randy at 9:42pm
1 Comment »

Special K Protein Plus cereal review

December 26, 2006

Here I am, back to work after a magical Christmas weekend filled with lots of tamales, beer, and various baked goods.

Time to make up for it.

In the past, I’ve used the low-carb method to lose fat pounds with good success. It’s not for everyone, but it’s what works for me.

Special K Protein Plus is Kellogg’s cereal debut into the low carb world, and they did a great job. In fact, the lightly sweetened flakes might even be tastier than regular Special K. It definitely beats other low carb/high protein cereals like Hi-Lo and… I don’t know, flax seed?

Pour on some of that low carb milk (a true miracle of science), and you can still get your cereal buzz, even while dieting. Cereal Buzz, get it?

Technorati Tags: cereal, Special K, low carb

Posted by Randy at 3:09pm
3 Comments »

Chex Quest

December 20, 2006

Burger King’s current XBox promotion reminds me of the first video game ever to be packaged with a box of cereal.

Chex Quest!

Back in 1996, Ralston hired a small software company called Digital Café to make a family-friendly mod of Doom, a game known ironically for its blood and gore. The end result was actually quite fun. It went on to win several ad industry awards and increased Chex sales by 248% that year.

To this day the game has a bit of a cult following. Not only can you download the original wad, but fans are currently working on a new sequel based on the Doom 3 engine, no joke.

Hey, I still have my disc from ‘96. I wonder if those free AOL hours are still good?

Read more at Wikipedia.

Technorati Tags: cereal, chex quest, video games

Posted by Randy at 6:11pm
No Comments »

It’s the cereal bowl that glows!

December 17, 2006

And like the pottery that grows, it could’ve made a great gift – if it wasn’t already sold out.

Ladies and gents, the Cereal Bowl Light. It looks like a normal bowl of Froot Loops at first. But touch the spoon and it lights up like a Christmas tree.

It’s a “sculpture” mind you, and not a bowl that you can actually pour milk and cereal into. The Froot Loops are frozen in place by a layer of white plastic, and are not meant for eating.

Now, if someone would actually design an empty bowl with a weight sensor on the bottom that triggers a light when you pour cereal and milk into it…

As seen on Cool Hunting

Technorati Tags: cereal, bowl, light

Posted by Randy at 11:51pm
2 Comments »