Nesquik Magic Straws (Nestlé Magic Straws)

Member Name: lilyellowfish1

Product:	Nestlé Magic Straws
Date:	20/04/08 (817 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tasty, fun way to have milk

Disadvantages: Expensive

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About Nesquik
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Nesquik is a milk flavouring mix that was developed in 1948, and introduced there as Nestlé Quik. The name was changed to Nesquik in 1999. At the same time, Nestle introduced Nesquik cereal, a breakfast cereal that "turns milk into chocolate milk", this is very similar to the advertising for Magic Straws, so I think they have seen how popular this was, and created another product out of it with Magic Straws.
Products in the range now include traditional Nesquik powder, in Strawberry, Chocolate and Banana; Nesquik Fresh, in Strawberry, Chocolate and Banana; and Nesquik Magic Straws in Strawberry and Chocolate. Traditionally Nesquik comes in powder form, where you mix a spoonful of the powder with a glass full of milk and you get a milkshake, or you can also buy a premixed Nesquik milkshake. In 2007, Nestle modified its Nesquik powder formula and reduced the amount of sugar by 33% without the use of artificial sweeteners. This reduced the calories per serving from 90 to 60. They now advertise that they have 25% less sugar than their competitors which typically have 80 calories per serving. The new formula comes in containers labelled, "Looking for less sugar?" and has a distinctly different taste, and dissolves easier into milk.

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Nesquik Magic Straws
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Nesquik Magic Straws were introduced to the market in the summer of 2006. A great way for kids to enjoy milk, each chocolate flavoured straw magically transforms milk into a tasty chocolate flavoured Nesquik milkshake.

They have been advertised as Magic Straws, they are a fun and simple way to get children to have milk. As when you suck up the milk through the straw, due to its content of chocolately beads it magic's the milk into chocolate milk - I think this is a great way to get children to have their daily intake of milk, making it seem magic would always make something much more appealing to them, and its much more fun that an already made milkshake!

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About Nestle
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Nesquik and Nesquik Magic Straws are both made by Nestle, famous for NESCAFÉ, Smarties and Kit Kat which are some of the main brands of the UK company, but this is not all they do, they have a huge variety of products they manufacture - Nestle is the second largest company in the UK's yogurt and fromage frais sector, with brands such as Ski and Munch Bunch. They also have Nestlé businesses of milks and creams, pasta, Herta and Maggi.
Henri Nestlé was the man behind Nestle, originating in Switzerland but now has factories all over the world, thanks to its great popularity with its consumers. The UK headquarters is situated in Croydon, Surrey, which I interestingly found out the other day when driving through East Croydon train station on a train to London, as it clearly displays it under the sign for East Croydon.

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How to have them
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Nestle recommend that one straw should be drunk with approximately 250ml of milk, but I have drunk it with less, it doesn't change the taste, it just means you are consuming less milk, and the point of the straws is to help children drink their daily allowance of milk, so the more milk you can give them to have with the straws the better.

Nesquik advise that you do not use the Magic Straws more than once, and that they are never used with hot milk, due to the possibility of the plastic straw melting and the danger of hot items with children.

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Taste & Smell
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As you suck through the straw you will taste the flavour of the chocolate Magic straw, and it tastes exactly like a Nesquik Milkshake tastes. The plastic straw contains small balls of the chocolate and you can see the chocolate balls and the milk combining together to give that great taste! The straws are a good length -about the same length as a normal straw. Through the plastic you can see the chocolate balls sitting in the straw, and it's quite fun watching the milk change a chocolatey colour as you suck it up the straw.

I find it nicer than Nesquik powder that you mix with milk, it is less sickly and overpowering, and with Magic Straws you can control how chocolatey you want the taste, which is great. It tastes great and looks real fun, and is an interesting way to get milk into your diet.

Once you have been sucking for a while, if you turn the straw around it becomes really really chocolately. The faster you suck the milkier the taste and the slower you suck the chocolateier it is. Also if you want a really chocolatey taste, leave the straw in the milk for a few minutes before consuming, as it will allow the chocolate beads longer to mix with the milk. There are many other ways to enhance to chocolatey flavour, just have a play round and see what you come up with! When you are sucking the milk through the straw you can see the milk changing to a chocolate colour from its original white colour. The beads of chocolate in the straw move up to the top of the straw when you are sucking which enhance the chocolatey flavour. Although Magic Straws contain Cinnamon in their ingredients, you cannot taste this or smell it at all.

Nesquik Magic Straws look just like normal clear plastic straws, only slightly thicker and full of chocolate beads, inside the straw is a smaller one which stops the beads from all been sucked out into your mouth. When I saw the advert I thought these straws looked much bigger than they were.

Sometimes when you have finished the milk, you are left with a few chocolate beads in the straw and sometimes you are not, you shouldn't reuse these straws though unless you are using them again right away. You can continue to suck through these and get the chocolately taste from the beads, but to me I find this quite strong.

Nesquik Magic Straws are also mess free, when finished with the straw, you can throw it away, and all you have to do is wash the glass up or pop it in the dishwasher. Unlike the usual chocolate powdered milkshake, it doesn't leave a rim of sticky chocolate powder around the sides of the glass, making it difficult to wash off.

When you pull the Magic Straw out of its packaging, you do not get an aroma of chocolate bursting through, if you put your nose to it, you can definitely smell a cocoa smell, rather than pure chocolate, when you are sucking through the straw, you get more of a chocolatey aroma, especially when it mixes with the milk, it is not an overpowering or strong smell, it is light and more like a background smell.

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Other flavours & products available
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Nesquik Magic Straws are only currently available in Chocolate and Strawberry flavours, as other Nesquik products are also available in Banana, and that is a very popular flavour, I can see them bringing that out in the future.
Powder
Syrup
Ready-to-Drink
Nesquik Breakfast Cereal
Nesquik flavours of Nestlé hot cocoa mix.

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Packaging
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Nesquik Magic Straws comes in packs of 10, each individually wrapped within a plastic package. The packaging clearly displays a large glass of milk with a Magic straw just above the glass and it looks like the milk is being sucked through the straw. At the other end of the straw lots there is a chocolate explosion out the top of the chocolate milk, giving a magical feeling of a spell happening. The Nesquik logo is splashed across the top of the packaging in blue writing, and written across the packaging is "Magic's the goodness of milk into chocolate flavour milk!" Nutritional Information, directions and warnings can be found clearly on the back of the packaging.

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Advertising
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Quite a big advertising campaign has been released for Magic Straws, whether it is on television adverts, in magazines and on billboards. I think with or without the advertising, Magic Straws were always going to be popular. Chances are, most people will have seen this advert at least once, as it is regularly aired on the television, on many channels. I find the advert quite amusing, it is typical brother and sister banter. It is definitely an advert that sticks in your mind. A young girl bets her brother that she can make one glass of milk taste of chocolate and the other of strawberries. In true fashion, her brother doesn't believe her, so she pretends to do a magic trick and she gives him a chocolate and a strawberry straw and he gives it ago, he thinks it must be magic! Around him drinking the milk through the straw is a magical appearance; it kind of reminds me of Harry Potter. The advert finishes with a voice over saying "Nesquik Magic Straws. Magically changing the taste of Milk." The Nesquik bunny Quick appears on the packaging and marketing and has appeared in the product's television commercials.

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Who are they suitable for?
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Nesquik Magic Straws have been designed for children, to help coax them into having their daily allowance of milk, although having a premixed Nesquik milkshake also does this, it hasn't got the fun factor that the straws have. They are suitable for everyone though, children, adults and even grandparents, for a tasty, fun way to enjoy milk. They are suitable for vegetarians but not for vegans due to being consumed with milk.

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Nutritional Information
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Per 1 straw + 250ml semi skimmed milk

Calories 131
Protein 5.5g
Carbohydrate 15.7g
of which sugars 14.6g
Fat 2.2g
of which saturates 1g
Most of the calories stated above are from the milk, the straws themselves actually contain very little. For the straw along with the glass of milk it is 7% of the daily allowance for a child between the age of 5 and 10, which isn't very much for a snack. The Magic Straws are very high in sugars though. The daily recommended amount for a child between 5 and 10 years old is 85 grams, so 14.6g in one straw is approximately 17% of their daily maximum allowance. Milk is a great source of calcium, with one 250ml glass of milk providing 39per cent of the RDA for calcium. This is not the healthiest snack for a child, compared to fruit but compared to other chocolates and sweets, it is alot better and it is also getting them to consume milk, which contains calcium - an essential component for bones to grow and when you're a child this is when this happens the most.

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Ingredients
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Sugar, edible starch, fat-reduced cocoa powder, flavourings, salt, sweetener: aspartame-acesulfame, emulsifier: soya lecithin, cinnamon.

The ingredient Aspartame is an artificial, non saccharide sweetener, which is a shame to know it has artificial sweeteners in, especially as Nestle have stopped using these in many of their products. It is also known under the E number E951. Aspartame is used in many diet drinks, some brands of chewable vitamin supplements and common in many sugar-free chewing gums. Aspartame is a subject of a public controversy due to possible health risks, and has consequently lost market share in recent years. Even though there have been worries about Aspartame, there has been no evidence to prove that is is dangerous to health.

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Similar products in the market
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Nesquiks main competitor for Magic Straws is Kelloggs Coco Pop Straws, which came out after Nesquik Magic Straws. The only difference between them is that rather than a plastic straw containing beads of chocolate, Kelloggs Coco Pops Straws are a straw of wafer which chocolate inside. You suck up the milk the same but Kelloggs Coco Pops Straws are also edible. Both products have their advantages and disadvantages compared to each other. I think Nesquik Magic Straws are healthier, but the fact you can eat the Kelloggs Coca Pops Straws is an added bonus. Kelloggs Coca Pops Straws are also more expensive and you have to use more in one go, compared to only using one Nesquik Magic Straw. All in all I would say Nesquik Magic Straws are my favourites.

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Price & Availability
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Nesquik Magic Straws 10 pack, R.R.P £1.85.
Nesquik Magic Straws 4 pack, R.R.P 89p.
These are quite expensive I think for what they are, especially as they cannot be reused. They are the most expensive in the Nesquik range, although a tub of the Nesquik powder is about 10p more, you get so much more out of it. You are paying for the novelty of the Magic Straws. Sometimes supermarkets do have offers and deals on Magic Straws.

Nesquik Magic Straws can be found in all supermarkets in the long life milk section next to all the other Nesquik products. I brought mine from Sainsbury's and they only stocked the 10 pack, I couldn't see any evidence that they even stocked the 4 pack which is a shame.

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Contact Info.
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Nestle
POBOX 203, York England. YO9 1XY
0800 63785385
www.nesquik.co.uk (You must have Flash 6 to access this webpage, but can download it if not). The website doesn't contain much information on the product, it is mainly a fun website with activities and games for children.

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Conclusion
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Although they are expensive for what they are, they are tasty without being overpowering and are a great way to consume milk. I would recommend them for both adults and children.

Summary: Great way for kids ot adults to have milk!