Chocolate Knobbly Clusters of Loveliness (Coco Pop Crunchers)

Member Name: yummy87

Product:	Coco Pop Crunchers
Date:	12/03/04 (668 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A sugary start to the morning

Disadvantages: Slight synthetic taste to the coating

Breakfast cereals?.most of us eat them don?t we? My Mum used to always say that breakfast was the most important part of the day, and I try to instill that into my children too.

There are such a massive variety of cereals on the market, that we are spoilt for choice these days. As we have two children in the house, we are forever sampling the delights of new breakfast cereals as soon as they hit the supermarket shelves.

The latest such item to find its way into our kitchen cupboards is Kelloggs Coco Pops Crunchers. Kelloggs, never content with monopolising the cereal market, have decided to celebrate the success of Coco Pops, by introducing a variation on its theme.

As far as I am aware, the cereal comes in just a 375g pack, which you will be able to buy from most supermarkets. The normal price for a box is £1,88, but at present Tesco have a buy 2 for £3.00 offer.

As with most Kelloggs cereals aimed at children, the packet is bright, funky and eye catching. Coco Monkey appears on the front of the box, holding his hands over his ears, no doubt to give consumers the impression that the crunch on the cereal is going to be eardrum splitting. The name of the product is printed as if to convey to the consumer that it is written in chocolate, again aimed at the younger market, and of course there is the normal obligatory toy free in the box. The combination of all these marketing techniques will no doubt, make the product irresistible to many children.

The Crunchers are enclosed in a waxed packet, within the box, and there is only the faintest whiff of chocolate when the packet is opened. The aroma is that of a powdered drinking chocolate, rather than slabbed chocolate.

Crunchers are basically six or seven Rice Crispies joined together to form a crispy, chocolate cluster, and covered with a powde
red chocolate coating. They are small in shape, about the size of an old halfpenny piece, and for those of you who have bought the flat chocolate crisped rice cakes, the Crunchers are a smaller version of these.

The Crunchers are rough to the touch, and this is not just due to the undulations of the Coco Pops, but the surface of the cereal is slightly bubbled, and the chocolate coating gives them a sticky feel.

A 30g serving of Crunchers, mixed with 125ml of semi skimmed milk will provide you with 170kcal and 3g of fat, as well as providing 36% of the daily recommended allowance of calcium, but will they keep the tummy grumbles away until lunchtime?

The Crunchers do taste of chocolate, but again it is a chocolate powder rather than melted chocolate, and they have a very sweet taste, so no sugar is needed. They are very crisp, and the crunch is loud as the teeth come into contact with the cereal, but not ear splitting. There is a wheaty taste to the Crunchers, and this combined with the chocolate and the milk is a pleasant combination. The cereal does manage to keep crunchy and crispy, even those left at the bottom of the bowl at the end of my breakfast, which would be due to the size of them, as I always find CoCo Pops end up slimy and soggy before I?ve munched my way through the bowl.

A bowl of these this morning keeps me going until lunchtime with no sign of rumbling tums, and of course the sweetness gives me my sugar quote for the day.

CoCo Pops Crunchers make a change for breakfast, and the only fault I could find with them, is that the chocolate coating is slightly synthetic tasting. However, the whole family enjoy them and I would thoroughly recommend them to people who like a sugar coated cereal.

www.kelloggs.co.uk

Kelloggs Consumer Services Department,
PO
Box 354,
Workingham.
WA4 6XY

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