The Six Inch Rule (Kellogg's Coco Pops Straws)

Name: susie19

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Product:	Kellogg's Coco Pops Straws
Date:	17/02/06 (1304 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Crunchy, munchy, multi functional.

Disadvantages: Very odd breakfast fodder.

~Coco Pops Straws~
I don’t know whether you’ve seen the TV ad for these new Straws, believe me they are the weirdest breakfast idea. A box full of tubes, sorry straws, to suck up a bowl of milk through. The idea disgusts me, as I hate drinking milk. But being a good mother and knowing that the kids need their calcium I succumbed to buying a box. (Helpless to resist a half price offer for a new product).

The brightly coloured box is in the Coco Pops breakfast cereal themed colours of bright yellow background with blue and brown writing. There is a cartoon animal on the front too. I suspect it is a monkey but a little difficult to tell when disguised in t shirt, shorts and a cap. The box features a picture of an actual sized straw. Each straw measures just over six inches. Find your own measuring tool, I used a ruler.

The pack of straws weigh 375g. There are two foil wrapped packets inside the box, each containing 18 straws in a thin, clear plastic tray. The straws are brown and have a coiled pattern all along their length and are basically a hollow tube with an internal chocolate coating. The straws are 1 cm in diameter, that’s about a quarter of an inch if you’re still using your measuring stick. The idea is that you have 3 of these and a bowl of 125ml of semi-skimmed milk. This is what Kellogg’s class as a serving.

~The taste test~
Sorry, but given that I would most likely be sick if I had to drink milk through a straw, I have let the kids try them out for you. Their first and most obvious comment was that sucking up the milk through the straw was just the same as drinking milk through a straw. The TV ad leads you to believe that the chocolate lining will make your milk taste chocolatey. Apparently, it does not. You’ll have to try it for yourself if you don’t believe them, because frankly I can’t be tempted to suck it and see.

The tubes, ahem straws, are really crunchy and I’ve happily munched my way through a fair wadge whilst writing this. They can best be described by taste as the same as the waffle part of a Cornetto cone which has not gone soggy in the freezer. They are crunchy and not overly sweet. In fact they’re really rather yummy. I have consequently made a right crumby mess all over the new keyboard. I really hope hubby doesn’t read this, I’ll get into big trouble for this, my new pc which he kindly treated to me too last month. Still, I’ll do some cleaning when I’ve finished. A good polish never goes amiss.

~Nutrition~
A typical serving with 125ml of semi skimmed gives you 7g protein, 29g carbohydrate (17g of which is sugar), 6g fat and 0.25g salt plus a small contribution to your daily vitamin intake of B1, B2, B6, B12, Niacin and Folic Acid and totals 192 calories. However, if you ditch the milk and eat them alone as our kids did then this becomes 3g protein, 23g carbohydrate (15g of which is sugar), 4g fat and 132 calories.

~Other Uses~
These straws are very nice to snack on. They make quite a few crumbs and I can’t manage 6+ inches in one go; you may be able to do better. They also would make fantastic wafers for ice cream. In fact forget the idea of straws for milk, I’d re-invent these as ice cream spoons. Ideal for spooning not recommended for sucking.

~Cost & Availability~
These are a new product but are available in most supermarkets. They cost £2.09 per box at both Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

~Recommend?~
I would give Coco Pops Straws 9 out of 10 as an ice cream wafer/spoon but a mere 3/10 as a hearty breakfast. Alternative uses other than as an accompaniment to ice cream include a straw for a nice frothy milkshake, a drum strick to be used with the biscuit tin. I'm sure you can up with some good ideas yourself, please drop me a note if so!

Summary: Wafter style straws for sucking milk, intended as a breakfast alternative to cereal.