[Experiment] Strawberry Cocoa Pebbles

Description: New, and in time for Valentine's Day - it's... Strawberry Cocoa Pebbles! Except, not really. But I'm surprised I haven't seen this yet. Mixing Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles is such a simple idea. And I had the perfect opportunity to try it with this winter's WinterFest Fruity Pebbles; I separated out the red pebbles, and added them to a bowl of Cocoa Pebbles. It's not bad. And it looks great. I think it could maybe have a little more strawberry flavor (I've actually never thought about what flavor Fruity Pebbles are, or if the different colors are even the same flavor), but I'm sure that's something Post could tweak if they ever tried making this. I would buy it and try it if they did!

Rating: 🥣🥣

Fruity/Cocoa Pebbles Crunch'd

These new Crunch'd versions of the Pebbles cereals are intriguing - and a little bit surprising - because they eliminate what's not only the most distinctive thing about these cereals (the "pebble" shapes) - but also what I like about them the least. Does that mean I'll like them better? Let's find out.

Name: Fruity Pebbles Crunch'd
Variation: Fruity Pebbles
Manufacturer: Post

Review: First, it doesn't make the same visual impression as regular Fruity Pebbles. Instead of vibrant colors, we get a dull blue and red, with a muddy purple mix and a yellow that looks stained with red (nowhere near as pretty as they look on the box). It gives off a vague "red, white and blue vibe", and actually reminds me a lot of Disney's 100 Years of Wonder cereal released this year. Incidentally, both of these are Post cereals, so maybe there's some overlap. Seems kind of lazy. But then we get to the flavor. It's barely even fruity - again, like 100 Years of Wonder. This doesn't even taste like Fruity Pebbles. The only thing it has going for it is the pieces are big enough to pick up and munch on dry (and they do stay crunchy, even in milk). But would you even want to?

Rating: 🥣
Leftover Milk: Pink and not-so-fruity.

Name: Cocoa Pebbles Crunch'd
Variation: Cocoa Pebbles
Manufacturer: Post

I'd imagined this cereal would be harder to mess up. All the pieces are brown, and "cocoa" isn't as ambiguous a flavor as "fruity". Honestly, though, there's a bit of a weird note to the flavor. The pieces are, again, big and crunchy, but as much as I said I didn't like the traditional pebbles, I think I might actually be missing them. I thought these cereals would feature the classic flavors just in a new form, but instead there seems to be a break in continuity. They're their own thing, and I'm not sure that thing is all that good. I don't know if these cereals are gonna last - that may depend on how other people feel about them. But I liked last year's Pebbles variants (the ones with the marshmallows) much better.

Rating: 🥣
Leftover Milk: Chocolatey, but not as dark as its forebear.

Cocoa Pebbles

Name: Cocoa Pebbles
Variation: Fruity Pebbles
Manufacturer: Post

Review: Although this isn't a new or limited edition cereal, it could be considered a variation on Fruity Pebbles, and I want to take a little time to review all the "chocolate alternatives" to the most popular cereals on the shelves (stay tuned for more!). This is not my favorite chocolate cereal, but it has a good flavor. As I've said elsewhere, I'm not super fond of the way the cereal merges with the milk to form a crunchy sludge. But it's definitely chocolatey enough for me to enjoy eating it - in fact, this is one of the darkest cereals you'll pour into your bowl. Even better is the new version they came out with last year. It has marshmallows!

Rating: 🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: If you could separate it from the Pebbles, I bet it'd be the chocolatiest milk on the market.

Marshmallow Fruity/Cocoa Pebbles

Name: Marshmallow Fruity/Cocoa Pebbles
Variation: Fruity/Cocoa Pebbles
Manufacturer: Post

Review: This is going to sound weird, but Fruity Pebbles might be my favorite cereal that I don't actually like. It's just so colorful; and it smells good, too! But, it's fruity, and I don't love the way the pebbles soak up the milk and turn into an amalgamated sludge. I mean, I like flavored milk at the end of a bowl of cereal, I just don't like having to chew it. But apparently, adding marshmallows (in cute, fruity shapes) is just what it takes to get me to genuinely enjoy eating Fruity Pebbles. And adding them to Cocoa Pebbles? That's a no-brainer! And not just any marshmallows, either. They're doubling up the chocolate with cocoa marshmallows. Perfect for a chocolate lover like me. I'm not in the habit of giving a cereal a three bowl rating until I've had more than one box of it, but this is definitely a contender for a future promotion.

Rating: 🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: A fruity/chocolatey sludge.