One of the popular wintertime flavors right now is hot cocoa. The warm drink is a classic, but the “hot cocoa” flavored things seem awfully lazy. They’re just chocolate, sometimes with marshmallows. And Quaker Life Cereal has joined the hot cocoa party with its latest offering.
The front of the box of this new seasonal flavor says, “Nothing like hot cocoa.”
It’s right. This cereal is nothing like hot cocoa.
My all-time favorite cereal is Cinnamon Life: it’s filling, it’s oaty, and it’s sweet, but gram for gram, it has less sugar than lots of other options in the cereal aisle.
Hot Cocoa Life has those same elements, so I will be happy to finish the box. But it doesn’t have much of a flavor on its own to make me pick it over Cinnamon Life.
There is a mild cocoa flavor, but it’s not strong enough to remind me of hot chocolate. I guess it vaguely reminds me of powdered hot chocolate mix, but only if I really stretch. And unlike all the classic chocolate cereals, Hot Cocoa Life doesn’t turn the milk chocolatey either.
We’ve seen Chocolate Life Cereal before, but I don’t remember it well enough to know what makes this new version different, except that it has more sugar.
I’m a sucker for seasonal cereals, so I will probably buy it again just for the novelty. (Those are some fun blue trees on the box!) But this one just feels like a cash grab.
If Quaker wants to come back next year with a peppermint chocolate cereal, I would be all over it. But so far, I’ve been unimpressed with the other seasonal Life flavors (pumpkin spice and gingerbread), and this one is also disappointing.
Purchased Price: $4.98
Size: 22.3 oz box
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 cup/42 grams) 160 calories, 2 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0.5 grams of polyunsaturated fat, 0.5 grams of monounsaturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 170 milligrams of sodium, 33 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of dietary fiber, 9 grams of sugar (including 9 grams of added sugar), and 4 grams of protein.
