Who wouldn't want candy for breakfast? Wouldn't you, if not now, in your earlier, better-metabolized days, sparkle at the chance to take a whole glossy packet of strawberry Pop Rocks and pour it over your delicious, albeit carbonation-free, bowl of Fruity Pebbles?
Well, we would, so when we were given the opportunity to try Post's brand new line of Poppin' Pebbles cereal before it hit stores, of course we jumped at it. "New Poppin' Pebbles has poppin' pieces which fizz in your mouth and is bursting with berry flavor," the email pitch read. We imagined fruity, sugary flakes akin to the jagged Pop Rocks candies of our childhoods, that'd snap, crackle, and pop all over our tongues and make our stomachs churn when mixed with soda. And that's exactly what we got.
Well, sort of. First, the "snap" factor in the Poppin' Pebbles doesn't come from the regular pebbles themselves, but instead from the round, carbon dioxide-loaded, green pieces that are mixed in with them. Second, we're a little sad to report, the pieces themselves weren't all that poppin'.
The truth is, when tried one after the other, the Poppin' Pebbles utterly fizzled in comparison to the actual explosive candy Pop Rocks. It wasn't bad, necessarily. Both on its own and in milk, the cereal definitely did something to our mouth holes. It just didn't do the thing. The thing that surprised our five year-old selves and turned us into lifelong fans of candy carbonation in the first place.
Overall, Poppin' Pebbles are definitely a semi-fun way to liven up your breakfast table with sensation and sound. Just don't expect them to blow your mind the way Pop Rocks did way back when. Sigh.
Poppin' Pebbles will be available nationwide starting January 1, 2014, along with a new, chocolatey-er Xtreme Cocoa Pebbles to turn your milk chocolate.