The unicorn virus…it’s spreading.
When the cotton candied Pepto-Bismol known as the Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino hit the U.S. earlier this year, kicking off a pink food pandemic that would infect everything from cupcakes to bagels, I thought it would be a purely American phenomenon. After all, it speaks to two of our country’s biggest passions: cryptozoology and colorful sugar.
(I’m still waiting for the Loch Ness Monster Frappuccino. Our underwater ally deserves to be submerged in whipped cream!)
But no, as Kellogg Germany’s new Unicorn Froot Loops prove, the eponymous horned horse has the ability to migrate across seas—despite lacking wings or gills. Maybe it bummed a ride off a pegasus. This limited edition cereal is, predictably, causing a buzz across the internet (and more than just the sugar rush kind), but I wanted to know how it actually tastes. So I sought out the help of the only cereal-loving German I know: the wonderful Steffen, who you may know from his own cereal blog or from the comments of this one.
Steffen was kind enough to not only provide all the photos for this post, but to also give a mini-review of how these unicorn-y taste compared to the real thing. So while we all gawk from abroad, let’s hear what he has to say:
“This is actually how our Froot Loops look like (pastel colors, no blue and yes, I’m pretty sure they cut out the green, too).
Except for the artwork on the box, the Froot Loops themselves are more or less the same as regular (European) Froot Loops. They look the same (I noticed a shiny effect, when held against the sun, coming from the glaze, but I’m sure that’s just imagination, and I just never really noticed it when consuming the regular ones).
Taste-wise, they are exactly the same, and I still desperately search for the “Froot” flavor in our Froot Loops, ’cause there is none. They have a strong citrus scent, and some would say they even smell a bit like a citrus hard candy, but they just taste like Honey Loops without the distinctive honey flavor and a heavier and really noticeable oat and wheat base.
It’s not like they taste bad, don’t get me wrong, they just miss the fruit flavor, and though sometimes you crunch on one ring/loop that is slightly stronger on the citrus side (the magic word is slightly), it’s still not enough to call it fruity.
So yeah…all in all, it’s just the different box art, and it’s still a huge disappointment for me (the reason why I actually never buy Froot Loops and always hesitated to try them in the U.S.). But to be fair here: the “just sweet” flavor is really going well with the whole unicorn theme. It fits way better than calling the flavor “frooty” and tropical while using a toucan as a mascot!”
Thanks, Steffen! While these Unicorn Froot Loops may not be quite as magical or delicious as I hoped (Lucky Charms lives to be the king of magical deliciousness for another day), I still wish I owned a bag of this stuff—to put in my living room. I’m a big fan of pastel shades, so these would make for a conversation piece.
“Why the heck is there a bag of cereal nailed to your wall?” my landlord would say. “You’re gonna have to pay for that, you know!”
Dude in North America Froot Loops are like 2x sweeter. You can even see more white-ish sugar on it. Very different from this unicorn crap.
-Canadian living abroad the last 10 years
Can someone in Germany/Austria send me some Froot loops ? they’ve stopped making EU froot loops in the UK and i want them as more of a weekday cereal and save the naughty artificial sugary U.S Froot loops as a weekend cereal ! i’d pay for everything obviously !!
i would send you some anytime. we get them here still but mannnnn not with me. i bought one the other day one spoon and the rest into the rubbish. i get mine from the us. Over there they are still like they used to be. ages ago here in switzerland they were exactly like the us version. hit me up if this is still hot !
As an american who lives in Germany now, also a cereal entusiast, honestly these taste like cardboard, all cereals here do. I believe it has something to do with regulations in ingredients, they have that colot because they intend to use „natural“ and much less sugar and flavor, kudos for the pseudo healthier version i guess
I found these quite disappointing! The citrus smell lasts for a few seconds when you open the packet…. and then it fades away 😟
So!
Finally found the time to write a comment! Took me a while. xD
First of all: thanks again for the feature and for asking me helping you out with this Bro! It’s always a pleasure and don’t hesitate to ask again if something similar comes up. 🙂
Second: Though it’s more like a description of the regular Froot Loops here in Germany (and obviously in Australia since a nice cereal fan already told me my review describes their Froot Loops pretty well ^^) i hope it’s still a bit interesting how a single Cereal (and especially such a popular one) can taste so different around the world. And with that said let me drop a little quote here i discovered today and almost couldn’t stop laughing about: “Chatactersistic Froot Loop Flavor – Which is a mixture of made-up fruits that you never saw in nature” 😀
SPECIAL: For all who want at least a bit of the Unicorn Froot Loop Magic, but can’t get a box i have tranformed the Coloring Page from the back of the cereal Box intop a pdf file. So you can download it, print it and color it whenever and as often as you want!
Just go to my blog, scroll down and hit the download button at the end of the review: https://bit.ly/2w64mu4
THANKS again Dan!
PS: This review and the cereal monsters just let me realize, that we need to figure out a way to come together and let each other taste the “foreign” and unknown cereals xD
If only international shipping weren’t so expensive :'(
Yeah true… especially when it comes to “human shipping”. xD
And yeah that’s what i meant. xD
But: Do you know how much a foreign cereal box cost in the US? (Like when you buy it from amazon)
’cause i sent Gabe 3 boxes and the overall price per box (including shipping) was not cheap, but iirc something similar i would’ve to pay for a US box here. (Even if shipped from Germany! And yes, it get’s even more crazy if you consider, that we have amazing US Army bases with HUGE grocery stores in Germany, where you can get all the stuff for a decent prize; if you can access the base ;))