For those of you who don’t know I write pretty much all fantasy. Fantasy romance novels to be specific. While I certainly enjoy this genre, sometimes it would be better if I allowed myself to move into other genres and formats. I’ve tried my hand at poetry, and to be honest I think I lack an understanding to make it worth pursuing. I’ve attempted other novel forms. I’ve even bravely journeyed into the unfamiliar land of nonfiction and tried to write something in that. However, I still always venture back into my familiar land. And in writing my blog posts here sometimes it’s a little too easy to just focus on that topic.
So today I’m dedicating this post to my two close friends who challenged me to write something different. Today I’m not blogging about my fantasy work, or a book I’ve read, or a writing tip. Today I’m blogging on a research project and practicing branching out into another form of writing. So read on to hear the results of our awesome study on cocoa cereal brands. Yes, you read that right. Cocoa cereal brands.
So the project was a blind taste test between four different brands of “cocoa puffs” to determine which one was the best. We had two subjects tasting four different brands: Cocoa Puffs (General Mills), Cocoa Roos (Malt-O-Meal), Cocoa Munchees (Hospitality), Cocoa Puffed Cereal (Kroger). The test was not only to see which was the *best tasting overall, but also which had best value as the prices were varying.
*we recognize that taste is a subjective area that cannot truly be scientifically proven and wish readers to know that these are our opinions and you may feel free to disagree. Cereals were ranked on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best possible taste.
Cocoa Puffs (General Mills)
1. Cocoa Puffs (General Mills)-
Subject A described it as “super good” and guessed right away that it must be the Cocoa Puffs.
Subject B said it was good, crunchy, and had good chocolate flavor. Guess was Kroger brand.
Individual ratings of 8/10, 7/10 respectively
Cocoa Roos (Malt-O-Meal)
2. Cocoa Roos (Malt-O-Meal)
Subject A described as gross and guessed immediately that they had to be off brand.
Subject B immediately guessed them to be Cocoa Roos and agreed that they were not as likeable.
Both noted that the cereal lost its crunchiness soon after pouring the milk.
Both rated as 4/10
Cocoa Munchees (Hospitality)
3. Cocoa Munchees (Hospitality)
Subject A described as interesting
Subject B described as crunchy and second guessed that they must be cocoa puffs
Individual scores of 6.5/10 and 6/10 respectively
Cocoa Puffed Cereal (Kroger)
4. Cocoa Puffed Cereal (Kroger)
Subject A described them as disgusting and gross
Subject B assumed they were the Cocoa Munchees and was certain they were off-brand. She thought they were crunchy but very unsatisfying. Previous to taste test Subject B thought that the Kroger brand was her favorite.
Individual scores of 4/10 and 3/10 respectively
Now, the prices of course are also a determining factor in the study.
1. Cocoa Puffs (General Mills)- $2.50 for an 11.8 oz box.
$0.21per ounce
2. Cocoa Roos (Malt-O-Meal)- $4.95 for a 27.5 oz bag
$0.18 per ounce
3. Cocoa Munchees (Hospitality)- $4.90 for a 35 oz bag
$0.14 per ounce
4. Cocoa Puffed Cereal (Kroger)- $2.99 for a 28 oz bag
$0.10 per ounce
So as you can see the Kroger brand is the cheapest by the ounce, but it was also the least liked. Our recommendation is for the Cocoa Munchees as they were the second best liked and the second cheapest! We figure that’s pretty good value, and as poor college students we definitely know what we’re talking about!
This sums up our conclusions to our experiment. Best to worst: Cocoa Puffs, Cocoa Munchees, Cocoa Roos, Cocoa Puffed Cereal. Most expensive to cheapest: Cocoa Puffs, Cocoa Roos, Cocoa Munchees, Cocoa Puffed Cereal.
I hope you found this entertaining. Let us know if you do any of your own brand experimentation! It is certainly fun to see how brands vary. We have considered setting up a separate blog for the purpose of trying different brands. If I get enough support maybe I’ll actually do it, so feedback is great! What is your favorite cereal/brand? Let us know!
A Cup of English Tea 