BG Eats: Cocoa Loops hits the breakfast table

A spinoff of Fruit Loops? Kellogg’s newest, Cocoa Loops is ready to add a little more chocolate flavor to, well, any time actually.

Follow your nose… to Cocoa Loops

Everybody knowns Toucan Sam. Even if you’re not typically into kid-friendly cereals, you likely know him well from television commercials and print ads from almost every modern decade. I know him that way for sure, as those TV ads were constant companions to Saturday Morning and weekday afternoon cartoons when I was growing up.

I was a fan of the item that the animated bird repped too, occasionally having Fruit Loops as both a morning meal and after-school snack. That was a long time ago though, and no I won’t be commenting on how long. It’s been a while though, since I’ve even thought about buying a box. Yet here we are in 2025, and I’m absolutely loving a brand new drop that’s actually a spinoff of that famed food.

Yes, as you can see from the headline, it’s Cocoa Loops. The new offering from food giant Kellogg’s trades fruit flavor for chocolate, and surprised me in a few ways, not the least of which was the taste.

Same Sam, different Loops

So yes, Toucan Sam is on the box for Cocoa Loops, and it definitely retains that Saturday morning vibe of the original. This time even more so, since he’s joined by his two nephews and niece, as the trio bake up some Cocoa Loops in Sam’s kitchen.

That’s on the back of the box anyway, and the graphics hit nicely for me, loaded with nostalgia. I don’t know if this was the intent or not however. Remember, I haven’t bought a ‘kids’ cereal for ages, so I have no idea what the packaging even looks like by today’s standards.

That said, seeing bright and colorful characters and even getting a game to play on a cereal box took me right back to my childhood. I can remember many a morning reading box-backs over breakfast. In those days, iPads would’ve been sci-fi, so there wasn’t anything else to keep a kid occupied. Well, maybe the funny-pages, but that was about it.

I’d give the box design high marks overall. The entirety of it trades out the red of Fruit Loops for a purple shade, with Sam seen brandishing a tasty looking bowl of batter. As it happens too, that’s pretty spot on as to what the actual conveys.

A brownie-like flavor, and chocolatey milk

This isn’t touted anywhere, on the box or otherwise. But still, I couldn’t get the idea out of my head that Cocoa Loops has a brownie-like taste to it. That’s light-years away from being a bad thing by the way, as I loved what Kellogg’s cooked up here.

Cocoa Loops won’t bash you over the head with chocolate either. The Loops are sweet and tasty, and get across the vibes, but they’re also not so sweet that you think you’re having dessert for breakfast. I give this pretty high marks, as that’s something that I’m not a big fan of. The Loops are as crunchy as I remember too, maybe more so. They shook off milk sogginess well, keeping a decent crunch to them until almost the last bite. Not too shabby Sam.

Yes, the milk too

And yes, before you ask, they do make the milk chocolatey. That’s something that would be implied I’d think. Every chocolate cereal I can think of does it, though it’s also mentioned right on the front of the box in the case of this particular cereal. So if you were worried, fear not!

The generally light chocolate taste carries over to the milk as well. Much like with the cereal itself too, that mixture doesn’t taste like you dumped a massive amount of syrup into it. I’ll admit, that could be something of a negative, if you’re actually looking to be blown away by cocoa flavor. For me though, it hit both the spot and the target well.

And on top of all of the above, Cocoa Loops also has some ideas for additional snacking. Yes, Sam’s spreading out apparently. And he’s doing so by looking to bring his new brand into your general snack repertoire. The back of the box, in addition to the above, recommends topping yogurt or cupcakes with cereal pieces.

Overall

So are Cocoa Loops a winner of a cereal/snack? Yup, I dug ’em. As an adult, I probably wouldn’t eat them every day, but on occasion, they land just right. Now, flip time back a few decades (ahem), and if I was looking at it from a younger standpoint? Yeah, I’d want as much of these as possible.

As a fun aside too, Kellogg’s has launched the Follow Your Ears campaign. This launched with a giveaway (that’s since ended), but the theme is still rolling on Instagram. Via the platform, fans of the brand can share their favorite hip-hop lyrics and songs that have been inspired by Fruit Loops. So you can share while you munch.

You can find the details on Follow Your Ears here on the official Insta page, along with getting peek at one of the coolest pieces of Fruit Loops artwork you’ll likely ever see.

A sample of Cocoa Loops cereal was shared with BrutalGamer for this taste test.