<Begin old-man voice> "When I was growing up, Cheerios were boring! It was the most plain cereal you could eat! There was only one flavor! And we liked it! Now, get off my lawn!" <End old-man voice>
It's true! From 1941 to 1976, there was only a single variation of Cheerios. (If you remember a "frosted" version, as I do, General Mills released that cereal under a completely different name: "Frosty-O's.") The first official flavor variation, "Cinnamon Nut Cheerios," appeared during America's bicentennial year and quickly disappeared, but "Honey Hunt Cheerios" was an immediate success upon its launch in 1979. "Apple Cinnamon" debuted in 1988, but that was about it. Despite the fact that two generations of parents made Cheerios their baby-appeasing car seat snack of choice, the company played it safe until the early 2000s.
Whether sparked by the relief of surviving Y2K, or realizing that everyone else was doing flavored cereals, General Mills finally gave in to reckless abandon by releasing a new Cheerios flavor every year since 2005. They certainly covered a lot of ground--from multigrain and yogurt variations to banana nut, chocolate peanut butter to pumpkin spice, maple to toasted coconut, peach, blueberry and strawberry. Just about the only flavor they hadn't tried yet was lemon...until now!
The scent is a little overwhelming, bordering on lemon air fresheners rather than lemonade, but in milk, the taste mellows. (And before you gag at the thought of milk with lemon, just think lemon meringue.) It does taste vaguely lemony...in the same way that Fruit Loops taste vaguely fruity...but not overpoweringly so. And it is definitely not tart in any way. Your tolerance for this cereal will entirely depend upon your tolerance for lemon flavoring. Me? While I prefer Apple Cinnamon and Honey Nut over all other Cheerios flavors (including the plain ol' boring ones), I thought this was a nice change of pace.
RATING: 4/5
