If you’ve been sleeping under a rock there’s this new DTC (direct to consumer) cereal brand that puts health at the forefront of their product.
What does that mean? Well it means things like using monk fruit extract as a sweetener instead of cane sugar or worse yet, corn syrup. It means low-carb, natural flavoring, gluten-free and high in protein too.
It’s the high in protein part that motivated me to order a bunch of Magic Cereal because I’m always looking for a late night snack that’s easy to put together and has added protein for chilling at home after strenuous days at the gym.
3 Pros of Magic Spoon Blueberry Muffin
There are some things that Magic Spoon does right and some things that could be improved. Below we’ll cover what they nailed with this Blueberry Muffin release and then cover some things that could still be improved upon.
1. Killer Design Disrupts An Old Industry
Before even tasting it we have to give credit to the graphic designers at Magic Spoon. The image of the diver riding a big red octopus captures the exploration of this all new cereal type perfectly. The colors contrast nicely against shades of blue and darker blue on the box.
No, you shouldn’t buy a cereal just because of the box design but there’s also no harm in acknowledging when someone with real talent has put in some hard work. Look how stagnant traditional General Mills and Kellogg’s are with their packaging, heck some of that stuff hasn’t changed since I was a kid!
2. High Protein Content For Fueling Gains
There are a whopping 13 grams of protein per serving which is about 1 cups worth, which isn’t a lot. I usually eat around 2 cups of cereal at a time, being a big growing boy and all. As such, before adding milk I’m getting 20-26 grams of protein just from the cereal alone which is FANTASTIC.
Once I add a couple cups of milk which contain on average 8 grams of protein per cup, I’m looking at a net protein intake with my cereal snack of up to 42 grams of protein which is pretty much a whole shaker’s worth of whey!
3. Impressively Strong Blueberry Flavor
If you’ve ever had a couple of blueberries from the grocery store you’ll know that they often don’t have a very strong flavor. In fact you have to pick fresh or wild blueberries to really get the blueberry flavor and even then half the sensation is simply the bitterness that comes with a natural, non-GMO blueberry.
As such, I’m usually pretty disappointed with things that are labelled blueberry flavor as it seems like a tricky one for food manufacturers to nail down. That said Magic Spoon nailed it here with a VERY strong blueberry flavor.
I’d say the blueberry is stronger than the muffin flavor even, and it’s usually the other way around. After finishing a whole bowl I’d say there might be perhaps even too much blueberry flavor, although if you cut your Magic Spoon cereal with another type (more on that later) then it becomes just perfect.
For not using artificial flavorings or colorings this cereal has a uniquely intense blueberry flavor and color that I haven’t seen equaled anywhere else in the cereal world.
3 Cons Of Magic Spoon’s Blueberry Muffin Cereal
Alas, nothing on this mortal earth is perfect and as such I must share things that I thought could be improved in this review, otherwise it would lack integrity and be meaningless.
1. The Boxes Are Too Small
This isn’t unique to this flavor, all of the Magic Spoon cereals come in boxes for ants. Seriously, the label states a serving to be 1 cup but most people will be eating 1.5-2 cups at a time. With just 5 cups per box that’s just 2-3 “bowls worth” of cereal.
Please just make bigger boxes and charge extra for the extra material. When people buy a cereal they want it to at least make it through the week which can be tough if you’re eating it daily. Yes, for what it’s worth I’m aware this is just the way of the world now, shrinking sizes and charging more, deemed “shrinkflation” it’s a bane to our society.
2. The Whey Protein Texture Needs Refining
Similar to my critique of the Cinnamon Roll Magic Spoon the biggest area that still needs improvement is the incorporation of that magical protein that makes this cereal so unique and enticing to the fitness crowd.
Now before you freak out let me just say as someone who has drank protein shakes and eaten protein bars consistently for over a decade I’m not expecting perfection. The fitness industry is used to not-great-tasting products.
As such, the bar is quite low and if Magic Spoon could find a protein powder that wasn’t as gritty and didn’t have such a distinct flavor, then these cereals would be simply irresistible. Maybe a more expensive whey isolate? What about a casein isolate or nut derived protein? I’m not food scientist, just spit-balling here.
3. The Flavor May Be Too Intense For Some
While I was initially quite impressed with the strong blueberry flavoring of this cereal after 3-4 big spoonfulls the flavor built up enough to be a little off-putting. This cereal isn’t like some where the more you shove into your mouth the faster the better it tastes.
If you shovel too much in too quickly the intense blueberry can be a bit overwhelming in my opinion. For what it’s worth I error on the lighter side when it comes to cereal flavors, preferring to let the first bowl flavor my milk and then peaking with the second bowl.
As such, I had to “cut” my Magic Spoon Blueberry Muffin with some other non-protein cereal I had on hand to add a little non-whey texture and also turn the volume down on the flavor a bit. When mixed with just a small amount of another grain-based cereal the flavors and textures harmonized and I easily finished my bowl.
Skinny Yoked Conclusion: Not Bad
In conclusion I’d rank the Blueberry Muffin flavor above the Cinnamon Roll flavor simply because the cinnamon one really couldn’t cover the kind of gross twang of the whey protein itself. The sharper blueberry flavor layered over the muffin did a better job hiding the extra protein, although it was still noticeable.
On the whole I’d order Blueberry Muffin again if it came in a bigger box as I’d just make sure to have another grain-based cereal to mix with it to dilute the intensity of the flavor and protein texture a bit. Mixing up a 2/3 Magic Spoon Blueberry Muffin cereal with 1/3 Honey Nut Cheerios for example would be downright delectable.
That said, if you like intense flavors and crush protein bars on the regular that have that kind of granular texture then you might love this cereal.
