I did not expect, of all the posts I’ve written, that my pessimistic timeline of cereal innovation (or lack thereof) would become a hit. But it was the second most popular item last year (next to the crossword-tourney writeup). Within a couple of weeks, even the Financial Times was linking to it, a gracious gesture as they not-so-subtly lifted my idea.

This is not to boast—not entirely, at least—but rather to explain why, in December, a well-connected friend presented me with three new cereals from General Mills. “I’ll write them up on my website!” I said. “No,” he replied. “You must wait until January, when these secret recipes will be made available to the masses.” Wow! It was Geek Out New York’s very first embargo. After that, every spoonful of these confidential cereals was laced with intrigue.

With great seriousness, I set to testing these new breakfast options. Honey Kix topped the docket. I buy Kix pretty often, but it’s not quite part of my regular rotation. If you sprinkle sugar on Kix, it’s a litle too sweet. If you don’t, it’s a little too bland. I hoped Honey Kix would be Baby Bear’s porridge, upping the sweetness a notch or two to that ideal midrange.

Honey Kix hit the mark. I was surprised how good it was, in fact. The honey taste wasn’t overbearing, and thanks to the slightly harder coating compared to regular Kix, the corn puffs take longer to get soggy. (This is true, too, of Berry Berry Kix, which has an even more durable sugar coating.) Honey taste is tough. Honey Nut Cheerios, one of my favorite cereals, is superb, but plenty of other cereals have tried and failed. Golden Grahams, for instance, are disgusting. So hats off to Honey Kix for not falling on it face here.

That said, after my third bowl in a week, the flavoring did start to taste artificial. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to my next box. Some sliced banana might make it a little more palatable—I ate all of the new cereals unadulterated aside from 1-percent milk, for the sake of fairness.

In short, I’d buy it again, and while a welcome break from the enigma of regular Kix, the “honey” doesn’t wear well on repeated eatings. Pace yourself.

Whether it’s good or not, Honey Kix does, sadly, exemplify the problem I bemoaned in my original cereal post: There are no real new ideas in cereal anymore. The big cereal companies are re-tweaking their old formulas again and again. In fact, Kix might be the most successful and prolific cereal to be reinvented. Since its introduction, it has been transformed into (among others) Trix, Cocoa Puffs, and Berry Berry Kix. These are all great cereals. Honey Kix may not measure up to that lineage, but it’s still pretty good. There’s always a Kix to fit your mood, which is impressive.