Kellogg’s new Krispy Kreme Cereal is weird. And I don’t say that because it’s a Mexico-exclusive cereal—though zany flavors that aren’t available stateside are certainly breakfast-aisle oddballs.

And I don’t call it weird because it comes in such a small box—weighing in at 190g vs your standard issue 280g Froot Loops—though there’s a strange, empty feeling that comes with knocking out a whole box of cereal within like, four or five regular-sized bowls of it. A.K.A., a typical weekend’s worth.

No, no, I call Krispy Kreme Cereal weird because it tastes weird! And I mean ‘weird’ not in the sense that it’s bad in any way, but in the way that’s like goodness gracious, me and mine, implacable flavor’s a-ticklin’ my mind. That’s right, the taste of Krispy Kreme Cereal is poetically elusive. I racked my brain buds and taste cells trying to identify the buttery(?), fried(?!), and perhaps, greasy(‽) note that prevails over each thick ‘n’ chunky cereal ring.

And those are some of the best adjectives I could come up with.

Krispy Kreme Cereal doesn’t taste just like a real KK Original Glazed, of course. We all know no mere play-acting cereal could stack up to a doughnut: that dense and doughy dextrose deity, apotheosized by all sweets. However, Krispy Kreme Cereal does come a lot closer to doughnuthood than any other doughnut cereal I’ve ever tried.

That includes Pink Donut Cereal, enjoyable in its own right as a Frosted Animal Cookies Cereal, as it were. It also includes the previous Most Doughnutty Doughnut Cereal title-holder, Powdered Donettes Cereal, whose pillowy texture was well-matched for that of a soft ‘n’ springy powdered doughnut, even if it lacked that certain dough nut sais quoi that makes a doughnut, well, a doughnut.

Krispy Kreme Cereal flips this script. The rings are rough and crispy, but I’m intrigued on by a coquettish kiss of funnel cake—fried and dusted with sweetness. There’s also a riveting twang of something else. It sort of tastes like sour cream or yogurt, but this bliss is very ephemeral, because sadly, by the time in each spoonful that you really start to appreciate the subtle flavor notes in Krispy Kreme Cereal…it’s gone. It fades fast, leaving behind a bland and mealy corn ring. It’s like someone on a deserted island deliriously chomping into a pinecone they at first dreamt was a hot dog.

Dramatic, I know, but Krispy Kreme Cereal is a bittersweet study in squandered potential. Its tangy, twangy, golly-gee oily over-taste is a neat trick, but it doesn’t stick the landing. In milk, this issue of fleeting flavor only becomes more obvious. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed my experience overall, even if only for the charming novelty of a taste I’ve never before experienced in a cereal. If you’d like to try it for yourself, I recommend buying from Mexican Candy Lady, who has a great selection of Mexico-exclusive cereal and sweets at very reasonable prices considering how much you’d pay for shipping on eBay. Sounds like a paid promotion, but trust me, the endorsement is totally earned.

Anyway, until next time, I’ll leave you with a fitting old adage passed down in my family for generations: just because a doughnut cereal is the doughnuttiest, don’t make it the most dough-lightful. (I still like the Donettes better.)

The Bowl: Kellogg’s Krispy Kreme Cereal

The Breakdown: Oily and yogurty may sound unappealing, but there’s a unique cereal experience here that’s marred by poor staying power, rough texture, and a bland base.

The Bottom Line: 6.5 doughnuts left in the break-room dozen because Sharon in HR only wanted half of one. One fourth of one, two times, to be more exact…out of 10