I will forever associate blueberry-lemon flavor combos with the word loaf.

Apparently it’s really common to stuff blueberries and lemon juice into moist bricks of pound cake so dense they could K.O. passing construction workers if not properly secured to the kitchen table. And even though Starbucks has apparently never sold blueberry-lemon loaf next to the register (I still remember seeing it: I blame a highly caffeinated Mandela Effect), fat slices of the stuff would look right at home next to the chain’s cavalcade of other pastries whose sophisticated pedestals and tiny signs tempt you to consume 80% of your daily recommended calories before 9am.

So when I heard that Special K Blueberry with Lemon Clusters was going to be the wholesome cereal line’s newest flavor, I happily ditched my macchiato mid-order and impulsively considered buying a bread maker. Tasting all the flavor of blueberry-lemon loaf without giving myself loaf-handles?

Consider it bun. Err, I mean done. Sorry: too many carbs on my mind.

As the first of its kind, Blueberry Lemon Special K cereal has zero expectations to live up to—despite my quiet worship of all things loafed. If nothing else, it has to live up to Special K’s reputation for crunchier and heartier than average flakes, and I’m sad to say that Special Blueberry with Lemon Clusters is overshadowed by the might of its flaky forefathers: the multigrain shards in this cereal seem more fractured than normal (though that’s also a fair descriptor for my life, to be fair), as well as weaker in terms of both crunch intensity and sweetly toasted flavor. They kind of taste like sugar-flecked wheat bread crusts, which, though fitting for this review’s breaded theme, isn’t as pleasant as previous Special K varieties’ golden-glazed, elephant-ear-sized flakes.

But now that Blueberry Lemon Special K cereal’s flaked folly is out of the way, we can talk about just how awesome its two titular clusters are. Both the blueberry and lemon bits are smaller than expected—none are larger than a raisin—but that just means there are more of them to happily populate the bowl and reduce your odds of eating one of those rare, dreaded spoonfuls of just flakes.

Even camp counsellors don’t tell campfire stories about those things. Too scarring.

And these little fruit ‘n’ oat niblets pack quite the punch, too. The blueberry oat clusters are a little chewy for my liking, but their deep, brooding, and jelly-like blueberry sweetness is mouthwatering without being aggressively artificial or sugary. Picture a crunchier Kellogg’s blueberry Fruity Snack covered in blackberry jam, and you wouldn’t be far off. Its ribbons of flavor cut through the flakes’ crustiness, so if you eat a flakes + blueberry spoonful, it’ll taste a lot like a blueberry Nutri-Grain bar. And since those things were essentially the binge-worthy blueberry-lemon loaves of my childhood, this is a commendable compliment.

I know I said both clusters pack a punch, but the blueberry bits’ flavor is a mere jab compared to the crispy lemon yogurt nuggets’ round-ending haymaker. These things taste like creamy yellow Starburst, plain and simply: sweet lemon that’s zesty, but not tangy, with a dash of buttercream icing or something. The second you bite into one of these, you’ll know, as their candied citrus goodness explodes and envelopes every other flavor around it in a brief burst of flavor that doesn’t overstay its welcome with an acidic finish.

This does mean that the more potent blueberry notes get lost behind the lemon, so if you’re not the kind of lemonhead who eats Lemonheads by the bowl, box, and truck-full, you’ll have to do some careful spoon balancing of Special K Blueberry with Lemon Clusters’ various components to get the advertised flavor synergy.

Though be careful crafting the optimal flavor synergy. If sci-fi movies have taught me anything, that’s a sure way to open interdimensional portals and release some serious Cacodemons.

Milk amps up the creaminess of all components, too, relieving the oats of their toasty duty and making the whole bowl taste like a lemon cream pie or ambiguous Hostess Fruit Pie, depending on how you stack that spoonful. Either way, as long as your cluster to flake ratio isn’t too heavy on the brown shrapnel, you’re bound to have a good time with or without dairy reinforcements.

Because this is the best Special K variety I’ve tried in a while, probably since Apple Cinnamon Crunch. It’ll surely make for a refreshing breakfast, all summer long, and you can save those loaf calories for your afternoon BBQ, potato salad, or quartful of Kool-Aid. But despite this, it’s the lack of any dignified crunch or flavorful flake foundation that holds Blueberry Lemon Special K back from being a true Special K klassic.

Ugh, sorry: I meant classic. Now I’ve got Ks on my brain instead. I better go make some cereal-crusted lemon loaf to bring back that starchy state of mind.

The Bowl: Special K Blueberry with Lemon Clusters

The Breakdown: Flat flakes and overshadowed blueberry jam are the only things keeping this delightfully lemony and creamy cereal from being my number one summer jam.

The Bottom Line: 8.5 falsely remembered alternate loaf dimensions out of 10