There are a lot of tough jobs in this world: oil rig worker, skyscraper window washer, lumberjack. But if we’re talking about a real David vs. Goliath battle of wits and resources, being an indie cereal maker is a profession where you have to overcome a lot of lopsided odds. Trying to market a new breakfast product against multi-billion dollar corporate behemoths like General Mills or Kellogg’s means accepting that your product will have to cost more and work harder without decades of brand recognition and cheap, bulk ingredients.

This is naturally why many independent cereal companies target their own niche of cereal consumers. Since the world’s cereal giants usually lack truly wholesome releases for those eating low carb, high protein, gluten-free or organic diets, we’ve seen any number of specialty or boutique breakfast startups offering cereals that are theoretically more healthy than any Special K or Kashi product.

From Magic Spoon and Cereal School to OffLimits and Three Wishes, there’s a lot of growing competition in the specialty cereal game. So how do you tell them apart? Well, for me it all comes down to the base grain*, which I’ve asterisked because several of these use grain alternatives like tapioca flour or chicory root fiber. If you read my first review of Three Wishes Cereal, where I covered their three introductory flavors, I noted how they perform a lot better in the base grain camp.

Does their newest release measure up? Let’s find out in three (wishes), two (wishes), one (wish)…

In a review all about cereal underdog difficulties, having a chocolate-flavored cereal only compounds the challenge: as one of the most fundamental cereal flavors, cocoa has been done to death (by chocolate). But in the face of hollow corn spheres like Cocoa Puffs, I think Three Wishes still did a solid job with this one.

I must clarify, as I always do in these reviews, that when I recommend a healthy “alternative cereal” like this, you shouldn’t expect it to taste better than conventional sugary cereals. Because that’s not really the point. For people looking for the right cereal for their diet, it’s a matter of finding what’s closest to the real thing. And Cocoa Three Wishes Cereal does this pretty well. With its grain-free base made primarily of chickpeas, there’s little of the frustrating bitter aftertaste found in cereals with more tapioca flour or other legumes. While the chickpea base also gives Three Wishes Cocoa a respectably hearty crunch, I’ll admit there’s still a little bit of gummy chew to the texture after you’ve chewed it for a bit.

The cocoa flavoring itself is also admirable. It’s on par, if not a little more authentic, with Cocoa Puffs’ level of cocoa powder taste, and because Three Wishes uses actual cane sugar, which not all alternative cereals do, it’s still sweet enough to enjoy without the cocoa powder getting bitter.

Milk does wonders for the texture, softening up that meddlesome chew, while producing a rich and chocolaty endmilk that’s also free of unsavory aftertastes. Plus, they take on a glossy shimmer that’s quite photogenic—much more so than the glossy forehead sheen present in all my school pictures.

At roughly $6 a box, Three Wishes Cereal isn’t for everyone. But those looking for a high protein, organic and gluten/grain-free cereal irrespective of budget should certainly look into this one. Especially if you’re trying to give your kids a healthier cereal, they’re less likely to even notice that Three Wishes is the ingrediential antithesis of mainstream chocolate cereals.

And if nothing else, this proves the validity of chickpeas as a cereal ingredient, bringing us one step closer to the bowl of Falafelets I’ve long dreamt about.

The Bowl: Three Wishes Cereal – Cocoa

The Breakdown: It’s no Cocoa Puffs, but this Three Wishes variety is the brand’s best yet. Despite a few textural quirks and the overall stickiness of each piece, cereal lovers young and old can find solace in a cocoa powder-powered breakfast that won’t hurt their teeth.

The Bottom Line (for a healthy cereal): 8 garbanzo bonanzas out of 10