Strong flavors across the board, and the only drawback is a heavy, syrupy sweetness that you can feel in your throat post-swallow. A relatively minor gripe, but noticeable.
Hy-Vee 1% Chocolate Lowfat Milk
Salty at first taste, and not much else afterward. There’s not much sweetness, but what is there tastes artificial. Largely bland and unexciting.
Valley View Farms Chocolate Milk Shake
Incredibly thick— which is the only drawback I can find (albeit a big one). The flavor is sweet but not too lopsided, if it were much thinner, it would score a lot higher. Fans of the super-thick would enjoy. [Note: I’m pretty sure it’s not 68 calories per 100mL as the label suggests. I followed up with the company on 26-Jun-2017 and they replied that they are in the process of updating the label.]
Valley View Farms Chocolate Lowfat Milk
Texture feels unnatural and not entirely ‘milky.’ The flavor skews toward malty and is otherwise bland and uninteresting.
Lucerne Dairy Farms Extra Rich & Creamy Chocolate Fat Free Milk
A fat-free milk labelled ‘extra rich & creamy’ is strange, as a person would not select this item if they were looking for an indulgent experience. That said, it is pretty tasty for a skim chocolate milk— there’s perhaps a bit too much sweetness, but there’s salt in equal proportion that helps to balance it out. Lots more flavor that I expected.
Darigold Chocolate Lowfat Milk
Really nice creamy flavor, surprisingly prominent for a 1% fat product. Everything else is present and in good proportion— great tasting and feeling product from start to finish.
Fairlife SuperKids DHA Omega-3 Chocolate 2% Reduced Fat Ultra-Filtered Milk
Still has the signature Fairlife taste with a prominent stevia leaf flavor that attacks the lateral edges of your tongue and evokes the sour/mouth-watery reaction. Unfortunately, this overpowers the other flavors and experience. This has excellent nutritional stats that are head and shoulders above other chocolate milks.
Alpenrose Lite & Trim Chocolate Lowfat Milk
Fairly flavorless, with an aftertaste reminiscent of its container. Feels overly thick for just 1% milk fat. Chocolate is difficult to locate, overall it’s not an enjoyable experience.
Alpenrose Swiss Supreme Chocolate Milk
Not much chocolate to be found, but tons of cream, sweetness, and a decent dose of malt makes it wonderfully flavorful nonetheless. One of the most caloric products I’ve ever tasted, it’s like drinking melted ice cream (an overused cliché, but true here). With more cocoa, this could be elite.
Umpqua Dairy Dutch Style Chocolate Milk
Thick and creamy, but has a unique flavor to the sweetness that registers as ‘melon-y’ to me— just for a second, and then it goes away. There's as much malt as chocolate, both of which could stand to be more prominent, as there’s plenty of cream to carry it to a satisfying conclusion.
Edaleen Dairy Chocolate Milk
Sweet and has a syrupy quality instead of a (desirable) creaminess. Nothing else particularly stands out aside from a slight maltiness.
Alpenronse Swiss Style Chocolate Milk
Very creamy and pleasant, though not over-indulgent on the chocolate side of things. Not a bad way to spend a few hundred cals.
Sunshine Dairy Foods Moonstruck Drinking Chocolate
Tons of taste— the chocolate flexes its muscles and is judiciously disseminated by the cream, leaving a warmth in your mouth, as though it’s hugging you and your body reciprocates. Excellent.
Garry's Meadow Fresh All-Jersey Chocolate Milk
Rather thick and sports a noticeable grain- you almost need to chew it. It’s surprisingly bland as well, but finishes with a pleasantly creamy nod.
Sunshine Dairy Foods Reduced Fat Chocolate Milk
Nicely creamy and less focus on sweetness. Quite enjoyable, but could use a stronger cocoa element.
Sunshine Dairy Foods Fat Free Chocolate Milk
Sweet and salty, but not much cream or chocolate flavor. Super smooth and drinkable, especially for fat-free, but it needs to amp up the cocoa to fare better in a taste comparison.
Doutor Cocoa
Earthier flavor than the Royal version, and also less rich and more powdery-feeling and tasting. The first part of the sip is promising, but the aftertaste is regrettably sharp and damp, like super-stale corn chips.
Doutor Royal Cocoa
Strong, sour, unique cocoa flavor that has a richness to it but it’s lacking on the salt and cream traits that would balance out the sweetness. Still, an indulgent-feeling drink that is worthy of a try.
Fujiya Milky Cocoa
Grainy and provides a drying sensation in the mouth. Noticeably chocolate flavor, but it's not particularly good-tasting chocolate. It's potable, especially coming from a can, and it may be less sweet than you'd expect. Nonetheless, it's a lower-tier option.
Sangaria Mild Taste Cocoa Drink
Interestingly thin and chalky, something I’ve come to expect from a box but not a can. Cocoa flavor is hard to put a finger on, and there’s a musty aftertaste akin to what a mouth-breather would experience while going through old boxes in his/her attic.