What’s your favorite thing about chocolate milk? Is it the comforting flavor and familiar sweetness? Or maybe it’s the feeling of a happy inner child as soon as you take that first sip, no matter what age you are. Very often, though, it’s not just the drink itself that makes an impact; it’s also the brand behind it. When we tried 10 chocolate milk brands, part of our interest was seeing how big names performed against each other. Nesquik and Hershey are two such popular brands, each undoubtedly having its own loyal customer base — but for the undecided and curious, which chocolate milk is actually better? Though neither is particularly exceptional (sorry, folks), Nesquik trumps Hershey.
We’re talking about ready-made chocolate milks here, not powders or syrups, but our taste tester noted that Hershey’s drink is not much better than the syrup version. While it does carry the Hershey flavor, it’s far too sweet to be fully enjoyable. A2 Milk, the company that partnered with Hershey to create this drink, proudly states that the chocolate milk comes without artificial sweeteners, which could lead people to mistakenly believe that the sweetness of the drink is on the tame side. But actually, sugar is listed second on the ingredient list.
What makes Nesquik’s chocolate milk better than Hershey’s?
In full transparency, Nesquik’s chocolate milk didn’t really impress in our ranking either. Compared to the absolute best chocolate milk brand, Promised Land, Nesquik can only be described as average. And yet, it still ranked one place higher than Hershey’s. It’s not overly sweet, which is a great step-up from the other brand. It’s also admittedly more nostalgic, with loads of customers reporting that they’ve been drinking Nesquik chocolate milk since they were little babes and are now giving it to their own children. This element of longevity that inevitably pairs with core memories is hard to beat.
For the most part, the nutritional composition of the two drinks is very similar. Both contain either low-fat or reduced-fat milk, both come with added vitamins D3 and A, and they even have the same amount of protein per serving (eight grams). However, Nesquik’s chocolate milk does have one nutritional lead on Hershey’s: the calcium content. Hershey’s milk contains 280 milligrams of calcium in 240 milliliters of drink, which comes out to be 22% of the Daily Value. In contrast, Nesquik’s milk contains 420 milligrams of calcium per 236 milliliters, equaling 30% of the Daily Value. This difference could be quite significant, considering calcium is just one of the reasons why nutritionists can’t get rid of chocolate milk in schools.
