Which brand of organic chocolate milk tastes the best? There are three popular “natural” brands that are sold at Whole Foods.

One is Horizon Organic. One is Organic Valley. And the other is Promised Land Midnight Chocolate Reduced Fat 2 % Milk.

However, there is no organic label on the Promised Land milk, but I’m including it here because they use hormone-free cows.

By far, the best tasting of these milks is the Promised Land. I am not kidding.

Both Horizon Organic and Organic Valley (at least the reduced fat varieties; I didn’t try the full fat varieties) leave a very unpleasant aftertaste.

The milk comes in a carton for these two brands, and I had briefly speculated that perhaps the milk was picking up some cardboard residue from the carton, causing the miserable aftertaste.

But if this is true, then how come I never detect any aftertaste in white milk by the same brands?

So I ruled out the carton. It’s the chocolate milk itself. The initial taste is okay. Nothing great. And then the aftertaste hits you.

Now, when you drink the Promised Land Midnight Chocolate, WOW! The flavor is much richer than the Organic Valley and Horizon Organic.

There is just no comparison. In fact, Organic Valley and Horizon Organic taste identical, both having the same aftertaste.

Promised Land Midnight Chocolate was previously sold in glass bottles, and now the bottles are plastic, and I’m telling you, THIS is the chocolate milk for health-conscious people.

Though it’s not organic, it’s still hormone free, and besides, if you’re hell-bent on drinking only organic chocolate milk, you just won’t get the same cocoa flavor experience with the organic brands, and the aftertaste is a complete turn-off.

It wasn’t a bad batch, either, because I purchased both cartooned brands on several occasions, initially thinking it’s just a bad batch. But each time, that aftertaste was there. Forget it.

The interesting thing about Promised Land is that their 2 percent variety actually tastes more chocolaty than the full fat version.

If you’re a true chocoholic like me, you’ll want to add chocolate syrup to the Promised Land Midnight chocolate milk, and Whole Foods sells organic chocolate syrup.

Go one step further and add chocolate ice cream! Now THAT’S a REAL chocolate milkshake!

While I’m at it, Promised Land Midnight also beats the taste of conventional chocolate milks sold at regular grocery stores, hands down.

Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.