To you, coffee is best with some milk. On the weekends, when you can grind your coffee beans low and slow, you like to make a luxurious cup with a bit of cocoa added in. By combining chocolate and milk in your coffee, will you enjoy your best cup yet?
Chocolate milk in coffee provides the creaminess of coffee you love with the chocolatey flavor that elevates an ordinary cup of coffee. Try some chocolate milk and coffee recipes!
We’re sure you have more questions about adding chocolate milk to coffee, like how much should go in there? Do you have to make the chocolate milk yourself or is store-bought okay? In this article, we’ll answer those questions and more. We’ll even provide a handful of chocolate milk coffee recipes to make.
Let’s get started!
Does Chocolate Milk Taste Good in Coffee?
Peanut butter and jelly. Milk and cookies. These foods seem made for each other, right? You can argue that chocolate and coffee are a natural pair as well, albeit one that most people don’t think of. That’s why in many chocolate dessert recipes like cakes, you’ll often see a splash of coffee in the recipe.
The reason is that both chocolate and coffee have similar flavor profiles, which makes the flavor of one even richer by adding in the other. Part of this is due to what’s called the Maillard reaction. This chemical interaction only occurs in browned foods, everything from bread to cookies and yes, coffee and chocolate.
During the Maillard reaction, amino acids and reducing sugars interact, producing double-bonded oxygen atoms that meet compounds and other amino acids. To put it simply, the reaction can lead to melanoidin formation, a type of compound that produces dark hues in food.
Some coffee lovers will eat chocolate and then drink coffee, such as in this Reddit post. Other people just combine the two together in their coffee cup, using cocoa powder for a chocolate flavor. This may sound almost too sinfully delicious, but chocolate in coffee is better for you than you might think.
This article from chocolate company ChocoVivo mentions that chocolate contains antioxidants that can increase your mood and that chocolate might reduce bad cholesterol. Some experts even believe that chocolate can reduce blood pressure and thus stroke and heart attack risk.
Now, we do want to say this: that milk chocolate bar in your pantry or the container of Hershey’s chocolate syrup in your fridge is not great for your health. The purer the cacao in the chocolate, the better it is for you.
Coffee, according to ChocoVivo, has anticarcinogen antioxidants and might be able to prevent neurodegeneration. When you combine coffee with chocolate and add milk, provided you use high-quality, pure ingredients, you’re choosing a mostly healthy beverage that’s going to taste incredible. The science is there to prove it!
Should You Make Chocolate Milk Yourself Or Buy It From the Store?
You love the taste of chocolate milk much like everyone else, but you can’t help but perceive it as a bit of a kid’s drink. Maybe it’s the cartoon rabbits all over the packaging, but you can’t get over it. Is it fine if you take a container of store-bought chocolate milk and pour it straight into your coffee?
It sure is! Chocolate milk is not just for kids, and if you think that, why not try a different brand?
Store-Bought Chocolate Milk
Mashed wrote an article in early 2021 with the best and worst chocolate milk brands ranked. Here are the three brands the article most highly recommended.
- Promised Land Midnight Chocolate Whole Milk
Yes, whole milk has more calories than two percent or low-fat milk, but you’re brewing a tasty cup of coffee, so you might as well really treat yourself. Promised Land’s Midnight Chocolate whole milk boasts a rich, delicious chocolate taste. Even better is it contains no hormones or artificial colors.
- Trader Joe’s Chocolate Whole Milk
You can also head on over to your local Trader Joe’s and pick up their chocolate whole milk. The brand uses North Peruvian fair-trade cocoa, and their milk is kosher certified as well. Now you have a good excuse to brew some coffee!
- Fairlife Chocolate Milk
If you’re looking for creamy two-percent chocolate milk, try Fairlife’s. Their ultra-filtered milk increases the protein and lowers the sugar so you don’t have to feel guilty for indulging. This milk is also free of artificial growth hormones.
You don’t have to drink any of these three brands, of course, but they’re highly regarded for a reason. You can also browse the Mashed article and maybe find your new favorite brand of chocolate milk from other selections on that list.
Homemade Chocolate Milk for Your Coffee
Should you want to make chocolate milk from scratch, that’s also incredibly easy to do. You only need three ingredients: confectioner’s sugar (two teaspoons), unsweetened cocoa powder (one tablespoon), and milk (12 ounces).
You can choose whichever type of milk you most prefer, such as…
- low-fat diary milk
- whole milk
- two percent dairy milk
- almond milk
- coconut milk
- soy milk
Pour the milk into the container of an immersion blender, then gradually add the cocoa powder and confectioner’s sugar by blending. Voila.
No immersion blender? You can always use some elbow grease and mix the ingredients with a small whisk or even a spoon. You will have the creamiest chocolate milk with an immersion blender though, as it’s the most adept at removing all the clumps of the confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder.
How Much Chocolate Milk to Add to Coffee?
Whether you made it yourself or bought it at the grocery store, your chocolate milk is ready. Precisely how much should you add to your coffee?
Well, that depends on what you want. This article from PureWow, a women’s lifestyle website, suggests making chocolate milk-infused iced coffee by mixing equal parts coffee with chocolate milk. If you really like the taste of chocolate milk, then you can follow that recipe to the letter.
You can also take a less-is-more approach. Pour in only small amounts of chocolate milk and sample the coffee. Keep adding chocolate milk until you’re happy with the flavor. Try to remember the amount of milk you poured in so you can easily make chocolate milk coffee to your liking again soon!
Chocolate Milk Coffee Recipes to Try Today
Are you ready to experience the deliciousness of chocolate milk in your coffee? Let us introduce you to some phenomenal recipes that will help you get started!
Chocolate Milk Latte
This first recipe comes courtesy of lifestyle blog Homemade and Yummy. This espresso tastes like something you’d find on the menu of a high-end café, yet it’s so affordable and easy to make that you’ll wonder why you hadn’t done so sooner.
You need a cup of espresso (whatever brand is your favorite), chocolate milk (as much as you like), and sprinkles because why not? Here are the steps to follow.
First, warm the chocolate milk on a stovetop, but don’t let it come to a boil. Prep your espresso as usual. Use a milk frother to get the chocolate milk ultra-creamy and foamy. If you don’t have a milk frother, you can skip this step, but then your beverage isn’t true espresso.
Pour in the chocolate milk, stir it with the coffee, and add the foam. If you feel like trying your hand at latte art, that will make your coffee even more Instagram-worthy.
Chocolate Milk Iced Mocha
Perhaps you like your coffee cold. In that case, you’ll love this recipe from food blog How Sweet Eats. Here’s what you need:
- Coffee ice cubes
- Chocolate milk (one cup, cold)
- Chocolate syrup (three to four tablespoons)
- Cold filtered water (three and a half cups)
- Vanilla powder (two tablespoons)
- Coarse-ground coffee (one cup)
When you want to make this chocolatey iced coffee, start prepping the night before. Mix the vanilla powder with the coffee grounds in a French press or a brewing machine of your choosing. Add the cold water as well and then refrigerate the ingredients for eight hours. If you can wait 12 hours, please do so.
When you wake up, press your coffee. In a glass, add ice cubes and chocolate syrup. Fill the glass with the brewed coffee and pour in the chocolate milk. If you want, you can squirt in some chocolate syrup for garnish, but this is optional.
S’Mores Coffee
This is probably the most sinful chocolate milk coffee recipe, but it’s worth sharing. Courtesy of Yummly, here’s what you need for this tasty treat:
- Graham crackers (two grams)
- Marshmallows (three tablespoons)
- Chocolate milk (one cup)
- Coffee concentrate (four tablespoons)
In a glass, add ice midway up. Brew your coffee and then pour it into the glass, filling the rest of cup with chocolate milk. Stir the two until they’re well incorporated. Top with some marshmallows and crushed graham crackers and you’re done!
Final Thoughts
If you haven’t tried chocolate milk in coffee, what are you waiting for? Chocolate and coffee complement each other so well, and the inclusion of milk makes your coffee taste like a delicious dessert depending on how you make it. We hope this article inspires you to taste coffee from the sweeter side.
If you really want to make it more of a dessert, try adding whipped cream, chocolate shaving, caramels , and even some ice cream.