Why cocoa prices are soaring – and what it means for your chocolate
If you have been wondering “why is chocolate so expensive now?” you are not imagining it. Over the last couple of years, cocoa has behaved less like a modest bean and more like a hyperactive tech stock. Bad weather, disease and ageing trees in key growing regions have squeezed supply and then market speculators stepped-in to ‘turn the volume up to 11’.
Even though prices have finally started to ease a little, they are still far above the old “normal”. For any brand that fills its recipes with real cocoa – rather than sugar, vegetable fat and marketing fluff – the cost of making chocolate has risen sharply. Every chocolate bar, every egg and every shell now carries a much bigger cocoa bill.
Shrinkflation, “chocolate‑flavoured” treats and confusing labels
So what happens when cocoa, energy, packaging and labour all get more expensive at once? If you have searched for “Easter egg shrinkflation” or “are chocolate bars getting smaller?”, you have already seen some of the answers.
• Shrinkflation in chocolate Packs look reassuringly familiar, but the weight of chocolate inside often tells a different story. Hollow eggs are lighter, bars have quietly lost a square or two, and the price per 100g is doing all the heavy lifting.
• Reduced cocoa levels Recipes get “optimised”, which often means less cocoa and more sugar or cheaper fats. In a few cases, cocoa solids have dropped below the UK’s 20% threshold, so products can no longer legally be called “chocolate” at all.
• Creative wording Phrases like “chocolate‑flavoured”, “choc‑style coating” and “cocoa creme” sound indulgent but do not guarantee high‑cocoa content.
In short: you pay more, you get less, and you need to decode the label to work out whether you are buying real chocolate or something chocolate‑ish (ahem Penguin and Club biscuits).
We got serious when cocoa got ridiculous
At Russell & Atwell, this is where our stubborn streak kicks in. The whole point of the brand is fresh, high‑cocoa chocolate that we are genuinely excited to eat ourselves. Quietly trimming cocoa levels or shrinking chocolates until they look like they have been on a long diet has never been on the agenda.
Instead of joining the Shrinkflation-fest, we:
• Stuck with premium Fino de Aroma cocoa from Colombia – aromatic, complex and chosen for flavour, not price.
• Keep using British organic fresh double cream and butter from the Cotswolds, plus Wainwrights wildflower honey and Dorset Sea Salt because they make the chocolate taste the way we want it to taste.
• Refused to compromise on taste or quality by swapping in palm oil, mystery fats or extra sugar.
We have absorbed as much of the cocoa cost shock as we can and only taken modest price rises – roughly 5–10% across the range – so our fresh chocolate stays honest. If you are searching for “best high‑quality chocolate online”, this is exactly the standard we believe you should expect.
How do you tell if chocolate is actually good?
A question we are hearing more and more – on email, social and when Giles talks about cocoa on TV and radio – is:
“How do I know if a chocolate bar or Easter egg is genuinely good quality and not just clever branding?”
Cocoa percentage helps, but it does not tell the whole story. Ingredient lists lenthly, but written in a minuscule font and the Easter aisle is busy. Most people would rather not spend Saturday afternoon squinting at fine print.
Introducing the Russell & Atwell Cocoa Compliance Scanner
And finally - on April 1st we had some fun with our 'Cocoa Compliance Scanner- having a little nerdy fun. We couldn’t resist combining lasers, melt curves and snap acoustics for one day of the year.
Every Russell & Atwell chocolate is still made with generous cocoa levels, Fino de Aroma beans from Colombia, fresh organic cream and butter, wildflower honey and Dorset Sea Salt – the same standards we set long before cocoa hit the headlines.
