Which? tracked the average price of 12 branded coffees at six supermarkets - Asda, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose - including special offers and loyalty discounts where applicable, in the first two months of this year and found price rises of up to 40%.
Eleven out of 12 of the branded instant coffees we looked at in our snapshot research had risen by at least 8% on average across the supermarkets, compared to the same period last year. Half were more than 10% pricier.
Read on to find out if your favourite brew is one of the brands with the steepest price rises, and get our tips on how to save on your next caffeine hit.
How much has your favourite coffee gone up?
The biggest individual price hike we found was on a 200g jar of Nescafé Original - the UK’s top-selling coffee - which was 40% pricier at Ocado at an average of £7.91 in the first two months this year, compared to an average £5.65 at the same time in 2024. The average price jumped by 14% (from £5.09 to £5.79) across the five supermarkets where it was available.
A 140g tin of Nescafé's Azera Americano was up a hefty 38% at Tesco - from £5.25 to £7.26 - and rose by an average 18% (from £6.17 to £7.27) year-on-year across the six supermarkets.
At Asda, Which? found that L’Or’s Classique instant coffee rose by 28% for a 150g jar to £7.14 from £5.59 last year, while the average was 14% across all the supermarkets.
Here are the average price increases of some popular branded instant coffees across all the supermarkets we looked at:
undefinedSurging global coffee prices are probably to blame. The price of the robusta beans often used in instant coffee production hit record highs last year, following drought and heavy rainfall in Vietnam - the world’s largest producer.
Find out more:How to avoid steep price rises
The good news is that own-brand coffees have bucked the trend: we found the average price of a 200g jar of both regular and gold blend own-label instant had slightly decreased in price year-on-year.
We also tracked a selection of ground coffees from four leading brands and found that prices were more stable for the time being.
Only those sold by Lavazza had seen significant hikes compared to the same two-month period last year: a 250g pack of Lavazza’s Espresso Italiano Classico had skyrocketed by 29% across the six supermarkets, while its Qualità Rossa ground coffee was an average 24% pricier.
Ground coffee often uses arabica beans, which have reached record price highs recently due to concerns over top grower Brazil’s crop following poor weather.
Italian-style own-label ground coffee had also risen by 9% on average.
Find out more:What about coffee shop prices?
So far, coffee shop prices have only crept up.
The average price of a regular 12oz latte at Costa, Starbucks, Caffè Nero, Pret and Greggs was 4% pricier year-on-year in January: you’d have paid £3.47 compared to £3.34 a year previously, according to data from market research agency Allegra.
However, average latte prices have jumped by nearly a third in the past three years: a standard latte cost just £2.71 at the biggest coffee chains in January 2022 - 76p less than today’s average price.
What do the supermarkets and manufacturers say?
A spokesperson for Ocado said: 'Despite commodity price increases, we're doing all we can to keep prices low for our customers and offer the widest range of choice to suit all needs and budgets.'
A Nestlé spokesperson said: 'Like every manufacturer, we have seen significant increases in the cost of coffee, making it much more expensive to manufacture our products.
'As always, we continue to be more efficient and absorb increasing costs where possible, whilst maintaining the delicious taste that consumers know and love. Retail pricing is always at the sole discretion of individual retailers.'
Find out more:source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/soaring-price-of-branded-instant-coffee-revealed-aYhBJ0t8E08K