Spilling the beans: Cost of nation’s favourite instant coffee brand soars by as much as 40%, Which? finds

Drinkers of branded instant coffee are being hit with bitter price hikes, according to new Which? research, that also finds some supermarket own-brands have bucked the trend and dropped in price.

New snapshot research from the consumer champion found that the price of popular branded instant coffees has soared in recent months. Which? tracked the average cost of 12 branded coffees at six supermarkets - Asda, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose - in the first two months of this year and found that some had risen by around £2 a 200g jar- up to a whopping 40 per cent.

The Which? price analysis found that 11 out of 12 instant coffees had risen by at least 8 per cent compared to the same period last year and half were more than 10 per cent pricier year on year.

The biggest price hike revealed by Which?'s study was on a 200g jar of Nescafé Original - the UK's top-selling coffee - which was 40 per cent pricier at Ocado in January and February 2025 at an average of £7.91 compared to an average £5.65 at the same time in 2024. The average price jumped by 14 per cent (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 per cent at Tesco- from £5.25 to £7.26 and rose by an average 18 per cent (from £6.17 to £7.27) year-on-year across the six supermarkets. 

At Asda, Which? found L'Or's Classique instant coffee rose by 28 per cent for a 150g jar to £7.14 from £5.59 last year, while the average was 14 per cent across all the supermarkets.

Surging global coffee prices are likely 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.

Which? found however that own-label instant coffee had so far bucked the trend with prices even slightly cheaper than the same last year - the average price for own-label Gold instant coffee in January 2024 across all the supermarkets was £3.25 but had gone down to £3.15 at the same time in 2025 - 3 per cent cheaper. The cheapest supermarket version in the supermarkets Which? looked at for 2025 was Asda's Gold Roasted Coffee Instant Granules 200g, which was £2.42 on average during the first two months of this year.

As part of the price comparison, Which? also tracked a selection of leading brand ground coffees and found prices were more stable. 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 shot up by 29 per cent across the six supermarkets from an average £4.08 to £5.25 while its Qualità Rossa ground coffee (250g) was an average 24 per cent pricier, from £4.02 to £4.99 year on year.

Ground coffee often uses arabica beans, which have also reached record high prices recently due to concerns over top grower Brazil's crop following poor weather. Italian-style own-label ground coffee had also risen by 9 per cent on average from £2.78 to £3.03 across the four supermarkets Which? looked at. 

Own Label Premium Colombian Roast And Ground Coffee 227g, which was only stocked at five of the six supermarkets Which? looked at had gone from an average £3.82 in the first two months of 2024 to £3.85 at the same time in 2025 - a rise of only 1 per cent.

Reena Sewraz, Which? Money and Retail Editor, said:

“Caffeine enthusiasts might have noticed the price of some of the nation's favourite branded instant coffees creeping up - but our research reveals prices have soared by up to 40% in some cases.

“However, not all coffees have been impacted by high price rises, so shoppers should turn to supermarket own-brands for instant or shop around for a good deal on ground coffee to keep their caffeine cravings at bay.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Research

*Based on average January-February prices across six supermarkets, including promotions and loyalty discounts but not multibuys **Only stocked at five supermarkets

RORs

A Nestlé spokesperson told Which?:

“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.”

An Ocado spokesperson told Which?

"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. We've reduced hundreds of prices through our Big Price Drops and continue to match the price of a like-for-like shop on over 10,000 products to Tesco.com as part of the Ocado Price Promise."