Do Reese's Cups Taste Different Now?

(Update 4/2/2026! - Hershey to resume using chocolate in most products; Reese’s grandson may taste sweet victory - CLICK HERE TO READ!)

Is there something about that Reese's cup that has been a little off? Have you noticed a change in the flavor over the years? This past week several news outlets have ran a story about the grandson of the creator of the Reese's Cups peanut butter and chocolate candy accusing the Hershey Chocolate company of changing the recipe. Brad Reese, grandson of the confection's creator H.B Reese in 1928, claims that Hershey now uses "compound coatings" rather than REAL milk chocolate and Peanut Butter-style crèmes, rather than actual peanut butter in the various incarnations of Reese's products.

Chocolate and peanut butter related stories are pretty relevant to me... because I absolutely LOVE chocolate and peanut butter! And there was a time if you asked me what my favorite candy was I'd say REESE'S CUPS! It was probably that way since I was a very small child. But in the past several years I've had many conversations with my wife (who is also a big chocolate lover) and how something has changed! A Reese's Cup just doesn't do it much for me anymore as it almost seems TOO SWEET! As far as store bought chocolates that you typically find in most US stores, I really found myself gravitating towards KINDER branded chocolates.

These recent revelations by Brad Reese, which are disputed by Hershey, have me wondering - did I leave Reese's Cups or did Reese's Cups leave me? I think most of us can agree that as we age our taste buds can go through some changes. For me it usually meant ADDING things to my palette, and not necessarily beginning to dislike something, though. I think back to most of the things I liked to eat when I was a child or even a teen and I still like them, even if I don't eat them much or at all (often due to health concerns). I also thing subtracting things from your diet can affect how you perceive foods as well. In the mid-80s my Grandfather had to cut out salts for health reason, and the entire family followed suit. To this day I do not salt food and rarely add it to my cooking. So I am quite salt sensitive when I eat and some foods are prepared in ways I just can’t handle.

But back to the Reese's Cup! Well, to be fair I haven't had a normal Reese's in quite some time. Even a Reese's Egg or Tree! All I can recall is a few sugar free mini-cups that my father-in-law had, and those do not taste normal. So in the interest of science and the search for the truth I am going to buy a regular Reese's Cup and give it a shot....

…. And I did it. I drove a few miles down the road to a Dollar Tree (not hard too find those anymore) and picked up some regular cups and a Reese’s Egg, as Easter is the next holiday coming up. I liked eating both, but the Egg is more enjoyable to me now because of the higher peanut butter content than a regular egg. I remember that being the case with the Reese’s Christmas trees, too, years back. But, I do think they are definitely sweeter and not as rich as they were a few years ago. But is that just my personal tastes changing or Hershey? Of course Hershey has denied changing anything with the recipe, but the fact is how would anyone really know? I guess it’s possible one could find some sealed decades old Reese’s Cups somewhere and take them to a lab to compare with the current candies. But I would imagine something happens to the sugars and other ingredients as they age, so even that is probably flawed. I guess the real answer lies only with Hershey themselves, or your mouth… but I think it can lie to you as well!

I did a Google search of vintage Reese’s wrappers to see what ingredients were listed and how far off the deviated from what we currently have. A 1960s wrapper lists only the following: Peanut Butter, Milk Chocolate, Cane Sugar, Dextrose, Salt and Lecithin. The 2026 peanut butter cup lists: Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Skim Milk, Milk Fat, Lactose, Lecithin, (Soy), PGPR), Peanuts, Sugar, Dextrose, Salt, TBHQ, & Citric Acid to Maintain Freshness. So I understand that they break down the ingredients of what is “Milk Chocolate” now on the label, and I see that PGPR is an emulsifier often used to improve chocolate consistency. But it is interesting that “peanut butter” is NOT mentioned on the new wrappers. From looking online at a few different brands of Peanut Butter ingredients, their labels are pretty much Peanuts, Sugar or Molases, Salt, and typically an oil like Palm oil. I don’t see a type of oil listed on the new cups, so I’m not sure what makes the peanut butter part “creamy”. TBHQ (Tert-butyl hydroquinone) isn’t on the old stuff either. Tert-butyl hydroquinone is a synthetic compound used to keep animal fats and oils from going bad. It has a controversial reputation itself, and reading into it is a huge rabbit hole that I don’t want to go down! I am curious about the “Sugar” listed in new version. If it was a type of high fructose corn syrup, would it HAVE to be listed that way? I like how the old label literally says “Cane Sugar” which typically is not as overly sweet as corn syrup… and I can’t help but wonder if that is the culprit of the cups being seemingly overly sweet to me now?

A Reese's Cup Wrapper from 2026

In the end, while I do enjoy Reese’s Cups it’s just not my “go to” anymore simply because it or I have changed. If there isn’t a Kinder chocolate candy available, I would be more likely to grab a Snickers bar or a Twix. One thing I do know is all of this writing and thinking about Hershey is making me want to head back to Pennsylvania again to visit Hershey Park and Hershey’s Chocolate World! You know… for science!

Questions? Comments? Please email me at [email protected]