This Man's Audit Of Quality Street Chocolates Has The Internet Shook

Fans of the purple-wrapped chocolates might find this rather upsetting.
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As if 2020 couldn’t get any worse, a tweet has exposed the shocking disparity in chocolate flavours in some of the nation’s Quality Street tubs.

Stephen Hull, head of digital at ITV News, had a bit of spare time on his hands over the weekend so he decided to audit an unopened Quality Street tin (each to their own).

Hull found there were just four – yes, four – purple chocolates (hazel in caramel flavour) in his tub, compared to a whopping 11 orange cremes and 11 toffee pennies.

“Another blow for 2020,” Hull tweeted. “Who do I complain to? #inequalitystreet.”

He kindly confirmed to HuffPost UK that he had not eaten any purple chocolates before taking the photo.

Bit of spare time on my hands today so I audited the unopened Quality Street tin. Just 4 purples (4.7%) and yet a massive 11 (12.9%) orange ones. Another blow for 2020. Who do I complain to? #inequalitystreet pic.twitter.com/8cDu6yDbcP

— Stephen Hull (@stephenbhull) November 29, 2020

So, is this to be expected across the board, or does Nestlé, the food giant behind Quality Street, just have random allocations of chocolate in each tin?

Twitter user Chris Tate-Davies responded to Hull’s tweet with his own analysis – and it revealed more purple chocolates. Although still not an overwhelming amount – five as opposed to Hull’s four.

Again, there were lots of orange cremes (controversial for some) and strawberry flavour treats, but far fewer toffee pennies.

Just done the same, to check consumer variance. I have 7.5% purple and 11.9%. Interesting, but seeing as I don't like nuts, I'm happy with the ratios myself. pic.twitter.com/mJSoFZylZN

— Chris Tate-Davies (@tatedavies) November 30, 2020

The vast range in quantities of chocolate has left people pretty outraged – well, it has been A Year.

That is all kinds of wrong. Orange creams shouldn't even be in the mix let alone staging a bloody takeover 😤

— MaisonDeBamboo (@MaisonDeBamboo) November 30, 2020

An outrage, the purple one are the best, only 4 and the orange the one I leave until there's no choice, 11 of em!!!!!

— claire savage 🇪🇺 #FBPE #Rejoin 🇺🇸 (@csav55) November 30, 2020

Only 4 green triangles too ...your tin is most dissapointing! Think we should all be checking our tins in case this is standard and if it is, we should then all lodge a complaint given all that we have been through this year!

— Sophie Sherlock (@SophieSherlock4) November 30, 2020

A Nestlé spokesperson told HuffPost UK: “We have procedures in place to help ensure that each of the 12 varieties is well represented within the mix – however these ratios can vary, which is why we don’t give set percentages for each sweet.”

If you’re the sort of person who can’t stomach the many flavours of Quality Street – and the risk of an uneven spread – it might be worth buying a tin of your favourites. Although it’ll cost you more.

Or, you could opt for a tub of Roses instead, which appears to have more of an even distribution of flavours. (Either that or Rachel got lucky).

Roses, approximately 6pm on Friday pic.twitter.com/4TsEC4LWgM

— Rachel Groves (@RayGrovesRachel) November 30, 2020

Every Christmas since 2016, we’ve asked HuffPost UK readers to rank their favourite festive chocolates – resulting in thousands of votes.

Lindt Lindor Truffles have been revealed as the all-time favourites, followed by Cadbury Heroes, Quality Street, Maltesers and Terry’s Chocolate Orange. You can see the full ranking here.

Joy Skipper via Getty Images
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