Cadbury Bournville Old Jamaica Dark Chocolate Bar

Old Jamaica Chocolate – Cadbury Bournville Rum and Raisin Dark Chocolate

Among Britain’s most distinctive retro chocolate bars, Old Jamaica chocolate combines rich Cadbury Bournville dark chocolate with juicy raisins and a warm rum flavour. Cadbury first launched the bar in the UK in 1970, creating an unmistakably fruity variation on its established dark chocolate recipe.

The modern Cadbury Old Jamaica chocolate bar is sold in a 100g format. Each square brings together smooth cocoa, concentrated dried-fruit sweetness and aromatic rum notes in a recipe that has disappeared and returned several times during its long history.

Its appeal is partly flavour and partly memory. Old Jamaica is not simply another rum and raisin chocolate bar; it is a genuine British confectionery survivor with more than half a century of history behind its familiar red wrapper.

Old Jamaica Chocolate at a Glance

• Full product name: Cadbury Bournville Old Jamaica Dark Chocolate Bar
• Chocolate type: Dark chocolate with raisins and rum flavour
• Original launch: 1970 in the United Kingdom
• Manufacturer: Cadbury, now part of Mondelēz International
• Current pack size: 100g
• Key flavours: Rich cocoa, sweet dried fruit and aromatic rum
• Texture: Smooth dark chocolate with soft, chewy raisins
• Dietary classification: Suitable for vegetarians according to Cadbury
• Declared allergens: Contains milk and soya; may contain nuts

The History of Old Jamaica Chocolate

Cadbury’s Birmingham Beginnings

The story behind Old Jamaica begins with John Cadbury, who opened a grocery shop at 93 Bull Street in Birmingham in 1824. He sold cocoa and drinking chocolate prepared with a mortar and pestle, before beginning commercial manufacturing in 1831.

John’s sons, George and Richard Cadbury, later developed the family business into one of Britain’s best-known chocolate manufacturers. The wider Cadbury story spans two centuries of chocolate making, product innovation and an unusually strong connection with Birmingham.

In 1878, the brothers found a new factory site south of the city beside a stream called the Bourn. They combined its name with “ville”, the French word for town, to create Bournville. Building began in January 1879, establishing the place that would become associated with Cadbury chocolate, social reform and the company’s celebrated “factory in a garden”.

How Bournville Dark Chocolate Began

Bournville Cocoa appeared in 1906, followed by the first wrapped Bournville chocolate bar in 1908. This gave Cadbury a recognisable dark chocolate identity alongside its increasingly successful milk chocolate products.

Bournville became known for a deeper cocoa taste while remaining smoother and sweeter than many high-cocoa dark chocolate bars. That distinction is important because Old Jamaica is not a separate chocolate manufacturer. It is part of the Bournville family, using smooth dark chocolate as the foundation for its rum and raisin character.

The Original Old Jamaica Launch in 1970

Cadbury introduced Old Jamaica chocolate in the United Kingdom in 1970. The bar paired Bournville dark chocolate with rum and raisin, a flavour combination already familiar from traditional desserts, ice cream and confectionery.

The name gave the bar a memorable identity, while its red packaging distinguished it from standard Bournville chocolate. Publicly available manufacturer information does not identify an individual inventor or suggest that the product was created or manufactured in Jamaica. Old Jamaica is a British Cadbury product; “Jamaica” forms part of its name and rum-flavoured personality.

Discontinuations, Returns and the 2020 Relaunch

Old Jamaica has not remained continuously available since 1970. Its repeated disappearances and returns have helped establish its reputation as a nostalgic chocolate bar worth campaigning for.

• 1970: Cadbury launches the original Old Jamaica chocolate bar.
• 1987: The flavour returns as part of Cadbury’s Classics range.
• Mid-1990s: Old Jamaica appears within the World of Chocolate range.
• Around 2010: The bar returns for another limited period.
• 2020: Cadbury Bournville Old Jamaica returns to the UK range following renewed public demand.

The 2020 comeback followed persistent requests from customers and online groups asking Cadbury to revive the bar. There is a useful distinction here: an ordinary product sells, but a product people actively campaign to recover has become part of their personal history.

What Is Old Jamaica Chocolate?

Old Jamaica is a solid Bournville dark chocolate bar containing raisins and rum flavour. It is neither a liquid-filled liqueur chocolate nor a soft-centred bar. The raisins are distributed throughout the chocolate, allowing each piece to combine the firm snap and smooth melt of Bournville with small pockets of chewy fruit.

The cocoa provides depth, the raisins introduce concentrated sweetness and the rum flavour supplies a warm aromatic note. This gives Cadbury Bournville Old Jamaica greater complexity than plain dark chocolate without making it excessively bitter or demanding.

It is, in short, an accessible rum and raisin chocolate bar for people who enjoy dark chocolate but would prefer it to arrive with a little more personality.

What Does Old Jamaica Chocolate Taste Like?

The first impression is smooth, sweet dark chocolate rather than the dry bitterness associated with very high-cocoa bars. The raisins then provide bursts of fruity sweetness and a gently chewy texture, while the rum flavour becomes more noticeable as the chocolate melts.

• Chocolate: Smooth, sweet and cocoa-rich
• Fruit: Juicy raisin flavour with a soft chew
• Rum character: Warm, aromatic and distinctive
• Sweetness: Rich without completely masking the cocoa
• Finish: Lingering dark chocolate with fruit and rum notes

Some dark chocolate appears to require a tasting notebook, a lecture and a firm opinion about single-estate cocoa. Old Jamaica chocolate merely asks whether you like chocolate, raisins and the possibility that an ordinary tea break could be improved considerably.

Old Jamaica Chocolate Ingredients

Cadbury currently lists the ingredients as sugar, cocoa butter, raisins, cocoa mass, palm oil, emulsifiers including soya lecithins and E476, flavouring, and skimmed milk powder.

These ingredients explain the bar’s flavour and structure. Cocoa mass and cocoa butter create the dark chocolate base, raisins provide the fruit, flavouring produces the characteristic rum note and emulsifiers help maintain an even texture and consistent melt.

Recipes and manufacturing information can change, so customers with allergies or specific dietary requirements should always read the packaging supplied with the product before consumption.

Old Jamaica Allergy and Dietary Information

• Milk: The current recipe contains skimmed milk powder.
• Soya: The recipe contains soya lecithins.
• Nuts: Cadbury states that the product may contain nuts.
• Vegetarian: Cadbury describes the bar as suitable for vegetarians.
• Vegan: No. The current recipe contains milk.
• Dairy-free: No. Skimmed milk powder is included in the ingredients.

The published product information does not provide a gluten-free declaration. Anyone with coeliac disease, a serious food allergy or another strict dietary requirement should consult the latest wrapper and manufacturer guidance.

Does Old Jamaica Chocolate Contain Alcohol?

Cadbury describes Old Jamaica as a dark chocolate bar with rum and raisin flavour. Its current online ingredient list uses the general term “flavouring” and does not state an alcohol percentage.

It would therefore be unwise to guess whether a particular batch contains measurable alcohol. If alcohol content matters for medical, religious or personal reasons, check the wrapper or contact Cadbury directly before consuming the product.

Old Jamaica Chocolate Nutrition

The following figures are taken from Cadbury’s current product information. They are useful for comparison, although the wrapper remains the final reference because recipes, serving guidance and packaging can change.

Old Jamaica is confectionery rather than a health product. Its sensible attraction is pleasure, portioned according to appetite and circumstance, not an attempt to turn a chocolate bar into a nutritional argument.

How Old Jamaica Differs from Other Chocolate Bars

The simplest description is rum and raisin dark chocolate, but that does not fully explain its appeal. Old Jamaica combines a recognisable Cadbury recipe, the heritage of Bournville and a flavour closely associated with British confectionery nostalgia.

A generic alternative may contain similar ingredients. It cannot manufacture more than fifty years of memories quite so efficiently. Browse our wider selection of chocolate bars to compare Old Jamaica with milk chocolate, dark chocolate, fruit-and-nut recipes and other familiar favourites.

How to Enjoy Cadbury Bournville Old Jamaica

The bar can simply be broken into squares and eaten, which remains one of confectionery’s more successful operating systems. Its rich fruit flavour also makes it suitable for several other serving ideas:

• Serve a few squares with tea or freshly brewed coffee.
• Offer it after dinner as an alternative to plain dark chocolate.
• Add it to a selection of retro British chocolate bars.
• Include it in a birthday hamper, Christmas stocking or chocolate gift.
• Chop it into brownies, cookies or chocolate cake for extra rum and raisin flavour.
• Pair it with vanilla ice cream for a simple rum and raisin dessert.

For the best texture, store the unopened bar in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight and strong odours. Chocolate absorbs surrounding smells with surprising enthusiasm, and nobody has ever improved rum and raisin with a faint suggestion of chopped onion.

Why Old Jamaica Became a Retro Chocolate Favourite

Nostalgia is not merely remembering an old wrapper. Taste and smell are closely connected with memory, so a familiar chocolate bar can recall childhood shops, family treats, holidays and particular people with remarkable speed.

Old Jamaica has an additional advantage: it has disappeared and returned often enough to make availability feel like an event. That history gives the product significance beyond its recipe. People do not simply search for a Bournville rum and raisin chocolate bar; many are searching for the precise flavour they remember.

The successful return demonstrated that affection for Cadbury Old Jamaica chocolate had survived long periods away from UK shelves. It now sits comfortably alongside other established favourites in the wider collection of Cadbury Chocolate Bars.

Buy Old Jamaica Chocolate Online in the UK

Sweets Shop brings familiar favourites and harder-to-find confectionery together in one convenient online store. That matters with a product such as Old Jamaica because customers are often searching for one very specific bar rather than simply “something chocolate”.

Shop the Cadbury Bournville Old Jamaica Dark Chocolate Bar online or browse our complete Cadbury chocolate range for more classic bars, sharing chocolate and branded favourites.

Old Jamaica also makes a distinctive addition to birthdays, Christmas hampers and after-dinner selections. Explore our chocolate gifts when you want to pair it with other premium, nostalgic or branded chocolate treats.

Old Jamaica Chocolate FAQs

What is Old Jamaica chocolate?

Old Jamaica is a Cadbury Bournville dark chocolate bar containing raisins and rum flavour. The current UK product is called Cadbury Bournville Old Jamaica Dark Chocolate Bar.

Who makes Old Jamaica chocolate?

Old Jamaica is made by Cadbury, which is now part of Mondelēz International.

When was Old Jamaica chocolate first launched?

Cadbury originally launched Old Jamaica chocolate in the United Kingdom in 1970.

Is Old Jamaica chocolate discontinued?

No. Although the bar has been discontinued and reintroduced several times during its history, the 100g Cadbury Bournville Old Jamaica bar is currently part of Cadbury’s UK range. Availability can still vary between retailers.

Where can I buy Old Jamaica chocolate in the UK?

You can buy Cadbury Bournville Old Jamaica chocolate online from Sweets Shop. Stock availability may vary, particularly because this nostalgic bar attracts customers specifically looking for its rum and raisin flavour.

Where did Old Jamaica chocolate originate?

Old Jamaica is a British Cadbury product connected with the Bournville chocolate range, whose name and heritage come from Cadbury’s historic site south of Birmingham. Published manufacturer information does not establish that the bar itself was created or manufactured in Jamaica.

Why is it called Old Jamaica?

The name identifies the bar’s warm rum and raisin character. Cadbury’s publicly available product information does not provide a detailed official explanation of the original naming decision, so more elaborate claims would be speculation.

Is Old Jamaica dark chocolate?

Yes. Cadbury describes it as a Bournville dark chocolate bar with raisins and rum flavour.

Does Old Jamaica chocolate contain real raisins?

Yes. Raisins appear in Cadbury’s published ingredient list and provide both fruity sweetness and a gently chewy texture.

Is Old Jamaica chocolate vegan or dairy-free?

No. The current recipe contains skimmed milk powder, so Old Jamaica chocolate is neither vegan nor dairy-free.

Is Old Jamaica chocolate suitable for vegetarians?

Cadbury currently describes Old Jamaica as vegetarian-friendly. Customers should still check the wrapper in case the recipe or dietary guidance changes.

Does Old Jamaica chocolate contain nuts or gluten?

Cadbury states that the bar may contain nuts. Its published product information does not provide a gluten-free declaration, so customers with allergies or coeliac disease should check the latest packaging and manufacturer guidance.

What percentage cocoa is Old Jamaica chocolate?

Cadbury’s current UK product page does not state a cocoa percentage for Old Jamaica. It should not be confused with Bournville products sold in other countries or chocolate bars carrying a specific 70% cocoa claim.

How many calories are in Old Jamaica chocolate?

Cadbury’s current nutritional information lists 113 calories per 22.5g serving and 503 calories per 100g. Always consult the wrapper for the latest figures.

What size is a Cadbury Bournville Old Jamaica bar?

The current product featured here is a 100g bar. Other sizes have appeared historically, including a 180g format when the product returned in 2020.

Rum, Raisin and a Very Good Reason to Open a Bar

Cadbury Bournville Old Jamaica has remained in the public imagination because it does something simple unusually well. It takes smooth dark chocolate, adds the concentrated sweetness of raisins, introduces a warm rum note and wraps the result in more than half a century of British chocolate history.

Choose it for a nostalgic treat, a distinctive chocolate gift or the perfectly reasonable pleasure of keeping all 100g to yourself. Order a bar today and rediscover the rich, fruity and unmistakably aromatic character of Old Jamaica chocolate.