There was a time pistachio sat in the background of the dessert world — a garnish, a scoop of ice cream, the flavour you picked when you were bored of chocolate and vanilla. That time is over. Pistachio is now in chocolates, gelato, croissants, lattes, spreads, and even skincare. Walk into almost any café or supermarket today, and that unmistakable dusty green colour is staring back at you.
The bar that started it all
Blame it on one chocolate bar. In 2021, British-Egyptian entrepreneur Sarah Hamouda, based in Dubai, created a thick bar filled with pistachio cream, tahini, and crunchy kataifi pastry for her brand, Fix Dessert Chocolatier. It stayed a local favourite until December 2023, when a TikTok video of someone biting into the bar in her car racked up more than a hundred million views. By 2024, "Dubai chocolate" was one of the most searched food terms online, and the world wanted in.
Demand grew so fast it disrupted pistachio supply chains, pushed up prices, and led retailers like Waitrose in the UK to ration bars per customer. Iran, the world's second-largest pistachio producer, reportedly increased exports to the UAE by around 40 percent to keep pace. A home-kitchen recipe had become a genuine supply story.
Every big brand wanted a piece
Lindt released a limited-edition Dubai chocolate bar that sold out within a day in its first US test run, before expanding to dozens of its American shops. Häagen-Dazs reintroduced its pistachio ice cream with a richer pistachio butter base, and later added Dubai Style Chocolate Mini Bars layering pistachio ice cream with toasted kataifi. Magnum launched its own Dubai Chocolate ice cream bars, pairing pistachio ice cream and crunchy kadayif inside a milk chocolate shell, first sold in bulk at Sam's Club. Starbucks leaned in hardest: its Pistachio Latte and Pistachio Cream Cold Brew became winter menu regulars, and after a pistachio-and-chocolate drink went viral as a customer "secret menu" order, the chain officially added an Iced Dubai Chocolate Matcha and Mocha. Biscoff spread, meanwhile, became an unlikely stand-in—home bakers and even Fix itself started using the spiced biscuit spread as a cheaper alternative to pistachio cream.
India joined in too. Mondelez launched a Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk Dubai Chocolate variant with pistachio crème and kadaifi pastry. Theobroma added a Kunafa Cake, layering chocolate mousse, a Dubai-style pistachio praline, and crispy kunafa over a chocolate sponge. Smaller Indian chocolatiers, like Paul & Mike with its Afghan-pistachio kunafa bar, have added their own versions too.
Why it looks so good on camera
Part of pistachio's power is visual. That soft, natural green photographs beautifully and stands out on a feed dominated by browns and beiges. Add the satisfying crunch of kataifi breaking apart on camera, and you have a flavour built for short-form video before anyone even tastes it. The Middle Eastern pairing of pistachio with tahini, honey, and kunafa gave audiences something that felt new yet familiar, since pistachio itself was never an unusual flavour to begin with.
The luxury factor
Pistachios have always cost more than almonds or cashews, and that scarcity works in the flavour's favour. It reads as premium without needing much explanation—a pistachio croissant or a jar of pistachio spread instantly feels a notch above its plain counterpart. Consumers, in turn, seem happy to pay more for something that feels indulgent and a little rare.
Beyond the dessert counter
The trend has spilled outside the kitchen too. Pistachio-scented perfumes, body lotions, and candles started appearing through 2025, riding on the same nostalgia and creaminess that made the chocolate bar so appealing. Pistachio-inspired pastel green has shown up in fashion as well—proof that a big enough flavour trend stops being just about food.
So, is it here to stay?
If anything, pistachio's grip is tightening rather than loosening. A rough 2026 growing season in California, where a pollination failure is expected to cut the crop roughly in half compared with 2025, points to prices climbing further rather than easing. Add ongoing drought pressure in Iran and Turkey, two of the other major producing regions, and pistachio looks set to stay expensive and sought-after rather than fade out like a passing fad. Whether the next big thing turns out to be pistachio tiramisu or pistachio cold brew, one thing is clear: pistachio is no longer a supporting flavour. It is the main character.
