An unofficial cost-of-goods index, in the spirit of The Economist's Big Mac Index — but with bubble tea.
Methodology
The basket item is a regular/medium Pearl (Boba) Milk Tea from Gong Cha — a bubble tea chain operating in 20+ countries with largely standardized menus, making it a reasonable stand-in for the Big Mac's "identical product, everywhere" trick. Each local price was converted to USD at the day's market exchange rate, then compared against the U.S. price ($5.75) as the baseline — exactly how the raw (non-GDP-adjusted) Big Mac Index works. A negative number means the drink is cheaper in that country than in the U.S., after currency conversion; a positive number means it's pricier.
Price gap vs. the U.S. Boba price
% difference in USD-converted price, sorted low to high
The data
| Country | Item price (local) | USD equivalent | Exchange rate (per USD) | vs. U.S. | Source |
|---|
Notes: South Korea's figure adds an estimated 800 KRW pearl-topping fee to the base milk tea price, since pearls are billed as an add-on there. Sizes and exact drink names vary slightly by market (e.g. "Royal Milk Tea," "Milk Tea with Pearl Jelly") because Gong Cha's naming and pricing tiers aren't perfectly uniform — this is a fun index, not a peer-reviewed one. Franchise pricing can also vary by city/location within a country. Exchange rates are mid-market rates, which differ slightly from retail conversion rates.