Coco bubble tea and price discrimination
Last month there was word about a new bubble tea place in Midtown. Midtown Lunch uncovered the new chain in Midtown East. Apparently the chain is from Taiwan and the prices are right for midtown. Usually bubble tea in NYC is priced outrageously compared to what you might find in the bubble tea motherland of Taiwan. But if it's between $3 to $4 and it's not in Chinatown, that's as good as it gets. One can tell that Coco Bubble Tea is different just from some of items on the menu.
I got the drink called 3 Guys. It has pudding, grass jelly, and tapioca or boba. Google tells me that bubble teas are fairly high in calories. Probably somewhere between 250 to 500 calories depending on size, sweetness, and amount and type of milk added. When you put pudding in there, it probably doesn't help the calorie count but it's fun to drink. Mostly the pudding just offers a jello-like experience. It's very smooth and sometimes it could pass for the grass jelly.
If you've never had grass jelly, basically it tastes like nothing. I used to eat this stuff for dessert as a fat kid, and basically we'd just pour some sugar water on it. It's a summery kind of dessert and for me it's mostly a consistency/texture thing. Maybe some versions are more pronounced than others and perhaps they're better in Taiwan... but at Coco they mostly taste of nothing. I don't mind it though because it's a fun ingredient in my bubble tea.
At some point bubble tea or boba becomes too expensive. Here in NY, I think prices around three to four dollars is normal, although in other places that's excessive. You would never pay that kinda money in Taiwan for this stuff. I learned from the Planet Money podcast that this is Price Discrimination. Apparently this is what happens when people use things like coupons or Groupons.
Price discrimination works in a funny way because I'm sure folks from the west coast or from Taiwan (where it's cheaper) would balk at the idea of paying $4 for bubble tea in NY. But consumers in NY are ready to pay that. I'm sure Coco could benefit from the exposure if they did a Groupon deal. But then someone like me would just get all like a couponwhore and wish for more coupons instead of buying more bubble tea. Ah, life dilemmas.
All of this to say that Coco does a good version of the bubble tea. Unlike some places, they appear to use real tea instead of just powder. They're really close to Grand Central so for those who work in that area, this place could be a nice spot for the warmer months ahead.
Coco
459 Lexington Ave.
New York, NY 10017
212-518-8808
(I invite you to follow me on Twitter so you can get more of my non-sense in another medium.)
Coco seems to be a large chain in Taipei, as I saw it everywhere. Coco's price in Taiwan was decent for consistent bubble tea: $33 Taiwan dollars (approx. $1 Canadian) for a regular milk tea with pearls. I can't stand to buy food now that I've left Taiwan!
Lucy @ Tea for Two
April 11, 2011 8:10 pm
actually, fresh grass jelly has a herbal, grassy, flavor, albeit very subtle. The flavor is harder to detect when you eat the jelly with syrup (or in your case, flavored tea).
Ang
April 12, 2011 12:01 am
What's weird is that they call that drink "3 guys" here, but in Taiwan it's called 三兄妹 (3 girls/sisters). Mind = blown.
Nicholas
April 12, 2011 10:54 am
I love bubble tea with pudding, or chunks of taro are delicious too. Good grass jelly definitely has a mellow herbal taste to it that I like, but sadly it does seem that most places just scoop out tasteless black jello now. =(
AJ Hwang
April 13, 2011 10:32 am
@Lucy,
Wow, $1 dollar for bubble tea. That would just totally kill it for me. I'm sure they all have to price it that low to have good competition for customers though. Aren't most food items more expensive after a trip to Taiwan? haha, I bet most of the Chinese food feels super expensive now.
@Ang,
Yea but when is the last time we had fresh grass jelly? It's practically unheard of here.
@Nicholas,
They actually had a drink with the 2 girls/sisters or something like that. But I wanted three things. Because good things come in threes, like three pointers.
@AJ,
Oh wow, taro. That's something I gotta look for next time! yea good grass jelly must be hard to find in NY... I wonder if Flushing would have it. Definitely not in Midtown!
Danny
April 13, 2011 12:27 pm
There's a hole in the wall in both Chinatown and Flushing where grass jelly is made fresh everyday. What I'm curious about is, where can I buy pudding so that I can make my own pudding milk tea!
Susan
April 18, 2012 1:55 pm