This Country Is Said To Have The Cheapest Starbucks Coffee Worldwide

Located at the nexus of Europe and Asia, Turkey has a long tradition of uniquely brewed coffee, made with grounds finer than those used to craft the average espresso. The coffee is prepared in a special long-handled pot until a thick foam rises to the top and then served unfiltered, with the grounds lining the bottoms of small cups traditionally used for fortune telling. Turkey also has another notable coffee claim to fame too — it currently has the cheapest Starbucks coffee in the world. 

The nation is a growth market for Starbucks in part because of the number of young urban consumers who want international brands there. Turkey is also actively urbanizing as its economy expands. The country has been widely cited as having the least expensive tall latte — a common benchmark for the cheapest coffee claim. The latest data, from a 2022 analysis from CashNetUSA, showed the beverage was priced at $1.31 in Turkey, a steal compared with $3.26 in the United States and a whopping $7.17 in Switzerland. 

These numbers are quite close to a similar study from 2019 too. That analysis, by Finder, compared 76 different countries and found that tall lattes at Starbucks in Istanbul were the cheapest at $1.78. And, in 2023, a woman who moved from the United States to Turkey posted on TikTok about a Starbucks venti iced vanilla latte and pastry that, when converted from Turkish lira to U.S. dollars, came out to just $4.36. "It blows my mind how cheap Starbucks is in Turkey," she quipped.

If you're wondering why Starbucks coffee is so cheap in Turkey, it all boils down to a blend of a weak currency, lower income levels, and local competition. All of those Starbucks indexes we talked about that compare the price of a tall latte in different countries were created as an informal economic indicator to gauge the value of the U.S. dollar around the world. The Turkish lira has been weak for many years as ill-timed interest rate cuts helped fuel inflation that was already rising amid economic expansion, tensions between Turkey and the United States, and declining foreign exchange reserves.

Because coffee obviously has to be served and paid for locally, there's only so much Starbucks can charge per beverage before people start balking and going elsewhere for their caffeine buzz — especially given Turkey's long history of coffee culture. Also, the weak lira makes coffee cheap in dollar terms, and thus great for tourists, but not so much for locals who earn money in local currency. When you compare actual local affordability for Starbucks coffee the United States comes out at No. 1, with Turkey not even making the top 10 in one of the surveys. So, for those of us stateside, we can still get some Starbucks beverages under $5 and know that they're comparatively affordable.