A cup of coffee costs about three times more at Starbucks than at an ordinary coffee shop in New York and Pepsi sells for 60-70% more per litre than supermarkets' own-label colas.

Alternative currency benchmarks have been proposed, based on the prices of iPods, IKEA bookshelves, Starbucks lattes and even The Economist itself.

According to the Seattle-based coffee chain, Starbucks stores on the Chinese mainland will adjust their pricing of selected beverages by one or two yuan beginning June 16, 2016.