Our Methodology

We take our job as reviewers of the world's best bubble gums very seriously! For every gum tested, you'll see three overall ratings:

1. Official Bubble Bunch rating: the "official" average rating from our trained testing committee, based on 4 criteria, following the methodology detailed below.
2. Website Visitors' Review: anyone visiting this site can submit their own review on a gum's page. The average of these reviews is shown at the top of each review, with the detailed visitor reviews below.
3. Amazon: Amazon collects reviews from hundreds of customers, so when available, we include the average Amazon customer review for the gums we test.

Bubble Bunch Review Methodology

The Bubble Bunch is a committee of 10 people, composed of different ages, genders, and bubble-blowing experience. The diverse make-up of this group is intentional. Every member follows the methodology below when testing a gum. Bubble gums are judged in 4 categories:

1. Taste 😋: subjective, based on the reviewer's enjoyment of the flavor.
2. Flavor Duration ⏲️: a measure of how long the flavor lasts.
3. Texture: how the gum feels in one's mouth. Too soft, too hard, or just right?
4. Bubble Making Ability: how suitable the gum is for blowing bubbles, measured by how large a bubble can be blown.

Each criterion is rated on a 5-point scale. For bubble gums, the overall rating is the average of all 4 items, each weighted equally. Chewing gums are scored a little differently, see A Note on Chewing Gums below.

Taste 😋

Of all the criteria, taste is the most subjective. The committee rates their enjoyment of the flavor on a 5-point scale. This is not based on intensity of the flavor, although intensity can play a role in one's enjoyment. Taste is judged within the first 3 minutes of a tasting.

Flavor Duration ⏲️

All taste tests are timed, from the moment of the first chew. Testers note the moment "most of the flavor is gone." The duration is then converted to a 5-point scale:

• 0 to 2:59 min = 1 star
• 3:00 to 5:59 = 2 stars
• 6:00 to 8:59 = 3 stars
• 9:00 to 11:59 = 4 stars
• 12:00+ = 5 stars

Texture

Texture is all about how the gum feels in your mouth. We offer each reviewer 5 choices:

• "Way too hard" or "way too soft" = 1 star
• "Too hard" or "too soft" = 3 stars
• "Just right" = 5 stars

Bubble Making Ability

The most fun of all the criteria! How big of a bubble can you blow with this gum, using the recommended serving size of the manufacturer (typically 1 piece)? The size is determined as follows:

• Tiny = 1 point. A pitiful bubble about the size of a marble, or no bubble at all.
• Small, about the size of a ping pong ball = 2 points.
• Medium, where most gums land, about the size of a tennis ball = 3 points.
• Large = a solid 4 points. About the size of a softball.
• Huge is rare with only the recommended serving, about the size of a table tennis paddle, which is also about the size of a face. When these pop, you have some face clean-up to do. Huge = 5 points!

A few notes on this "bubble size" category:

• Best bubble, not average: For bubble size, we record the single biggest bubble anyone in the group managed to blow. Why? Bubble size is partially a skill issue. Averaging would punish a gum that happens to be tested by our weaker blowers. So max is the fairer measure: what is this gum truly capable of in the hands of our best bubble-blowers?
• Portion Size: We review each gum based on how it is packaged, sold, and recommended by the manufacturer, the portions people actually eat, rather than forcing a fixed weight for every gum.
• Measuring Methodology: Measuring a bubble is trickier than it sounds. After trying AR apps and string-measuring, we settled on the practical scale above, giving people common references (sports items) to gauge their bubbles. It's been working pretty well!

A Note on Chewing Gums

We don't only test bubble gums, we review chewing gums too. For a chewing gum, blowing bubbles really isn't the point, so it wouldn't be fair to judge it on bubbles it was never designed to make. We still give chewing gums a bubble-making score as a fun bonus (and yes, you can often squeeze a small bubble out of them!), but that score is not factored into a chewing gum's overall rating.

In other words: a bubble gum's overall is the average of all four criteria, while a chewing gum's overall is the average of just three, taste, flavor duration, and texture. On a chewing gum's scorecard you'll still see its bubble score, marked to show it doesn't count toward the overall.

Other Considerations

Our review team cleanses the palate before each taste test, usually by rinsing with water, and importantly by not testing right after other strong flavors.

How Our Leaderboards Work

Beyond individual reviews, we roll the scores up into ranked leaderboards: the overall Best Bubble Gums and Best Chewing Gums lists, plus category lists for taste, flavor duration, bubble-making, and texture. These lists are dynamic. They recalculate automatically whenever we test a new gum or a score changes, so the order can shift over time. Bubble gums and chewing gums are ranked separately (see A Note on Chewing Gums above).

Each leaderboard is ordered by the relevant score: the overall score for the main lists, or the specific attribute for a category list (taste for the best-tasting list, and so on). We sort on the full-precision average rather than the rounded number shown on the card, so two gums that both display, say, "4.9" still land in their true order.

What if two gums are genuinely tied? We break the tie in this order:

1. The gum with the higher overall score wins.
2. If they're still tied, the gum with more committee reviews gets the edge, since more reviews means we're more confident in its score.
3. If they're somehow still tied after that, we go alphabetical by name, just so the ranking stays consistent and never lands at random.

Suggestions?

Have ideas to improve our testing methodology? We're all ears, drop us a note.