Converting China to taste of coffee

Taipei Times

Though tea is cheap and coffee is expensive in China, it is the latter that is becoming more popular.

Until a fortnight ago, former hotel worker Jeff Lin Hai Wah had never even tasted a cup of filtered coffee.

The 23-year-old will soon be serving up tall skinny lattes and other speciality coffee varieties to customers in his new job at the first branch of Starbucks in the sprawling city of Guangzhou in southern China.

"I'll be pretty nervous, especially serving coffee to expatriates and tourists who have been drinking coffee all their lives," he said. "When I grew up, we only ever had tea in the house. It wasn't until two or three years ago that I had my first cup of instant coffee."

Seattle-based Starbucks is one of three Western coffee chains opening or preparing to open shops in the sprawling city of Guangzhou, where for centuries tea has been the drink of choice.

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