Tea-drinking Taiwanese take to coffee

TAIPEI : Taiwanese people, who are proud of their elegant tea culture, are flocking to smart coffee bars in droves, boosting the profits of foreign chains who are seeking to expand in Asia, industry watchers say.

Coffee outlets with fancy interior decoration have popped up along the streets of Taiwanese cities, catering to businessmen, students and housewives alike and have become the favoured haunts of young couples.

Burgeoning prosperity in Taiwan in the 1990s helped fuel the coffee-drinking fad, said Simon Shing, chairman of the Taiwan Coffee Association.

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