Coffee geishas flourishing in Panama highlands

By Mike Power
Reuters

BOQUETE, Panama (Reuters) - Panama's little-known geishas are slender, exotic and seductive, and they flourish in the cool mountain air of its western highlands.

One expert was so taken with them that he says he levitated slightly after his encounter with the geishas.

But these are no kimono-clad hostesses. They are a type of coffee plant being raised here in the thousands as farmers cash in on a specialty coffee market that has flourished since a global coffee crisis hurt the quality of regular beans.

More...

Starbucks prepares for Chinese invasion

By Keith Bradsher | The New York Times

HONG KONG -- The Starbucks Corp. plans to announce soon an accelerated push into the Chinese market, company executives said, the latest in a series of aggressive efforts by international food and beverage companies to expand in China.

What is striking about these efforts, by companies like KFC and McDonald's as well as Starbucks, is that they have made few concessions to Chinese tastes so far, instead cultivating in China an appetite for Western favorites like Big Macs and grande lattes.

More...