Global Policy Forum

By Annie Huang

While their parents might continue to follow the age-old tradition of beginning the day with a cup of tea, many young Taiwanese are turning to coffee, as Starbucks shops sprout up across the island. This worried Lee Shen-chih, heir to a century-old tea growing family. So as a counteroffensive, he set up a chain of stores that provide a stylish and cozy environment where customers - young and old - can sip a cup of Taiwanese tea.

Much like the American coffee chain, his brightly lighted and modern Cha for Tea stores are attracting trendy teens and young professionals. Many of his new customers had turned to Starbucks because it was dubbed hip and trendy, while traditional teahouses were considered dark and a place for the elderly.

Li Mei-yan, a fabric saleswoman, likes the feeling of the Chinese teahouse with Western decor at Cha, which means tea in Mandarin.

"This place is like Starbucks, but with a bit more culture," said Li as she chatted with her friend against a glass wall painted with Chinese calligraphy.

There is a light Chinese touch at Cha. At the center of the wooden table is a small plate with a watercolor painting, each illustrating a tea-related poem. With its chic interiors, Cha is appealing to a young generation more accustomed to Hollywood movies, American and British rock stars and Japanese comic books than things Taiwanese.

The economic slowdown has also helped its business. People are looking for less expensive pastimes as they cut back on shopping for brand-name goods or trips to high-priced karaoke bars.

Sipping tea, office secretary Sandy Chu said she was glad to find an alternative to Starbucks' frothy coffee drinks. "I am learning to appreciate tea. Why not? I am a Taiwanese and should get to know my own culture," she said.

A free cup of ginseng-mixed oolong - Taiwan's most famous tea - is served as the guest walks in at Cha. Then, there is a diverse choice of oolong and jasmine teas or milk tea and coffee mixed with tea powder. The food served also appeals more to Taiwanese tastes. Instead of a menu dominated by sandwiches and salads like at Starbucks, the store serves beef noodles and dumplings. Cheese cake flavored with tea is also available.

The first four Cha stores - three in Taipei and one in the central city of Taichung - were an instant success. Clients line up for a table during weekends, when the stores become places for family outings.

The rise of Cha underscores Taiwanese' chase of a sense of modernity and the decline of the traditional teahouses. The few remaining traditional teahouses in Taipei mainly offer a place to reminisce about the old days from the ramshackle wooden walls and fading pictures of former stars.

But many older Taiwanese also flock to the hilly Taipei suburb of Maokung, a major tourist attraction where tea houses dot the green tea fields. At stores decorated with indoor Chinese gardens or handicraft, clients leisurely pour what's dubbed as "elderly people's tea" as they crack watermelon seeds and eat peanuts.

Besides the Taiwan stores, Lee's Ten Ren Tea Company, Taiwan's leading tea retailer, has also set up two Cha stores in Los Angeles and one in Sydney, Australia, targeting the Chinese neighborhoods there. More stores are to open in Japan soon.

"Tea-making has a 5,000-year history in China," said Lee, Ten Ren's chairman, in his office displayed with an assortment of fist-sized clay tea pots. "Tea is healthy and has a lingering fragrance. I hate to see young people turning their back to it."

He hopes the overseas "Cha for Tea" stores could help get Westerners to appreciate tea's flavor and medicinal powers, from preventing cavity to cancer, he said.

Lee is the seventh-generation heir of a Taiwanese farming family whose ancestors brought along 50 seeds of tea when they emigrated from southern China to this tropical island about 200 years ago. The 57-year-old Lee grew up planting and picking tea leaves from the family owned mountain plantation in central Nantou County.

By opening "Cha and Tea" and more overseas tea sales outlets, Ten Ren Group has recovered from a severe business crisis. It lost 3 billion Taiwan dollars when expanding into securities business a decade ago. Now the company is focusing on tea again. Ten Ren has 113 tea retailing stores, including 64 in Taiwan and 49 overseas, mainly in Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States.

Ten Ren plans to open "Cha for Tea" in China a few years later because despite the rise of the newly rich, the mainland lacks a middle class who will be the main customers, Lee said.

China still grows some good tea varieties, such as bilochun, made from the tips of tender tea leaves, but store clerks don't know how to serve tea and communists officials neglect the culture, he said.

"China will be a huge market to explore, but it is a bit premature yet," he said.

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