Sat, Apr 13, 2002 page17

• Cha for Tea strikes back at coffee craze

  BORN-AGAIN CHIC The Ten Ren Tea Co's stylish chain of teahouses has applied the Starbucks formula to an age-old tradition in a bid to lure the young urban hip to tea drinking

  • AP
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  While their parents might still 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 country.

  This worried Lee Shen-chih (李勝治), 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.

  

  An employee of the Cha for Tea chain tea shop refills cups with tea for a table of customers Thursday in Taipei. The Ten Ren Tea Company has merged western design with eastern culture to lure young people to tea drinking.

  PHOTO: AP

  Much like the US coffee chain, his brightly lit and modern Cha for Tea (喫茶趣) 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.

  

  PHOTO: AP

  Li Mei-yan, a fabric saleswoman, likes the feeling of the Chinese teahouse with Western decor at Cha (茶), 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, US 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.

  The food served also appeals more to local tastes. The store serves beef noodles, dumplings and cheesecake flavored with tea.

  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 the weekends.

  The rise of Cha underscores Taiwan's chase of a sense of modernity and the decline of the traditional teahouses.

  Besides the Taiwan stores, Lee's Ten Ren Tea Co (天仁茶業), 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 help get Westerners to appreciate tea's flavor and medicinal powers, 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 Taiwan about 200 years ago.

  By opening "Cha for Tea" and more overseas tea sales outlets, the Ten Ren Group has recovered from a severe business crisis. It lost NT$3 billion when expanding into securities business a decade ago.

  Now the company is focusing on tea again. Ten Ren has 113 retail tea stores, including 64 in Taiwan and 49 overseas.

  Lee plans to wait to open Cha for Tea in China because despite the rise of the newly rich, China lacks a middle class who would be the main customers, Lee said.

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