Chinese tea farmers are switching to coffee

“Starbucks in China for the young generation is almost like religion,” said Liu Minghui, head of Pu’er-based Ai Ni Coffee, China’s largest coffee production and exporting company. “They want to be seen drinking their coffee. A lot of these Chinese kids have come back from studying overseas where they’ve been introduced to this new lifestyle.”

via Chinese tea farmers are switching to coffee – latimes.com.

I really hope that Starbucks does not become a religion. After having to endure a cup or two of their burnt bean black water this past month while in Minnesota, this article scares me. I guess tea and coffee though have been commodities since the beginning.

I guess a bigger fear and one not related to this article is that tea and coffee have due to Starbucks and their ilk, had the lowest common demometer heralded as quality. Great tea and coffee are two of the hardest things to find in a dine in location today. Burnt espresso. Overly processed tea. Beans roasted to the point of charcoal. The truth is that finding a properly brewed cup of coffee or tea is near impossible today.