It's a brave strike back at global brands, and the many Asian advertising professionals whose easy knee-jerk answer to losing market share is to make a product more 'Western'. Taiwanese tea shop - 'Cha for Tea' - is an inspiration for those who always knew that the trendy generation can still come back to their roots.

Taiwan Fights Starbucks With Teahouses, headlines the Associated Press report which teels the tail of Lee Shen-chih, heir to a century-old tea growing family.

"...(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.

"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...

The report stresses 'hard times' as a reason for the Tuppie (Taiwanese yuppie) revisiting the pleasures of a nice cuppa.

But we demur...

As a later para states.....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....

There are just four stores, three in Taipei and one in Taichung at present, but the offerings traditional Taiwanese gingseng as well as oolong and jasmine teas to be sipped amongst traditional cultural knicknacks.

About time for Asian consumers to return to their roots. Selling tea to China may not be as hard as it sounds as the young generation rediscover the culture of their fathers and that West may not always by best