However many Starbucks outlets open in China, tea houses are ingrained in the country's culture. There are more than 500 of them in the capital, including some expensive options targeting wealthy customers in contrast to traditionally simple venues. Daniel Bardsley reports
The assistants are dressed in elegant traditional Chinese costumes, the guzheng, a Chinese stringed instrument, is being played in the background, and the delicate aroma of oolong tea wafts through the air.
One might think this tea shop in eastern Beijing dates back decades, even centuries. Instead this branch of Anxi Tiekuanyin Group is all of four months old.
Many of the traditional courtyard tea houses in Beijing, where in the late 1970s a cup of tea was said to cost the equivalent of just 2 US cents, have succumbed to the wrecking ball.
In their place are high-end tea shops, where a 100-gram box of the finest leaves might sell for a cool 7,200 yuan (Dh4,174) and well-off customers can spend afternoons or evenings with friends or business associates.
"Many of our customers know a lot about tea, and after only two cups they can tell whether it's good or not," says Li Xia, an assistant at the Anxi Tiekuanyin tea shop. The company, dating back to 1952 and based in southern China's Fujian province, has 400 outlets nationwide, including 40 in Beijing, just four years after launching in the capital.
In a country where tea is more a part of the culture rather than a mere drink, and where disposable incomes are continuing to increase, the growing fondness for expensive tea shops may seem natural.
Yet it is notable because it is happening as the coffee-shop juggernaut gathers speed in the world's second-largest economy.
In announcing plans almost to triple Starbucks' tally of coffee shops in China over the next three years to 1,500, Howard Schultz, the chief executive, described the country as "the number one opportunity for the entire company". Other coffee-shop operators, notably Taiwan's UBC Coffee, have even more outlets in China.
Set against this growth are statistics such as that Beijing alone has more than 500 tea houses, and that even once it reaches its tally of 1,500 stores in China, Starbucks will still have seven times as many venues in the United States.
While there are growing national tea-house chains, such as Wufu, which was launched in 1994 and has a dozen outlets in the capital alone, none has yet to reach the ubiquity of the coffee-shop equivalents, perhaps fortunately for purists concerned about homogeneity.
Instead, large numbers of tea houses are independent, among them China Tea King in eastern Beijing, where Lu Yun, a partner in the eight-year-old business, appears unfazed by the presence of two Starbucks outlets within a few minutes' walk.
In place of the piped American jazz music at Starbucks, at China Tea King the background sound comes from an indoor fountain, while wooden screens and rows of tea pots on shelves add to the atmosphere.
"The cafes like Starbucks will attract some customers from tea houses, but these are people who are not fond of tea in the first place, and they want to go to a Starbucks just to have a cup of coffee. Tea is more cultural. It's more than just a cup of tea," says Mr Lu, 25. "The managers in a company, or the high government officials, prefer a tea house to a cafe."
Many executives, it seems, find the best way to cement commercial ties is to hold discussions over successive cups of green or jasmine tea, and so many tea houses tend to be busier during the week than at weekends.
A large room, complete with traditional wooden chairs and a table, can cost 150 yuan for the first hour and 100 yuan per hour subsequently. A small bag of tea, enough for an evening's drinking for one person, costs anywhere from 80 yuan to 380 yuan at the Gande Long Tea shop and house in eastern Beijing.
"Most of the tea houses [today] are like this. Wealthy people come here to drink tea. The common people can also drink tea. They can buy tea from the street or drink it at home," says Shangguan Liping, 23, an assistant at the outlet. "The modern society is very noisy, with the hustle and bustle of the city. People who prefer a quiet environment will come here to relax after work."
The fact that many of today's tea houses are targeted at the better-off contrasts with the central role the venues played in daily life in times past, when average people could relax over a game of cards or mah-jong with friends and pay next to nothing for their fragrant beverage.
Just as most customers tend to be reasonably well heeled, so they are also often older, typically in their 40s or older.
By contrast, coffee shops such as Starbucks or Costa Coffee tend to have greater appeal to China's younger generation.
"I have only been to a tea house once or twice. They are not very popular with young people. They usually go to bars or cafes," says Ma Xiaokai, a 20-year-old hairdresser.
Many others hold a similar view, and it raises the question of whether China's new upmarket tea houses will continue to thrive in decades to come as today's young coffee-shop enthusiasts reach middle age. Some believe the iPhone generation will gravitate towards more traditional pursuits later in life.
"As these young people grow older, they will choose tea instead of coffee," says Mr Lu at China Tea King. "It's impossible that a middle-aged man in his 40s will go to McDonald's [for a coffee]. For these older people who have more business to negotiate, they will shift their interest from coffee to tea."
So, ultimately, however many outlets UBC Coffee or Starbucks open in China, some aspects of local culture appear so firmly embedded they will not succumb to the forces of globalisation.
Lin Zhengping, 60, an auctioneer who goes to coffee shops and tea houses for business meetings, certainly believes tea houses will endure.
"If there's a tea house beside a cafe, I will definitely choose to go to the tea house," he says. "It's Chinese tradition and we are Chinese."
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