Starbucks continues to nurture its latte influence in China

HEFEI－In a country with time-honored tea culture, Su Yang (pseudonym), has developed the habit of drinking coffee, largely due to the influence of Starbucks.

"It's difficult to start a day without a cup of coffee," says Su, a 29-year-old white-collar worker in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui province, where, in 2011, the first Starbucks branch in the province opened in 2011.

The first Starbucks outlet on the Chinese mainland opened in Beijing in 1999, a pioneering move to nurture a taste for coffee in a tea-drinking culture.