GETTING YOUNG INDIANS TO CHOOSE TEA OVER COFFEE

This is the VOA special English Economics Report. India is traditionally a tea drinking country. But Indians are gaining a new taste for coffee. This had led
international coffee companies to consider moving into the market. At the same
time, local business people are looking for new ways to profit from the country's
tea - drinking tradition. They are opening new places that offer tea. Coffee shops
have spread from major cities like New Delhi and Mumbai to smaller towns. In the
past ten years, cafes have become increasingly popular. India's huge population of
young people has quickly taken to the coffee culture. indians now drink twice as
much coffee as they did ten years ago. The success of the coffee market has gained
the attention of foreign companies like Starbucks. The American - based company
will open its first store in India later this year. Other companies like Lavazza and
Costa Coffee are already there. The head of the India Coffee Trust. Anil Kumar
Bhandari, praises Starbuck's decision. He says cafes in India have become central
to the lifestyle of the young middle - class. He says coffee companies like
Starbucks " should have been here before ... Almost any cafe chain which has a
reasonable quality with its service, ambiance and food - and coffee first - will
succeed in this country." Look at the young population, he says, " they are all
taking to it like ducks to water." India has over a billion people. Business experts
point out that half of them are under the age of twenty - five. Yet even with the
growth in coffee drinking, Indians still drink eight times more tea. They have been
drinking tea of more than one hundred fifty years, India is also one of the world's
biggest producers of tea, or chai, as people call it locally. Indians usually drink tea
at home or in offices or buy it mostly from street sellers. But some business people
hope to change that. Amuleek Singh Bijral is thirty - six years old and a graduate
of Harvard University in the United States. He opened a place called Chai Point in
Bangalore, the center of India's information technology industry. In less than a year
thirteen more Chai Point locations have opened in the city. One tea drinker in
Bangalore welcomes the new outlets: " Out - of - home options like this are new,
especially since coffee - drinking has boomed in the coffee - drinking has boomed
in the last couple of years. This is a little different." For VOA Special English. I'm
Alex Villareal.
VOCABULARY

gain
taste
market
profit
offer
spread
increasing
culture
praise
decison
chain
ambiance
expert
seller
graduate
outlet

: li nhun, sinh li
: th hiu, s thch
: th trng
: li, li, li nhun
: cho gi, u thu
: tin li
: tng
: vn ha
: tn dng, ca ngi
: quyt nh
: chui
: khng kh
: chuyn gia
: ngi bn
: tt nghip
: th trng tiu th