Taiwan's coffee story after 1990 is essentially a revival narrative.

The island had a substantial coffee industry under Japanese colonial rule — by 1945 production had reached 967 hectares, the historical peak — but after World War II coffee farming declined as tea and other crops took priority.

Through the 1970s and 80s, coffee was a marginal crop, and the modern industry only really took shape from the 1990s onward.

A few forces drove the comeback. 

The most distinctive feature of the post-1990 industry is its close relationship with tea.

Since Starbucks began its operations in Taiwan in 1998, new business models for Taiwanese cafes have emerged.

Cafe chains that appeared in the 1990s before Starbucks, such as Dante Coffee, Ikari Coffee, Barista Coffee, and IS Coffee, were "eat-in" types (sit-down coffee shops).

However, in the 2000s following the arrival of Starbucks, chain stores began to appear aiming for a "take-out centric, high turnover" model in small spaces of about 15 ping (approx. 50 square meters).

Starbucks expanded into markets across Asia between approximately 1996 and 2000.

On this website, I have previously written about Starbucks’ entry into Japan in 1996 and its expansion into China and South Korea in 1999.

The first Starbucks store in Japan opened in Ginza in 1996

Shinsegae Group's Jeong Yongjin's Promotion of Starbucks in Korea

Starbucks, which spread café culture to China

In 1990s Taiwan, coffee culture came into full bloom. While low-priced chain coffee shops such as Doutor (羅多倫), Dante (丹堤), and Ikari (怡客) proliferated, there was also the spread of independent cafés with literary, musical, and countercultural leanings—concentrated in Taipei's student districts—along with the growing popularity of Italian-style coffee such as espresso, cappuccino, and caffè latte.

In 1976, Chiang Ching-kuo—who had succeeded his father Chiang Kai-shek as the President of Taiwan—completed the "Ten Major Construction Projects" of the 1970s and launched the even larger public works initiative known as the "Twelve Major Construction Projects" in 1980.

Until 1960s, under the one-party authoritarian regime of the Kuomintang led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Taiwan achieved steady economic growth. This was bolstered by U.S. aid, as Taiwan served as a critical Cold War outpost against the Soviet Union and communist China.

Around 1960, when Astoria Coffee in Taipei's bookstore district became famous as a gathering spot for the publishing industry and writers of the era, specialized coffee shops began opening in Taipei's Ximending area.
Prominent among these were Fonda Coffee (Fong Da Coffee) and Nanmei Coffee, both located on Chengdu Road.

A Streetside Bookstall Sparks a Literary Haven

The End of the Japanese Colonial Era

Coffee Culture in Taiwan During the Late Qing Dynasty

In the mid-1800s, during the late Qing Dynasty, Chinese cities like Shanghai and Guangzhou were already thriving as trading ports and beginning to experience Western culture. This was due to their opening under the Treaty of Nanjing following the First Opium War (fought between Britain and the Qing Empire) in 1842.