Some Chinese farmers making switch

PU’ER, China – This remote southwestern city near the borders of Laos and Myanmar is named after one of China’s most famous teas, grown on mountain terraces painstakingly carved out of the region’s rich red soil. But in recent years, pu’er tea has surrendered prime real estate for a more lucrative brew: coffee. Chinese farmers have taken to the new crop, which thrives in high-altitude areas of Yunnan province and commands up to three times as much money as tea. “My sole income depends on coffee now,” said Ma Jiaying, a farmer from a dab-size hamlet in Pu’er called Tea Tree Village. Behind the change are major foreign producers, including Seattle’s Starbucks Corp. and Switzerland’s Nestle. Those multinationals are training farmers and buying beans from the region to meet the world’s growing thirst for coffee.