Tea shops are opening across the country, hoping to catch the same wave that specialty coffee shops rode in the 80's. There are now about 1,000 of the shops nationwide.
Some analysts believe that the tea market is too narrow to catch on the way coffee has.
Others contend that Americans are growing weary of coffee, and that tea has the allure of being healthful, stimulating the mind and not the body. Some coffee shops are expanding into the specialty tea markets as well.