Café originated in Yemen in the middle of the 15th century, and spreads all over the world ever since. Nowadays, Café has become popular gathering place for various social classes in Europe, America and parts of East Asia, and everywhere it has interweaved with local cultural elements. Yet in Taiwan café has barely started to appeal to the underclass in the beginning of the 21st century, and has retained a strong affiliation with upper-middle-class taste. Comparing with other countries, Taiwan has experienced a cross-class diffusion-delay of café.

Taking hints from western culture studies, Taiwanese scholars’ studies of café tend to elaborate on its affiliation with upper-middle-class taste. Lacking empirical study and international comparison, existing studies have not even realized that café in Taiwan has experienced an unusual cross-class diffusion-delay that deserves an explanation, and that café’s affiliation with upper-middle-class taste in Taiwan is probably determined by economic rather than cultural factors.

This thesis starts with diffusion theory, regarding café as an innovation whose pace of cross-national and cross-class diffusion need to be explained. While Hong Kong and Japan enjoyed relatively early free trade and saw café diffused widely across class line since their introduction from the West, Taiwan suffered severe trade restriction until late 1980s. High tariff on coffee has effectively prevented the cross-class diffusion of café in Taiwan until 1990’s. This diffusion-delay has nothing to do with class taste. It is rather solely determined by the state’s economic policy.