A
form of alien civilisation has finally landed in Paris - unfamiliar
green and black signs have appeared on the Avenue de L'Opera.

It is the first Starbucks cafe to boldly go where no Starbucks has
gone before, onto potentially hostile French territory.

Its advertising posters on the Champs Elysee announce "Starbucks
- a passion pour le cafe".

But is the company aware of the risk it is taking by challenging the
very birthplace of cafe society?

"I think every time we come into a new market we do it with a
great sense of respect, a great deal of interest in how that cafe
society has developed over time," Bill O'Shea of Starbucks says.

"We recognise there is a huge history here of cafe society and
we have every confidence we can enjoy, augment and join in that
passion."

And he may be right. Despite some sniffiness in the French press,
some younger French are expressing their excitement that they will
finally be able to visit the kind of cafe they love to watch on the US
TV series Friends.

In fact, for some, it is an exotic rarity, far more exciting than the
average French cafe.

Melissa, aged 18, says she can hardly wait: "I love Starbucks
caramel coffee - it's very good and I like the concept that they're
opening in Paris. I think Starbucks will be OK for French people."

An American tourist is equally excited when she spots the sign - this
could be just the thing to help her get over the occasional twinge of
homesickness.

"I love the French cafes, but Starbucks is so popular in the
States and it's become part of American culture and now it's come to
France, and that's OK," she said.

But that is the problem for many French, who do not want France to be
just like the rest of the world: with standardised disposal cups of
coffee - identical in 7,000 branches around the world - even if they are
termed handcrafted beverages.

At the traditional cafes, customers worry that the big US coffee
house chains could drive out small, family-owned cafes.

Others here think they could come round to the idea of Starbucks,
though for them it would never replace the corner cafe or the typical
Parisian petit noir coffee .