Kouta Matsuda's obsession with world food began in his childhood, when he traveled around the globe with his father, a trader.

Kouta Matsuda spells out the taste -- and profit -- in specialty coffee.

But the 32-year-old president, CEO and chief "barista" (a specialist in making gourmet coffee) of Tully's Coffee Japan Co. didn't fall in love with specialty coffee until a trip to Boston for a friend's wedding in 1995.