Now that Teavana has been Sold to Starbucks for 620 Million How Are You Feeling?
I’m Happy because I have never liked either place, and Starbucks can now develop their own teas, and Teavana customers will be faced with the same issue that shoppers at the companies that Teavana bought up. The inability to get the tea you wanted at a reasonable price. I think Starbucks totally over paid for Teavana. We will see what comes next. Comments?
uhhhhhh….. never been to teavana… but why did starbucks need to buy them AND tazo? wasn’t tazo good enough? and who’s to say this other brand is even remotely as high-ish quality as tazo.
Teavana definitely isn’t my favorite place, but I would say their teas a higher quality than Tazo. Its mostly the sales tactics and prices that turn me away from their stores.
Howard Schultz the owner of Starbucks thinks he wants a market share, I personally don’t go to coffeee shops to buy tea, or go to tea shops to buy coffee. It will just be a place I will never spend a dollar.
I’m totally fine with it. I don’t like Starbucks, I don’t like Teavana. They deserve one another. Tazo may have been high quality at one time (I’m thinking it was while Steven Smith was there), but, they have gone downhill since Starbucks bought it.
I agree on Tazo. Despite its bad rep/supermarket/(until recently)fanning teabag status, it was brought about by Steven Smith, which leaves me with an at least favourable view of it. I like to think blends like “Joy” are evidence of the quality and direction Tazo once had. At least before Starbucks bought it.
Starbucks and Teavana definitely deserve each other, though. They’re both overpriced, and sugarcoated. But I do kind of hope Starbucks rubs off favourably on Teavana. In the customer service/employee treatment department.
i don’t mind starbucks – not my favourite but better than a bunch. don’t consider tazo or teavana “high quality” but then neither is starbucks (in my books) :)
for the most part this is just kinda “it is what it is…maybe something good will come of it, maybe not”
Tazo to me is higher quality thatn lipton/bigelow/stash/celestialseasonings. so is teavana closer to L/B/S/CS or tazo? though i really only drink Tazo’s chai. If I am going to drink green tea it will be fresh, not from the supermarket.
I consider Teavana to be slightly higher quality than the above “supermarket” list that you’ve provided, but, I still don’t really consider it to be high quality … if that makes sense.
Yeah. I grew up thinking “supermarket tea” was the best. until i began to delve into the world of matcha. where the green tea gasp actually brews green! and not TAN.
so teavana compared to everything else at the supermarket is pretty “hot” (get it? get it? ;) ) stuff but compared to say… a company that sells tea directly from the grower (like o-cha, hibiki-an, yuukicha, teafromtaiwan, etc. ) its not as good of a quality tea.
I’m not a big fan of either but I do spend a lot of time in Starbucks during escapes from campus. Unfortunately most of their drinks seem to be based on sugar-loaded concentrates, so I am hoping they will begin to offer some of Teavana’s blends. Although Teavana isn’t my absolute favorite I think more tea variety in a coffee shop is a good thing for those times that I stop in at Starbucks.
I haven’t had Teavanna but I know that all I can find tea-like at Starbucks is tea flavored non-fat milk. I don’t expect it to get any better or worse.
I’ve never actually been to a Teavana though I’ve wandered their website some, I’ve only been to Starbucks only a handful of times but at least there is a Starbucks in my range. It doesn’t change my life much but I guess it’ll give me an opportunity to have a semi-Teavana experience?
Is it trendy to just not like Teavana? What’s with all the animosity towards them? Is it all about pricing, the quality of the tea, or something else entirely? It seems like there is a lot of animosity towards the company on this web site. Genuinely curious – thanks.
I agree it seems a bit excessive. Their sales tactics can be annoying and their prices are often high, but most of their teas (that I’ve tried) are of good quality.
I think the hate stems from
-Being able to find a comparable product cheaper elsewhere
-Bad experiences with the pushy “used car salesman” tactics and excess promotion of the most expensive (and overpriced) teas and tea wares
-Promoting the health benefits of tea while loading everything with sugar
But honestly Teavana at least exposes people to loose leaf tea and provides a tea store where there otherwise might not be one. I’m far from in love with them, but I suppose I don’t hate them as much as a lot of people on here
Tperez pretty much nailed it. But it’s worth noting that Steepster is a lot more warm to Teavana than other (more snobby) tea communities are.
What Claire said. If you want to consider my hatred of them trendy, you’re missing the big picture.
I don’t like Teavana not because its “trendy” to hate them, but, because they are pushy and I’ve been in and out of the tea business myself, having operated my own company, I’ve been dealing with tea for about 13 years now. I don’t like walking in to a store and having someone with a sales pitch think they know more about tea than I do, and I’m not even saying I’m more informed, just that I don’t like the patronizing attitude I get from the salespeople. It just really rubs me the wrong way.
I also don’t like that they eliminated a really good tea source (SpecialTeas) and so many of those tea blends that were really good are either no longer available or they recipe has been altered and the flavor and quality is not what it once was.
I do not like that they focus so much on the purported health benefits of tea. I know those health benefits, and their is no concrete evidence on the validity of the purported health benefits. I don’t like it when any tea company focuses on that angle, because, I find that act to be trendy.
I find their customer service overall to be lacking. Ultimately when I buy tea, I want to deal with a company that treats me well, with respect, and is going to offer me good value for what I’m buying. I don’t feel that I get any of those things when I walk into a teavana, and that’s why I don’t shop there anymore.
They also regularly discontinue their teas. I have had three favorites pulled and it really sucks to not be able to get your favorite tea anymore.
I have walked out of a store when the hounding sales person wouldn’t stop bombarding me with questions long enough to let me think. The sales tactic is a little more than over the top.
I started my loose tea journey there and since finding other retailers and smaller, local, private companies that hand blend their own teas I’ve shyed away. I don’t by any means HATE Teavana, but I am drawn away because I personally prefer companies that have a say in their blends, what teas they use, can communicate efficiently with customers. I bought a cup of tea at Teavana yesterday and it cost $3.20 and it was made with sugar, which I asked them not to use. When I realized that I could make a tea that I just like better and it would cost 34 cents because I bought 2oz, I asked for a refund as it was made wrong, and was definitely not cost efficient.
I agree with tperez, people have been able to find comparable, or better, teas for a more reasonable price and can have a relationship with the people who make it and ship it.
Yes pulling popular teas from the selection isn’t good, and the way the sales crew was trained, not great. I had a friend say I went into to spend $20. and I came out $100. short.
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