Ask a former teavana employee (who's two year nondisclosure agreement is up!) anything!
How do they justify the really high prices? I know it is quality tea, but from my tea tasting experience Two Guys’ Tea has just as amazing stuff for half the cost.
Teavana actually sources some* of their own teas under some pretty strict guidelines. A teavana employee visits tea farms and reserves the right to refuse a crop if he sees anything that will affect the flavour of the end product. Since teavana buys in such large quantities now, we sometimes buy the entire stock from some farms. So Teavana can a) charge whatever they want but b) want this privilege again and again.
Behind the scenes, Teavana actually pays farmers double what other distributors pay if they’ve built a 5-year relationship, and then donates a percentage of profits to the communities the farmers live in. While this seems like fattening the pockets of estate owners, this actually gets to the farmers… or else teavana hikes down the road to the estate next door. and so on. So, Farmers who pick the teavana version of silver needle on average make at least 1.8 times as much as they do if they work for one that a mass distributor buys from. This was a few years back, and you may have noticed prices going up from other farms.
*Not all. In the US, this kind of practice is actually forbidden and so crops sourced here (such as the infamous Peppermint infection) are sometimes forced into failure by law…
All of life is an experiment, never stop experimenting. _R.W Emerson
I am truly passionate about the topic. I see people go into Teavana and spend a fortune on tea. I know they boost their prices to pay for large overhead expenses: lights, building, staff, etc. There are better ways to get premium loose leaf tea. I apologize if thats how you interpret my comment. However, I do stand behind my statement.
“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” — Also Emerson.
It’s not ‘how I interpret’ your comment – you’re promoting your company, complete WITH LINKAGE in a completely unrelated thread. It’s not really a matter of interpretation.
I agree with Anna. There are spaces on these boards for tea company promotion and “inside a general discussion thread about something else” is not one of them.
Donovan. I appreciate what you are trying to do. As a tea enthusiast, I will gladly recommend that people buy tea at any store they like. I’ll even tell people that some teavana teas are worth going into a teavana to get to. But I refuse to drive traffic to a store, using a forum post in an unrelated area. That belongs in the advertising section. You did ask an honest question, and I’ll answer it in the thread you started it in.
Anna, thank you for pointing out a) Advertising behaviour and b) That donovan is new enough to not reply in the same sub-thread and thus may need to re-read the how-tos and guidelines of Steepster.
“I love that pidgeon more than I will ever love any woman” -Tesla
Seemed necessary ;)
EDIT: Nevermind. Also, your half the cost is a downright lie. Earl grey creme is 4.98 (up from 4.25 when I sold it) and your site lists it for 11 for 3.8 oz. 4oz, or .2 oz more, would cost 9.82 at a teavana store. and not cost shipping. Your black chai, comperable in ingredients to teavana’s Masala chai, is $5 for 1.9oz, vs. $4.50 for 2oz. Do a bit of research, please. There are other things you can pick on teavana for. Don’t just listen to what other people are repeating from what other people are saying.
Yeah, I know – Donovan also posted an additional promotion in General Tea Discussion rather than Tea Companies and Promotions.
But sure – if I ever feel I need a retailer who’s unprofessional, responds to concerns about forum rules with random Emerson quotes and by washing their hands of responsibility, as well as someone who’s not tech-savvy enough to operate the average discussion forum thread structure, I know who to pick now.
I can just picture it.
Customer: Excuse me, my package is missing.
Company: “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
Customer: Wait, what? I’m talking about my tea order.
Company: Oh, yeah. No, that’s not happening.
Customer: But that’s unacceptable! It’s an order I paid for!
Company: Sorry if that’s how you interpret retail. However I stand by not sending you your tea. I honestly don’t know how to extricate your pixel congregation from the virtual reality deck, anyway.
Customer: WHAT?! Are you trying to tell me you don’t know how to access my order on the computer?
Company: “The earth laughs in flowers.”
Customer: …
What is the reason that you left Teavana? Was it anything to do with the company?
Yes and No. What I loved about the company was being eliminated slowly. I love the small-company-growing-big atmosphere. I felt like I knew the people in the office in GA from way up north here. I loved that if a customer returned a pot or something, I could win it with good productivity (Free cast iron for selling cast iron. I have a lot of cast iron). A lot of that died when they went public. My manager was amazing but upper management started getting really fussy about all the cool things our store was doing for our customers, because it didn’t fit their vision. that, and no two higher-ups would agree on stupid shit like Where we put the teaspoons, where we hung the timers, and so it was a ‘Move-this-teamaker-or-lose-your-job’ situation every other month… and not like, move as in sell. Move as in store it two feet that way because I like this set-up better kind of stuff.
And then I had car issues and scheduling conflicts at bad enough times that due to company policy, I was fired. I liked my team. Liked my boss. Love the tea and all of my teaware from there. So the universe kind of said ‘This is better for you’. And now… I think I agree.
Thank you for sharing and for your honesty! Although I dislike being asked repeatedly if I need help, or receiving the “upsell” every couple of minutes while looking, I know it would be helpful to me if I were a tea newbie. The two Teavana stores I have visited in nearby cities have never tried to overpour on me and have been very nice, especially a young man named Justin. He even gave me a free oolong to go just because we enjoyed talking tea together. So I haven’t had the bad experiences a lot of people have, though a friend did at one in Salt Lake City. Maybe because we are in the South? LOL!
Funny that the best service you have received was from a Justin because in a California branch a Justin was the most obnoxious employee I have ever encountered and I left the store just to get away from him! I want your Justin.
And yes, thank you xhado123 for all your insight!
Company policies will turn anybody into a robot. I did my best to stay a person. There are people working at Teavana. People. There were a few times i’d give someone three teaspoons of a tea to sample it. Not often. But my manager approved and even my area managers did. I gave free cups to people who I managed to talk into buying leaves and a teamaker (Seriously, $5 a cup or $30 for a teamaker and enough to make 15 cups in one brew… then you never buy the teamaker again). So it really depends on the person working there, but that can be said for any company, I think.
Hi, xhado123, and thanks so much for answering all these questions for us! I posted this in another thread about Teavana, but I decided that it may be better to ask this directly to someone who has had experience working for the brand :) After watching the “The Truth about Teavana” video (link here if you haven’t seen it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbEqT5khtyM) I couldn’t quite make up my mind on whether I believed it or not, since I knew they would benefit from the drop of Teavana’s stock prices. Do you know if it is true that a lot of the teas contain pesticides or other harmful ingredients? Sorry if I’m asking a lot of questions, or ones that may seem stupid, but I have only really gotten into tea a few months ago. Also, while reading through the comments, I read multiple from people who supposedly used to work at Teavana who said that they had seen things like ladybugs and cockroaches in the teas in the stock rooms. Do you know if this is true and/or have you ever experienced something like this? Thank you so much for your time!
So yes – Bugs make it into the teas. Understand this is a very natural process, and my store alone could sell 10-30 lbs of tea in a day – processing hundreds of pounds, thousands company wide – we’ll miss a bug or two. It really is a natural product, and an agricultural one. Tea is not above things like bugs and spiders, much like bananas and other fruits and veggies. The process just means whatever you find is dead. On that note, most other distributors find bugs in thier teas, too – but always check it before selling to the customer. Teavana’s policy on this was to destroy the 2lb bag of tea in our shrink out system and dispose of the carcass, then notify the warehouse.*
Not a lot of teas used pesticides, but many of the fruits and other ingredients did. We were told to turn the conversation back to the ‘tea’, because teas are so delicate, you often can taste the pesticides in the end product… so we were given a technicality and told to keep the convo going that way. (one reason I was about to quit anyway.)
*Policies of 2 years ago may or may not reflect the current climate.
Thanks so much! In your opinion, are issues with pesticides enough reason to stop drinking teavana tea? I enjoy some of their flavors, especially the youthberry and wild orange blossom blend, but now I’m afraid to since I like drinking tea knowing that it’s all natural. What tea stores and brands would you now recommend after having worked at Teavana that are good quality and similar in flavor options? Thanks again!
In my opinion, it’s not. With the teas, you’d taste the pesticides, and everything grown on this earth now has some level of pesticides anyway.
I have yet to find teas that match teavana’s flavour mixes, but for straight teas I found a local shop in Ann Arbor that sells from tea gershwindler (sp). Adagio and Enjoyingtea.com are awesome for straight tea as well, but adagio doesn’t do flavour well imho.
xhado, what shop is that? I live near Detroit but I’m moving to either Ann Arbor or Jackson (Depending on my funds.)
Teahaus on 4th st. If you are moving to aa I recommend renting from pittsfield or Northern saline unless you get a nice job.
For Those who want to know: the ann arbor store was not my home store.
Ahh. Have heard of Teahaus! About moving, it is more likely to Jackson for a while…(Bah!)but in looking at apt listings in A2 on Craigslist, have noticed some reasonably priced ones. And not opposed to attic or basement apts in a single dwelling house. But am open to anywhere around A2. Thanks!
Thanks again! Just wondering, have you tried David’s teas? I haven’t yet, but people say their blends are pretty good.
Hi! I was wondering, as an employee did you have the chance to sample all of the teas for free(as a job requirement to know about the product) or were you told to just go by what the description and scents are?
Tasting was part of the training in my day. Each tea, under and over brewed, too much, too little, etc. And gifts of tea for performance or good attitude emant that teavana employees have on average 10 lbs of tea at home – I was above the norm because the 40% was just too good… (I think I have about 30 lbs of tea still…)
I just wanted to pop in and say thank you for providing answers to everyone’s questions. It really is quite interesting to read!
What happens to excess discontinued tea from Teavana? Are there outlet stores for Teavana somewhere? Also, I’m not sure if you already mentioned this but What’s your favorite tea from Teavana? Thanks again for all the Q&A!
In my day, unsealed tea in-store was given out to customers, and sealed bags were set aside to be sold at an increasing discount over time starting on dec. 26th. Christmas eve was spent in the store preparing for a big sale. Warehouse stock is sold online at discount. They’re pretty good at clearing things out they don’t want to keep around. Anything goes at 90%. That’s also how teapots are discontinued.
I just had my first Teavana shopping experience this past Saturday. I left the store with $294.00 worth of tea and beautiful tea ware (cast iron pot, warmer, tray, iron cup and saucer, matcha and whisk). I have to say, that I made the trip to the store fully intending on making a purchase of these specific things, minus the stunning gold lacquered tray. I did get a free bag of brulee tea and a large cup of Matcha on the house.
Even though I knew the information about the products and tea that I intended to buy, I did enjoy the constant information and hard sell at first. It was nice to actually hear someone tell me the info, vs all the studying and research I have been doing online.
I did tire of the constant attention after awhile as I wanted to smell, hold, and investigate the products further by myself and make my own informed decision on what exact pieces I needed to purchase. My salesgirl was very nice, but somewhat aggressive. (let me box that up for you) She seemed knowledgeable and was very helpful. I just wanted to browse the store after they had given me the “Tea 101” course. It was hard to do this with someone chiming in over my shoulder each time I just touched a product.
This said, I did enjoy my experience at Teavana and will shop there again. I will, however, take in the Teavana shopping experience next time from a different angle by politely requesting my “personal space” while shopping. It should be really quite simple to do politely……….
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