My Teavana experience !
Hi, so today I went to Montreal’s Teavana store and I have to share my experience.
First of all, it looks like they don’t carry as much tea as David’s tea do. There was two employees chatting very loudly with each other and did not seem to care about us, me and my friend.
I asked them about their teapots and he started saying “Buy a cast iron tea pot, it’s much better” but it was 129.99$ !! Then I asked about some teas they carry, he yelled me an answer like “You put any tea you want in hot boiling water and BOOM the tea is ready”. Did not seem professional.
I did took home something, the Jade Mint Green tea (not sure if right name) and I like the tea except they added some kind of grass in there and it ruins the taste for me. I also found their herbal tea is very sugary and their chai as well.
All in all, I would rate my overall experience a 5 out of 10, just because the employees were clueless and the prices are ridiculous.
I’m gonna keep on buying at David’s tea until they open a local Butiki store hehe.
Have a good and TEAlicious day !
Yep sounds like Teavana. Though I would actually disagree and say that the Teavanas I have been to, had more teas than the David’s Tea, at least the David’s Tea I went to in San Fran.
The David’s Tea vendor I encountered was less pushy than the Teavana, but was probably at the same knowledgeable level as Teavana, i.e. both reading from the back of the tea tin.
As for price I’d actually disagree. I think they are pretty much exactly equal.
Earl Grey
Teavana 2 oz = 3.98
David’s Tea 2oz = 4.56
Chai
Teavana 2 oz = 9.98
David’s Tea 2 ox = 8.55
English Breakfast
Teavana = 3.98
David’s = 4.56
Darjeeling **This is a tough one to compare as neither one is a single estate tea, and are blends.
Teavana = 19.98
David’s = 8.55
Sencha Green Tea (kinda hard pressed to match these two, so have selected David’s Tea lowest grade)
Teavana = 9.98
David’s = 8.55
Matcha
Teavana = 24.90
David’s = 16.53
Gyokuro
Teavana = 19.98
David’s = 22.23
Jasmine Silver Needle
Teavana = 19.98
David’s = 17.96
Dragon Pearls
Teavana = 12.98
David’s = 15.39
You might be thinking about the American Teavanas. When Teavana expanded into Canada, they only brought a fraction of the teas, and supplemented it with teas (for a short while anyways) from the Teaopias they took over.
Most of the teas listed online for Teavana aren’t available in the Canadian shops. The actual selection is pretty tiny. At least where I am, and based off of the Canadian Teavana pamphlets you can pick up.
I wasn’t talking about the price of the teas themselves, I was talking about the teaware and merchandise.
@expertmax because tea doesn’t count as merchandise :p
my whole point was treat David’s Tea and Teavana as the same, because they pretty much are. Both are giant corporate machines that’s primary target is to make a sale from us the consumers.
I haven’t shopped at a Teavana in probably close to 7 years, and only went into one in September to see if the Starbucks purchase had changed anything (not that I could tell). And the David’s Tea I purchased from in San Fran was very small, but they both gave me the exact same vibes of trying to make a sale. I think I remembered seeing mugs for sale at the David’s Tea for over 20 dollars. Which is alot of money for a mug! Both David’s Tea and Teavana over-charge on their products because 1.) they are supposed to maximize their profits 2.) apparently they are making money otherwise they would lower their price!
For the record, I’m not praising or defending or attacking either Teavana or David’s Tea. I’m just stating that they are both exactly the same!
It seems to be things have been much better at Teavana for the last few months. I find there’s much less sales pressure and the staff are less annoying in general. They still do the same overfill tricks though.
I definitely get what you mean about them being pushy.
I bought like 50 g – 100 g of 16 different teas and the woman was STILL pushing other things on me. Plus one thing I found very annoying was she kept trying to force my mother into buying teas even though my mother clearly stated on multiple occasions she was not interested.
Not to mention how hard they push their tins which are actually quite expensive. The lady kept insisting I buy them because their teas only last for 2 weeks in the bags they provide. When I finally just told my mom we could go over to DAVIDs and get tins for cheaper the saleswoman just trashed DAVIDs to me and said I should never shop in that store.
That is why I now tend to place orders online when I want something from Teavana.
You know, now that I think about it, that’s true about the tins. To be honest, the pushiness doesn’t bother me (probably since I’m a pain as well), but I remember them asking if I had tins for the tea. I said I have more tins then I have tea at this point (actually true at that point in time), and she asked if they were Teavana tins. I admitted they were not and she told me all other tins were terrible and would ruin my tea.
Strange but true. At that point I’d had enough fun talking to her and just got my tea and left.
The one thing I will admit that I like about Teavana is they always seem to have the teas I want in stock. Our “DC local” tea shop always seems to be out of something I want every time I go.
I think the thing that bothers me most with the whole pushiness of their tins is most other places give you bags that are resealable and so the tea at least has a fair shelf life in them whereas Teavana obviously emphasizes their bags are inferior in the hopes that they can convince you to spend ridiculous amounts of money for their tins. They have tins that are like $14 and hold maybe 100 g. If I had to pay that for every tea I owned I would for sure be broke.
Meanwhile when I went into David’s and bought like 20 tins the saleswoman gave me a few for free (not that I expect free things but it just seems like the customer service between the two stores are on completely different levels).
Urgh, so unprofessional to trash another business like that, that’s just sickening really. If they could come up with an argument about how their tins are better, then fine, but just outright telling you not to shop there is so tasteless.
Yeesh. If I had a sales person outright trash another shop like that, I’d flat out leave even if I had tea/other purchases on the counter to buy.
Capital Teas, the other big tea shop in the DC area, gives you a tin every time you buy 4 oz of tea. If you buy less, you get the tea in the typical “Teavana paper bag.” They actually give you a discount if you bring the tin back to refill, which I do.
I’ve never heard an employee of either chain bad mouth the other, except for the tin thing, but both chains clearly make it known they think they’re the best.
An employee of another tea shop once wondered aloud how Teavana could acquire so much tea at one time to stock all their shops and keep the quality up. I don’t know enough about tea to know if that’s an issue or not.
My local Teavana store has a soft spot in my heart, only because the manager has taken a liking to me though, and knows me by name. She still recommends things to me that I’ve told her I can’t have, or strongly dislike however, and there’s always a push to buy more, even when I’ve already dropped $100. I should note they gave me 200g of free tea when I bought my Breville a few weeks back… although I later discovered it was their discontinued teas, and three of the four were borderline nasty.
Funny about the tins, I’ve yet to have anyone try and upsell me any. I’ve even looked for them in the store (only because there are zero other tea shops nearby). I’ve been getting mine from DAVID’s, because when you buy 100g online, they throw in a free tin. I’m looking forward to the DAVID’s opening down the street here, hopefully soon!
I must say though, there are some blends at Teavana that I love, and I’ve yet to recreate or find elsewhere. Buying from them online is a good idea.
I like to go by David’s because I can get half an ounce sizes. Which is what I have from them mostly. A lot of Teavana’s rooibos blends seem more like fruit salad than a tea. Though I’d try the White Chocolate Peppermint if I could buy a sample size instead.
100% agree with the fruit salad comment. I get a lot of grape flavors from some of their teas where I don’t think it’s intended.
Well while I’m not one to praise or even defend Teavana, I can definitely say that that was just bad luck with bad employees, and definitely not one of their policies.
That could even happen at a Davids. Some people seem fantastic in an interview, and then turn out to really, really not be once they’ve got the job.
Those employees won’t be there long if they don’t change their tune.
I only go to Teavana for one specific blend of tea(Tranquil Dream), refuse to buy anything else, refuse to buy any more than the 4 ounces I usually buy, and leave. The only other thing I’ve bought from them was a tin, only because I bought the cheaper 6$ one to hold that specific kind of tea. Their blends have so much fruit in them usually I can’t stand it, and the pure teas are overpriced to hell and back.
Davids usually also has the same issue with unpleasant blends and overly expensive pure teas for me, so I also avoid them. I haven’t found a blend that seems good to me from them, so I’ve just completely avoid going there because I have no reason for it.
Most of the teas I buy are online, teavivre, adiago, puritea, teasource, etc.
My local Teavana’s they have never tried to push more tea on me. My usual spending limit is between 30-50. If I say I got a budget and particular teas in mind, they usually leave me alone, and from what I’ve seen they don’t harass any customers into buying more or even buying anything. When I move (Eventually;)) hopefully my closest Teavana is just as friendly and non pushy.
I have not been able to shop at Teavana due to financial reasons, and only went over to a much cheaper shop last week because I badly needed to replenish my stock. I am planning on hitting their Heavenly sale, though most likely will not be able to afford to hit them again for quite a while.
I have to say Teavana sounds awful – I’m glad we don’t have them here tho I do believe we need a chain of teashops that arent Whittards. My issue with them is no choice in how much they sell which is no good for when I want to try something new.
Best teashop was Twinings in London, sat at the teabar and tried four different teas and they know what they are talking about too.
Oooft! There are so many better tea places than Twinings in London. Try Postcard teas, or Orange Pekoe near Kew.
Afraid I haven’t had Twinings since they ruined Earl Grey, so I might be biased.
Agreed. Given all of the horror stories about it on the boards they sound horrible on every level (aggressive bordering on dishonest at times marketing, shifty overweighing to get more money from you, hyperinflated price, overhyped quality/meh blends, pesticide scandals, corporate faceless behemoth employer, etc., etc.). They’re the only loose tea shop left in my city but I decided a while back given everything I’ve read on Steepster and elsewhere I’m never going to patronize them (NB: I don’t intend to imply I judge others who choose to; they’re just definitely not for me).
I can take or leave their teas tbh. I liked The Tea House in Covent Garden but wasn’t impressed by The Tea Palace
I live in Manchester so my choice of tea is limited to one branch of Whittards
Login or sign up to leave a comment.