Your verdict on "Teavana"

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Jan 6th, '12, 00:32
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Your verdict on "Teavana"

by cinemadonkey » Jan 6th, '12, 00:32

I've been working at Teavana since around September of last year (2011). Before applying, I knew very little about tea or looseleaf tea to be more specific. All I knew was that I needed a job and so I applied and soon after was hired. During the training process, I was so enthusiastic about learning all about the different teas because I never realized how much culture, history and appreciation there really was behind it. Since being hired, I've done tremendously well in my sales and I think I know so much about tea that I thought I never would have thanks to time working there and personal research.

It took a long time but after a while I sort of started to look inwards, at the company itself. I think Teavana has some amazing marketing strategies and truly is a force in the tea industry. They've made it easy and convenient for bringing people into the world of looseleaf (real) tea drinking. However, I sense a feeling of false information or something along those lines. Teavana claims that they're the largest tea distributer in the US which is probably true at that, but they also say that they receive the first pick of every crop and that in order for other tea distributors to carry certain teas it's because we (Teavana) don't want it.

I love all of our teas that we carry and more specifically our Oolongs (I've found that Oolongs have been the teas that I've grown the strongest appreciation for) but is it really the highest quality like we claim? Our "Monkey Picked Oolong" is our most expensive tea selling for $25 per 2oz and let me tell you it's delicious, but since I'm still new to the world of looseleaf tea I'm just not sure if our Dragonwell for instance is better than (Insert other tea vender)'s Dragonwell. I hope this hasn't lost it's direction but in essence I feel like Teavana has a join or die attitude that might not be justified but our teas and I want to know your unbiased opinions on the company and everything they do. I'm hoping that this doesn't start some flame war or something seeing as it's probably a very controversial topic among tea connoisseurs so try not to stray too far off this topic. I would love to hear your honest opinions tea lovers! Thanks!

Jan 6th, '12, 01:08
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Re: Your verdict on "Teavana"

by zencha » Jan 6th, '12, 01:08


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Jan 6th, '12, 01:22
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Re: Your verdict on "Teavana"

by iannon » Jan 6th, '12, 01:22

to just plainly answer you IMHO Teavana has some "ok" teas. nothing to scream about. and definately NOT the pick of the crop that everyone else then gets leftovers..thats pure hogwash Norbu and even Seven Cups has a nicer/better oolong selection than Teavana.
The dragonwell..is meh..its drinkable..its not terrible..but it is definately not "top shelf" along those lines..the sencha and gyokuro..i would never buy any of them again.
In the Oolong section..which for me is the most dissapointing category in that more than half of them are just some kind of fruited/flavored blends. I get that thats whats popular for the mainstream market.Fine.
The monkey picked..I would not buy ever at that price again ( ok i never did but i did get some as a gift before). You just have to go to any of the many vendors mentioned here that sell TKY/TGY and have a try. you wont go back. the dan cong I woud buy in a teamergency perhaps but not because its really good DC..it was pleasant though.

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Jan 6th, '12, 01:36
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Re: Your verdict on "Teavana"

by SlientSipper » Jan 6th, '12, 01:36

zencha wrote:follow the money :
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=TEA

the current mark cap as I read it was

666.66M

That says a lot about Teavana.
I could rant all day about them.
If there was a button that could eliminate Teavana and all its puppets I would not only press it but, I would cement it with metric tons to make sure it could never be unpressed so as to ensure it could never start again.

Moses mentioned seven plagues upon Egypt.

I speak of seven plagues in America,
Teavana,Wal-Mart,Star-bucks,Kindles,Mcdonalds,Facebook, and Kardashians

One should only shop at Teavana if they like being lied to.

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Jan 6th, '12, 13:11
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Re: Your verdict on "Teavana"

by nrstooge » Jan 6th, '12, 13:11

I've quit purchasing at Teavanna and will never walk into another store due to their horrid sales tactics. I hate being watched to told what I need or even oversold. I've found many other teas that are both better quality and cheaper than Teavanna as well.

On these boards, you will find an intense love of tea, but not Teavanna.

Jan 6th, '12, 19:34
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Re: Your verdict on "Teavana"

by cinemadonkey » Jan 6th, '12, 19:34

UPDATE! I recently purchased tea from a smaller tea vender closely located to the teavana where I work now called "Capital Teas". They're a much more humble and honest tea vender that doesn't carry the same join or die attitude that Teavana does. To make a long story short, I might possibly have an interview sometime soon there because I told them that I love tea but am not happy working at Teavana for various reasons. The woman who manages that store location (annapolis) told me that she needs someone and she wants to see me one day soon! In case none of you have ever heard of them, heres a link to their site.

capital teas dot com
Last edited by Chip on Jan 6th, '12, 20:43, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Mod edit: link broken but can still figure it out easily enough Per forum rules regarding new members posting of links. You can read our rules under Introductions among other locations.

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Jan 6th, '12, 23:01
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Re: Your verdict on "Teavana"

by BioHorn » Jan 6th, '12, 23:01

zencha wrote:follow the money :
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=TEA
Image
I agree. This says a lot. I imagine all the talk about sales tactics will come back to haunt them. :!:

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Jan 8th, '12, 14:30
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Re: Your verdict on "Teavana"

by Dinahsaur » Jan 8th, '12, 14:30

At first, I was impressed with the selection Teavana seems to have. But once I started drinking their teas, I realized that, selection or not, their tea quality is just lower in general. I tried a sample of the Monkey Picked Oolong and it was... meh. Blase, I guess. Nothing special there for me. I've had plenty of other much higher quality (and better tasting) oolongs for a mere portion of the cost.

I have entered a few Teavana locations and, through some luck of my own, I suppose, I never had to deal with pushy salespeople. So I am pretty fortunate in that regard.

One more note on the actual teas they carry... I dislike how many flavored (and strongly flavored) teas they carry. I prefer the flavor of the tea itself. I haven't had a single flavored tea from Teavana that was not seriously overpowering.

I do like a few of the teaware items they carry, but as for the tea itself... I'm not a fan.

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Jan 8th, '12, 14:54
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Re: Your verdict on "Teavana"

by SlientSipper » Jan 8th, '12, 14:54

Dinahsaur wrote:At first, I was impressed with the selection Teavana seems to have. But once I started drinking their teas, I realized that, selection or not, their tea quality is just lower in general. I tried a sample of the Monkey Picked Oolong and it was... meh. Blase, I guess. Nothing special there for me. I've had plenty of other much higher quality (and better tasting) oolongs for a mere portion of the cost.

I have entered a few Teavana locations and, through some luck of my own, I suppose, I never had to deal with pushy salespeople. So I am pretty fortunate in that regard.

One more note on the actual teas they carry... I dislike how many flavored (and strongly flavored) teas they carry. I prefer the flavor of the tea itself. I haven't had a single flavored tea from Teavana that was not seriously overpowering.

I do like a few of the teaware items they carry, but as for the tea itself... I'm not a fan.
I have seen some of their teaware being sold elsewhere on the internet.
And it was cheaper to buy off the internet and that includes shipping and handling.
The fancy fruit they put in the teas only ensured that they would go stale faster then a normal tea.

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Jan 10th, '12, 01:30
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Re: Your verdict on "Teavana"

by SlientSipper » Jan 10th, '12, 01:30

SlientSipper wrote:
Dinahsaur wrote:At first, I was impressed with the selection Teavana seems to have. But once I started drinking their teas, I realized that, selection or not, their tea quality is just lower in general. I tried a sample of the Monkey Picked Oolong and it was... meh. Blase, I guess. Nothing special there for me. I've had plenty of other much higher quality (and better tasting) oolongs for a mere portion of the cost.

I have entered a few Teavana locations and, through some luck of my own, I suppose, I never had to deal with pushy salespeople. So I am pretty fortunate in that regard.

One more note on the actual teas they carry... I dislike how many flavored (and strongly flavored) teas they carry. I prefer the flavor of the tea itself. I haven't had a single flavored tea from Teavana that was not seriously overpowering.

I do like a few of the teaware items they carry, but as for the tea itself... I'm not a fan.
I have seen some of their teaware being sold elsewhere on the internet.
And it was cheaper to buy off the internet and that includes shipping and handling.
The fancy fruit they put in the teas only ensured that they would go stale faster then a normal tea.

I heard that the Mexican Mafia is 45 on the fortune 500.
They are a more profitable company then Teavana who still isn't on that list.

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Jan 10th, '12, 01:34
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Re: Your verdict on "Teavana"

by Chip » Jan 10th, '12, 01:34

... wellll, in order for them to make the list, they would have to retain their 1st time customers. Something they likely do not do. :lol:

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Jan 10th, '12, 16:12
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Re: Your verdict on "Teavana"

by Neist » Jan 10th, '12, 16:12

Well, I'm new around here, and I've been to our only Teavana several times, so I thought I'd chime in. Just consider my lack of years of dedication on the subject of tea. :)

Most of the time I visit Teavana, they seem to be pretty nice to me. But I live in a state that's creepily hospitable, so maybe that has something to do with it. Only once have I experienced over-pour, and only never have they pushed me into buying anything I seemingly didn't want or need.

That aside, as far as their tea quality goes, I think I should preface my opinion on the fact that I really only drink non-tea infusions. I have for years, and I doubt I'll start anytime soon. And while I haven't tried everything in the store by any means (our store is so small that it doesn't have a tea bar), the opinion on the half dozen or so blends I have tried are hit or miss.

And blends are all I can really relate to, as I don't drink real tea. :) Their rooibos are hit or miss. The batch of their honeybush blend I brewed was horribly overpowered by the vanilla. I do enjoy the non-Tea Chai blends I've tried, though. Those were somewhat tasty.

Ignoring the pushy sales people issue, I think I fall pretty much with the popular opinion on these boards that while some of blends can be tasty, they are often times overpriced for what you get.

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Jan 11th, '12, 15:56
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Re: Your verdict on "Teavana"

by Dinahsaur » Jan 11th, '12, 15:56

SlientSipper wrote:I have seen some of their teaware being sold elsewhere on the internet.
And it was cheaper to buy off the internet and that includes shipping and handling.
Yeah, most of the teaware of theirs I've been finding online, etc. I'm still trying to locate the gold-paisley teapot and set cheaper, but may end up getting from them in the end (I'm a sucker for paisley!).
Chip wrote:... wellll, in order for them to make the list, they would have to retain their 1st time customers. Something they likely do not do. :lol:
Truth! Bahaha.

Jan 17th, '12, 18:50
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Re: Your verdict on "Teavana"

by intelligen_tea_a » Jan 17th, '12, 18:50

Teavana is good for getting a free sample when you're at the mall. I would never buy tea from them, from the samples that I have tried.

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Jan 18th, '12, 11:14
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Re: Your verdict on "Teavana"

by PamEast » Jan 18th, '12, 11:14

At the risk of being blasted off the board... I have to say that I think Teavana serves a purpose. I HATED tea... but then, I thought a cheap lipton's tea bag was all there was. Teavana introduced me to much better tea than a lipton's tea bag, and better brewing methods.

Give them credit for introducing loose leaf teas to previously non-tea-drinkers. They introduce new people to the wonderful world of tea every day. To my mind, anything that increases public awareness and positive attitude towards tea is good for all of us.

Does Teavana have the best tea or good prices? No, of course not. Their market is not the experienced connoisseur, and they have mall overhead, for heavens sake. But I don't think they are evil incarnate either.

It didn't take me long to find much better tea at much better prices online. But that doesn't mean I need to vilify the company that got me drinking tea to begin with.

Just my opinion.

Pam

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