My experience at Teavana.

[xhado123]

With the monkey picked Oolong, you can reuse the leaves about seven times if you temp your water just right. Less than a buck a pot sounds good to me, compared to, say, soda. (I have a 46oz. Tatara pot.)

Any time a Teavana employee weighs a tin, it's force of habit to fill the tin. I usually make a joke about it, throw the full tin on the scale, then pour most of it back into the storage container. I do, however, still encourage the purchase of the XL tins. It's airtight and light-tight, and really can keep tea fresh for years. We used to sell plain Yerba Mate, and we have a tin of it from about three years ago. The manager plans to drink it only when he reaches ten years with the company, partly because he loves Yerba Mate and also because he wants to prove to himself that the tins really do keep tea fresh.

And as for the blends and mixing and stuff... It's supply and demand. The farms simply cannot grow enough tea leaves of the quality we require, so we blend. Somehow, we've kept our prices the same through the past year's really rough harvest...

I am learning as much as I can about tea, beyond just what I know from Teavana. I am trying silver needle teas, dragonwells, jasmine dragon (some places call it pheonix) pearls, and other similarities (similariteas?) at other shops. I am comparing prices, leaf quality, taste... In my town, there are five other loose leaf tea shops. Each one has their own little house blends, bits of fruits or other teas. And each have their own opinion on how silver needle should taste.... On average, the taste of the other's silver needle leaves a bit to be desired. Almost a dry taste, compared to a subtle sweetness with teavana's. This is limited to my town, and to the one specific tea. It is a rather pricey tea, the cheapest I've found it in my town being 23 dollars per two ounces.

The six ounces I mentioned is a starter weight. If you want long-term health benefits, it will take a longer time for your body to accept the anti-oxidants, etc. etc. That knowledge comes from my extensive herbal experiences. Six ounces ought to last about four weeks, perhaps five, and that's about where you start noticing the peak benefits for long-term effects. (blood Pressure, Cholesterol, Blood Sugar, Fine lines/wrinkles, etc. etc.)

Off to find a new green tea. Any suggestions?

[debunix]

The six ounces I mentioned is a starter weight. If you want long-term health benefits, it will take a longer time for your body to accept the anti-oxidants, etc. etc.

No one tea has a monopoly on whatever health benefits tea may offer, and for most of us, one of the joys of tea is the variety of different flavors that can be coaxed from a single plant. Buying in such large volume of any one tea means you end up with less variety in your tea drinking, or your teas get old in the back of the cupboard. Very sad. No matter your container, changes will happen to the tea inside over time--who has the capacity to nitrogen flush tea in their home cupboard? or keep the temperature and humidity perfectly constant when opening and closing the container?

[Geekgirl]

With the monkey picked Oolong, you can reuse the leaves about seven times if you temp your water just right. Less than a buck a pot sounds good to me, compared to, say, soda. (I have a 46oz. Tatara pot.)

Multi-steeping works only when you don't blow out the leaves with a long, hot steep to begin with - the kind of steep you'd HAVE to do in order to work with a 46oz pot.

Any time a Teavana employee weighs a tin, it's force of habit to fill the tin. I usually make a joke about it, throw the full tin on the scale, then pour most of it back into the storage container.

I don't understand this. "Force of habit?" Habits are developed, you guys are TRAINED to "fill the tin," then try to convince the customer that you don't want to have to put some back and "contaminate" the batch. I've been told this. It's ridiculous. It's not a "habit," it's corporate training.

I do, however, still encourage the purchase of the XL tins. It's airtight and light-tight, and really can keep tea fresh for years. We used to sell plain Yerba Mate, and we have a tin of it from about three years ago. The manager plans to drink it only when he reaches ten years with the company, partly because he loves Yerba Mate and also because he wants to prove to himself that the tins really do keep tea fresh.

Wow, you've really bought the bridge, haven't you? Teas that are not meant for aging are going to lose flavor and change, even in those "airtight" tins. Even vacuum-sealed tea is not meant to be kept for many years - talk to the shincha aficionados, they'll talk to you all day about shelf-life and storage methods. Let me tell ya - it ain't Teavana Corporate's party line.

In 10 years, I don't care how that Y.M. is stored, it will have lost the essential oils in the leaves, the moisture balance will have changed, and there will be organic progression, no matter that it is stored in one of your tins. There will be change, and it will not be fresh. Whether or not people are pleased and satisfied with the change is another argument entirely, but you cannot logically claim that it would be "fresh" (implying that it is unchanged.)

If you want further confirmation of that, speak with anyone who works extensively with herbal preparations and pure essential oils (as long as it's not one of those corporate or MLM EO companies, who will sell you the same C & B story as Teavana does,) and they'll tell you that even with proper handling and storage, EOs will not last forever without change.

And as for the blends and mixing and stuff... It's supply and demand. The farms simply cannot grow enough tea leaves of the quality we require, so we blend. Somehow, we've kept our prices the same through the past year's really rough harvest...

If I'm buying a named and graded tea, I expect it to be EXACTLY that - NOT a blend of teas or grades. To do anything else is unethical and deceitful.

Off to find a new green tea. Any suggestions?

There are many fine suggestions in the reviews section, pick a few finely reviewed teas, and brew them in something other than your 46oz tetsubin, and you might begin to understand why it is we object to the sales-pitch and so-called explanations from Teavana.

[Chip]

Perhaps we should have a Teavana topic under TeaVendors, but amazingly nobody has nominated them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For Japanese greens: http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=11556

For all other greens: http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=11931

Most tea vendors discussed on the forum have educated consumers as their best customers. From what I have witnessed firsthand, Teavana's best customers are uneducated consumers who will fall prey to the propaganda machine that is Teavana.

[tomasini]

And one little thing...I hate how that cosntantly rave about Vitamin C being in tea...granted, it may be there before its brewed, but it's to my understanding that vitamin c is destroyed at something like 80 degrees ? and would be utterly useless. "Gyokuro...the multi vitamin and blood detox of teas"
....if the only reason you drink precious dew...is for the health benefits...
*shoots self in the face*
And yes, totally over used the ellipses

[Crafty_Mom]

Oh, my. I love this thread. I wonder if anyone on here (Teavanna employees excepted for obvious reasons) has had good experiences with Teavanna? I'm guessing no.

Certainly not me.

[tomasini]

well there was this one SUPER cute girl that used to work at the one in the mall of georgia..no idea if she's still there. But she used to give me free cups of tea...always had a massive crush on her :-/

[PamEast]

Ok, I'm going to take a risk and come out on the other side of the fence here. I've been a business owner for over 13 years, and if there is one thing I've learned, it's that a thriving market helps everyone regardless of who is getting that market off and running.

I DO understand the feelings about Teavana coming from more experienced tea drinkers, and I'm not suggestiong such people shop there; however I don't think they are as evil as people are making them out to be. At the risk of getting myself bashed, I think there's value to the tea community in having places like Teavana exist.

There are VERY FEW places where american's at large can taste (for free) tea that is of better quality than a lipton's tea bag. For many people Teavana is thier first experience higher quality tea. I'm not saying top quality, but certainly better than a grocery store tea bag! Yes, there is much better tea available at lower prices, but that misses the point. Introducing whole new markets of american's to the joys of higher quality tea is valuable to everyone.

Many of those Teavana customers will go on to find places like Adagio and other quality sellers. The only reason they will be looking for other sources is because they had a positive first experience with loose leaf tea, provided by Teavana. Not all thier customers will "graduate" of course, but in essence, Teavana is almost single-handedly building whole new markets for high quality tea. Who else is serving free samples of loose leaf teas in malls across america?

This helps everyone. It helps the quality dealers by building new markets they might not otherwise ever touch. It helps tea drinkers, since a thriving market translates more selection and better pricing availablity on the tea you DO want to drink.

Pam

[TwoPynts]

Good post Pam.

My own Teavana experience is limited. A co-worker brought in Samurai Chai, which I really like, though for the spicing rather than tea quality. Also had some mint something or other. Also good. I've never gone in the local outlet or bought anything myself, though I like the look of their canisters.

Starbucks helped get a lot of Americans into something other than diner coffee (if that is a good thing). I'm sure some went on to discover that there is more to coffee than hundreds of calories from sugar and cream, fancy names, burnt beans and free wi-fi. I see Teavana in a similar light.

[Chip]

Pam, I would hope that nobody would bash you for expressing an differing PoV on TeaChat!

It is true that Teavana has helped many discover tea, but often at too high a price ...

I don't think anyone would really mind Teavana so much, and would forgive a lot of their downsides if it was not for their unscrupulous broken record sales practices/propaganda (that clearly are engrained in their training) that go completely against the grain of the essense of tea (versus the essense of Teavana). To many tea drinkers it is completely offensive.

I really pity the suckah who wanders into a teavana thinking maybe tea is a good change in their life. They play right into the hands of the vultures I mean sales associates. I hate the Teavana machine for this ... strong words coming from me!!!

But then there is the virtual to actual criminal elements I have seen first hand, like not taring the scale after placing a grossly oversized canister on the scale ... what is that all about???

[RaynBeatle]

That sounds awful... But I'm still going to shop at Teavana. The employs at the one I go to don't try to talk my boyfriend and I into buying things we don't want or get pissed if we just want to buy a cup to go and when we ask for exactly a pound, they give us exactly a pound and offer us the paper bags.

My concern is mainly over animals...I do feel bad for people but if the employees don't want to be pushed or even mistreated they don't have to stay and it's their choice. They had plenty of very nice teas I simply can't give up.

[iannon]

Wow, you've really bought the bridge, haven't you? Teas that are not meant for aging are going to lose flavor and change, even in those "airtight" tins. Even vacuum-sealed tea is not meant to be kept for many years - talk to the shincha aficionados, they'll talk to you all day about shelf-life and storage methods. Let me tell ya - it ain't Teavana Corporate's party line.

wait!!! you mean I can store my Shincha for a year!?? WOOT

[Geekgirl]

I don't think anyone would really mind Teavana so much, and would forgive a lot of their downsides if it was not for their unscrupulous broken record sales practices/propaganda (that clearly are engrained in their training) that go completely against the grain of the essense of tea (versus the essense of Teavana). To many tea drinkers it is completely offensive.

Exactly this. The reason I get so bothered by Teavana is that they seem to make a corporate practice of misinformation and bullying. If they were simply overpriced and mediocre quality, I wouldn't be bothered at all.

[Chip]

Everyone in my store agrees: if you don't tare the tin, you should be fired right after the customer leaves.

My trainer was by the book. I think that there are people up top who have forgotten a bit of their humanity... Because Pam was right. I enjoy the aspect of my job that is introducing people to the world of loose leaf tea. I even make recommendations to teas we don't carry, such as lapsangs and straight Mates.

I am being the change I want to see in Teavana, to further the company goals of being the most respected and the highest-quality provider of teas. Thank you guys for pointing out areas the company can improve upon, thanks to others who still like us even though some people are p****s.

My first two months have been wonderful, and I'm looking forward to perhaps incorporating the company into my careerpath. It's a healthy one, at least...

[iannon]

Everyone in my store agrees: if you don't tare the tin, you should be fired right after the customer leaves.

My trainer was by the book. I think that there are people up top who have forgotten a bit of their humanity... Because Pam was right. I enjoy the aspect of my job that is introducing people to the world of loose leaf tea. I even make recommendations to teas we don't carry, such as lapsangs and straight Mates.

I am being the change I want to see in Teavana, to further the company goals of being the most respected and the highest-quality provider of teas. Thank you guys for pointing out areas the company can improve upon, thanks to others who still like us even though some people are p****s.

My first two months have been wonderful, and I'm looking forward to perhaps incorporating the company into my careerpath. It's a healthy one, at least...

Good luck.
Bring in some actual high quality teas.
All the best to you and your health