My experience at Teavana.

[KillaWatt]

I honestly dont get all the fuss. The teavana thats about 45 minutes from where I live is AWESOME!!! The people that work there are very very helpful and nice and have not done any of those sales gimmicks that you guys said teavana employees do. Everytime I have gone they have taken out any extra tea to get it to the weight I asked for without asking, "Is that good?" hoping I would buy more and they have NEVER tried to sell me anything besides tea. And they let me make up my own mind and take my time unless I ask for otherwise. I am a teasnob but i think the Teavana bashing on this site gets a little ridiculous. Seems more like a crusade of self-importance and "i know more about tea than these clowns" Not to start a fight though... And to some of the Teavana haters....have you ever even been there?

[scruffmcgruff]

And to some of the Teavana haters....have you ever even been there?

You don't get the fuss because you are lucky to have a good store near you. [Edit: I guess that's a prime example of a genetic fallacy, but who needs logic when you can have pedantry instead? ] The one closest to me has decent service as well, not like what is frequently described in this thread anyway (Ironic that a good one would be near me, since I don't even like Teavana teas). HOWEVER, and it is a big however, most stores really are this bad. I bet your opinion of the Teavana brand will change if you are unfortunate enough to wander into one of the bad ones.

[xuancheng]

I honestly dont get all the fuss. The teavana thats about 45 minutes from where I live is AWESOME!!! The people that work there are very very helpful and nice and have not done any of those sales gimmicks that you guys said teavana employees do. Everytime I have gone they have taken out any extra tea to get it to the weight I asked for without asking, "Is that good?" hoping I would buy more and they have NEVER tried to sell me anything besides tea. And they let me make up my own mind and take my time unless I ask for otherwise. I am a teasnob but i think the Teavana bashing on this site gets a little ridiculous. Seems more like a crusade of self-importance and "i know more about tea than these clowns" Not to start a fight though... And to some of the Teavana haters....have you ever even been there?

Have you ever even been to any of the Teavana shops that people are complaining about? I haven't seen the one in Wisconsin near your house mentioned once.

[davidlhsl]

Teavana was my intro into loose leaf tea and how I discovered this forum. My experience with Teavana was mostly positive, so you can imagine my shock when I read the horror stories here. It felt as if someone said something ugly about my mother.

However, I couldn't escape the fact that there was some aspects that I could relate to my own experience. I think the store near me does good business, so things for me haven't been as severe as it has been for others. For example, Teavana simply isn't a place where I feel I could just walk in and look around. I always walk out of the place a bit overwhelmed at the attention.

I also know now that I spent waaaaay too much for my tea hardware from them. I find myself using a wonderful set I purchased from Ten Tea: http://www.tentea.com/blulotteaset.html. I love this set, and this is what I use at work.

I do disagree with comments about their tea being poor quality. Their Black Dragon Pearl is the smoothest and best black tea I've tried, their Peach Tranquility is the best herbal tea, and I even love their much maligned Monkey Picked Oolong.

But most importantly, the reason I'll always regard Teavana with some fondness is the fact that I think their brewing parameters are perfect for beginners, and it gave me the self confidence to continue with loose leaf. If I had started with Upton Teas, which is another vendor from which I've purchased tea, I would've given up due to their recommended 3 minutes being excessive for genmaicha and first flush darjeeling.

[shesallthat]

You have to take Teavana for what it is. For most people it is an introduction to loose leaf tea, for others they just want to buy that super swet iced tea blend that's a few steps away from Kool Aid. We do get a lot of "tea drinkers" who come in for the Black Pearls, Silver Needle and Pi Lo and wouldn't touch an herbal with a 10 foot pole...but mostly we get customers who buy our tea because of the taste. A lot of them think all tea is "oolong" because that's all they know from chinese restaurants. and that's okay. I hate to push, I'm uncomfortable with pushing any sale. Teavanas are located only in malls and like all speciality mall shops are more expensive. It is what it is.

[robb1969]

I am looking for a part-time consultant for a tea shop that I will be opening in Asia next year. Please contact me directly at [Mod edited]

Moderator edit: Link removed per forum rules located under Introduction, in particular new member links and self promoting posts.

Chip
Tea drnker who happens to Moderate.

[xT]

Hi............. I'm a newbie and just gave that wonderful store Teavana my notice!! After training for just a week with (N) I gave notice to our wonderful (and I mean wonderful) store manager. The training is a nightmare to say the least and I would advise anyone and everyone who does not want a sales person on your back from beginning to end NOT to shop at TEAVANA!!! Just my little input w/out getting to the particulars.

[silverneedles]

omg ...... got it ....... alright already
this is turning into a sign-in sheet for Tvana employees...

[Chip]

LOL, everyone who works or worked for Teavana gets a turn!!!

[Salsero]

I think this thread has been made part of the employment application.

[RoboBird]

I can totally see why people would be sounding off on this board; I work at Teavana, and the general feeling-I've realized-is that they make many employees there miserable, but manage to make sure that there's no outlet for any dissention.

[danielmalice]

This was an incredible read, and really not shocking at all. Well, not entirely. There was one part that shocked me. It shocked me that it is a husband and wife owned chain. Never in my life have I been to such a corporate store before; it rivals that of even Starbucks or Gamestop.

I went into the store that opened somewhat recently in my mall(Burlington MA) looking for a tea set with my friend. We asked, and they did exactly as you said, showed us the ones on the far left first. The one she liked was $145. We didn't get it, but later we checked the Asian store in the same mall and found the EXACT SAME tea set WITH two cups for $55. If you include buying two cups from Teavana, then you're looking at over $100 less for the same set. I've refused to use that store for anything other than free samples since then, but they always attack me on the sample kart and offer to sell me loose tea. No thank you...I will stick to buying it off the internet for dozens of dollars less.

[spot52]

I will say that they have an incredibly aesthetically pleasing store. It looks very modern with a touch of eastern influence, kudos to them on that.

[Chip]

The only thing I will buy from them is a few Washi tins, they always update there stock, and I get to choose exactly what I want. The price is comparable to the online sources for them.

The stores look pretty slick on the surface, but the overhead has gotta be killah.