New to Tea, Have questions. Teavana vs Capital Teas

A good company to buy from if you don’t want to spend too much, but want better quality than Teavana is Simpson and Vail at www.svtea.com. They are my favorite website for standard black teas and green teas. They have some good oolong. Their prices are lower than a site like Whispering Pines, dramatically so. However, their tea quality is not dramatically lower, just their price. They are probably not quite as good as Whispering Pines but they do offer excellent tea. I would say I order from them two to three times a year now.

I do most of my ordering from Capital Teas, Teavana and one smaller mail order company called Pleasures of Tea. A lot of people love Harney and Sons and Adagio, but I’m not a big fan of either one and only like a few teas from each of them. You like what you like. I doubt you’re doing anything wrong.

By the way, I think Teavana is overpriced for the most part, but a lot of the complaints about them have been reduced or have gone away since Starbucks took them over.

Try a few more places and I’m sure you’ll find something you like.

I just finished ordering various teas, and had a similar experience to yourself. After spending around $60 at two separate places (I wanted the free shipping on both), my tea finally arrived! I had dabbled in tea before, mostly all herbal and/or flavoured teas. This time I wanted to try some straight tea, no additives, just tea. Oolongs, blacks, whites, greens, I wanted to try a bit of everything. When my order finally arrived, I tried out 5 or 6 of the teas that day and I was extremely dissapointed. Did I just buy bad tea? Was it old, was it stale? Was I doing something wrong? All of the teas I tried tasted extremely watered down with next to no flavour. The hibiscus and rosehip tea I ordered however tasted great!

What it actually came down to was the fact that I wasn’t used to drinking anything unsweetened or delicate. My drink of choice was pretty much always coffee or occasionally diet-coke. After spending a few days drinking mostly all unsweetened tea, I came back to the teas I originally tried when I first received my orders and I did notice a big difference in flavour. This time around I actually enjoyed them and was able to taste the more subtle flavours and found they no longer tasted watered down.

I had purchased various flavoured teas from teavanna a year or two ago and I found most of their teas were hit and miss with me. What I did notice though is that their teas tend to be quite strongly flavoured. So perhaps something similar is happening to you.

I will definately agree with WhiteAntlers, if you don’t like something now, put it aside and come back to it later! I found with myself it made a big difference!

Good Luck on finding that perfect cup! :)

I will say that I tried a couple more of my Capital Teas ….Figgy Tea which was great (hot and I added Truvia) and I just had the Island Mango iced and both were delicious! WHEW! I guess like anything, there will be good and bad from any company.

Roxanne, If you follow the folks who are following you, it gives you an opportunity to swap tea with them, exchange private messages and see what they are reviewing and commenting on here. Go to your profile to see who your followers are and click on them on the list that comes up so you can follow them here.

Hi Roxanne (and everyone),

Thank you for your post and I’m glad to hear that you are enjoying our Figgy Pudding and Island Mango (our most popular tea to make iced). As others have noted, each tea drinker has his/her likes and dislikes when it comes to various flavors, scents, and ingredients. In addition, it is true that one’s palate can definitely change over time.

We take extreme pride in our selection. Every tea and infusion in our stores or our website is carefully evaluated multiple times. We concentrate on sourcing organic and natural teas, which often differ in flavor from those of other suppliers that are artificially flavored.

With regard to Teavana, it is not our goal to demean any other tea companies. They have done a really great job in getting many people interested in tea. We believe that Capital Teas offers tea drinkers very high quality teas and infusions, lots of choice, and far more options when it comes to organic selections.

If you or anyone has any questions for us, or would like recommendations based on your preferences, please feel free to reach out to us anytime at [email protected] or via phone (888) 484-TEAS 8327.

Three of my favorite teas lately, which you may want to consider, are Annapolis Treasures (organic) — we’re based in Annapolis, MD — Mango Sunny Passion (organic), and Madame Butterfly Jasmine.

HAPPY BREWING!!!

- Adam

im not sure about capital tea. :/ but teavana is expensive :( they are mostly blends IIRC

of course Teavana