What do people think about Teavanna?

To me, teavana seems like a starbucks of tea. Okay to start but to get better tea, seems like the internet is there for the rescue since its rare for a loose-leaf shop of many varieties to be near tea lovers, maybe Bird Pick Tea and Herb but they leave their teas in translucent jars.

A better way to start exploring is to look at the teas you want to try from the steepster tea page and buy it from the company that sells it. I second the TeaFairy’s suggestions, especially teavivre, best value and free samples.

I haven’t tried Butiki tea yet, but I know plenty of people on Steepster that are over the moon for them. And they are based pretty close to you so that should make them worth a try

I guess my other suggestion would be Harney and Sons. Harney and Sons have a great selection, at a great price…at an above average quality.

And my last advice would be to constantly try new tea shops! Pretty much every city has at least 5 loose leaf tea shops, google and search and read up on them, and give them a try.

For flavoured teas, I started with Davids and still turn to them when I want a blended tea. Butiki has good quality teas as well but I find the price a bit too stiff for SOME of the blends – but they are definitely higher quality leaves than Davids so you are paying for quality.

Unflavoured teas are my true love now and have been for a few years. Teavivre sells most of my favourite unflavoured blacks and I endorse them completely. Once or twice a year I treat myself to a Verdant order but they are also very expensive (for my budget). I recommend making an account with them and doing the daily points rewards until you get a $5 or $10 off coupon to help make a first order more affordable. They are a real treat, though I find I hoard them which is unhelpful. That’s my problem though! :)

The staff at all these companies are very passionate and care about the tea and the experience. Obviously Davids is still a large chain but I do feel that they treat their staff well and care about their customers. If you want to support a smaller store, Butiki and Verdant are the way to go. I am not sure how large of a company Teavivre is but they seem very authentic and you get the tea closer to the source.

There’s something out there for everyone – enjoy!

Yeah, I really want to try davidstea but since I can’t smell or sample the tea because it’s online, I feel very vulnurable to getting a tea I don’t like.

I personally think Teavana is a hit or miss with their teas. They are a good stepping stone from grocery store to loose teas. I think they have some good deals (maybe like the flavored black teas), but a lot of teas are overpriced for their quality (I’m looking at you, monkey picked oolong). I think they have some cute flavors/ideas, but I would look into other places for “high end” tea.

Also, I think most of their tea ware is pretty overpriced. When I go into stores, they like to talk up their cast iron sets. But, Honestly, I could get the exact same teapot online for half the price. (http://www.teavana.com/tea-products/teapots-teapot-sets/cast-iron-teapots/p/elephant-cast-iron-teapot vs http://www.enjoyingtea.com/sastredcairt.html (but it is half the size, but if you bought two you would still be 100 dollars richer)).

Honestly, I have not had really any major problems in the store. Only once of the many times I have been there I have encountered a pushy salesperson. From what I see (I’ve never actually bought tea, just got my Starbucks free samples), the people at my store don’t overpour tea leaves and don’t force tins on people. The only thing I ever purchased was a 50% off cup to go with my gaiwan from Yunnan Sourcing and a cup of hot tea (which I had to throw away because it was so bad (Pineapple Kona Pop sweetened)).

Oh! I don’t like how their sample teas don’t taste like how it is brewed at home. It is really sly.

Vani aka Foodbabe has a great post on chemicals in tea and it includes a blurb on Teavana. A great read! http://foodbabe.com/2013/08/21/do-you-know-whats-really-in-your-tea/

I’ve only had two experiences with Teavana, neither of which have been pleasant. I wouldn’t go out of my way to go there again.

First experience: waited forever to be acknowledged in the store. It had just opened, they were busy, so I waited. And I waited. And I waited. And soon all of the customers that had been in the store before me were served and were leaving…and the staff were standing around complaining about how busy they were. I waited for about 45 minutes in total before leaving empty-handed. Attributed to new staff and only a few days after opening. “Can’t get worse,” I said.

Second experience: went back a few months later, convinced I will try their tea this time. Store not busy. “Good start!” I said. “It will be a better experience!” I said. I lie. I tried their sample of the day, some kind of fruity stuff. It was pleasant, but not my favourite. Salesgirl asked if I liked it, I said I did. Before I could blink she said “that will be $10.” Um…what? $10 for a sample? OH. You’ve already rung up the tea thinking I want to immediately buy it. I get how this works.

There were also some other small things that turned me off during both of those experiences, but none would have made me refuse to go back. But being THAT PUSHY to your customers? I had already tried David’s and really liked them (and their service…I could say a gagillion nice things about their service), so I’ve never felt the need to go out of my way to go back to Teavana.