Ask a former teavana employee (who's two year nondisclosure agreement is up!) anything!

Very likely! which tea is it/Where can I find it?

Teavana has purchased companies, facilities, warehouses, and even entire shipping companies. It’s not beyond the realm of possibilities they’d buy a recipe.

It is Almond Biscotti, but it looks like they have a few other teas that are Teavana’s. It is the Tea Attic. They sell on Amazon as well as their own site, which is a little clunky. 8oz minimum on their teas which makes it hard for me to take that jump without having tried that company or tea.
http://www.teaattic.com/Almond-Biscotti-Organic-Dessert-Tea-_p_240.html

For the price, 20 bucks for 8oz and the recipe teavana uses, I’d get it to try. Teavana might have tea from a different estate, of course, but worth a shot.

Maybe see if there are others willing to do a ‘share’ of the tea bought from Tea Attic.

so ….am i understanding this right…this is teavanas almond biscotti? i was devestated when the almond biscotti got discontinued! it was one of my all time favirite teas.

^I was devastated too! I’m not sure if this is really the Almond Biscotti we knew and loved. One of the Amazon reviews claim that it isn’t. It could also be the original recipe sold, but that doesn’t mean that Teavana didn’t tweak it before it made it to their stores.

A lot of folks think our Brioche is as good if not better than Almond Biscotti – and you can get as little or much as you like

^…and there goes any desire for me to ever order from the American Tea Room

sometimes i wish i didnt have such an aversion to buying tea online. i usually only make one exception…for a tea company that left the state i live in.

If I didn’t buy tea online I wouldn’t have any good tea.

Sales are typically end-of-quarter, just before new stuff appears at beginning of the next quarter. May seem random if you’re not an investor.

Ok. Are there any tips you can give in order to be able to get the best deals at teavana?

Joining their email listings is good. You can also get coupons in the mail. If you have friends that like tea you could try a split buy.

Split buys are amazing, and the coupon list is great. Make good friends with the tea guys, sometimes they scoop a bit extra after the label is printed. If nobody is watching. The POS system is designed for multiple tenders, so splitting with people is really easy. Doing this makes the sales team happier, average ticket goals are typically in the $50-80 range depending on the time of year. (Letting them think you’re helping them is a good way to get free tea.)

When I worked there, we weren’t supposed to do any of that, but being customer focused, my manager and I would simply mark the given out teas as drinks made for employees, then limit ourselves on this. Always better customers that way.

actually, no. I was privy to the margins – it’s not in the cast iron. Teavana pays 100-150 for teapots ranging 160-280 ish, which in retail, is a low markup. Big markup? Tins, and the tea. ! pre 2 oz was the price on teavana’s sheet… for the 25 dollar monkey picked oolong. Whichmeans that EVERY tea retailer is pricing them similarly. Don’t forget Teavana has buying power and is the reason some farms stay in business.

I research a lot before I buy. I loved the large dragonfly pot and was sure I could find it cheaper elsewhere. I didn’t like the shape of any other dragonfly teapots I found anywhere. I did find two other stores selling the same one as Teavana, a tea store in Canada and one in Paris. Both were charging more in US dollars for the pot. Hubby got the Teavana one for me as an anniversary surprise gift. (drove to Raleigh secretly taking time off work.) I love it! Have been using it for quite a while and have no complaints at all. He got me the warmer as well.

Nobody does Teavana cast iron like Teavana. Buying 90% of a company’s product can have that effect… It truly does deliver higher quality pots.

And also… how much sugar?

Others have reported that they use double the amount of tea than called for and about a tsp of sugar per 16 oz of tea.

Just a tsp? It tastes like more.

Hmm, I did some research online and it looks like the ratio of water to tea and sugar is even higher. According to http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/192350391.html and http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/191252151.html, they use three times as much tea and twice as much sugar in their store samples :-o

Another thing I’m wondering… what is the actual amount of tea in their blends?

It seems like there are a lot of inclusions.

1.5 tsp per 8oz per flavour for tea, 1.5 tsp per 8oz for sugar. So, a takehome teamaker? Fill that sucker with 6 tsp of tea and 3 of sugar if it’s a sample blend, and it’s the same as in store.

If they follow guidelines. (They follow guidelines if they don’t want to get fired…)

Whispers from my upper management contacts (2 years ago, mind) were yes, but being bought by starbucks may have altered decisions? I’m not sure.

Interesting. Just seems like a gap in the market for a cool tea shop that isn’t all too confusing or quaint or old fashioned.