I had high hopes for this after trying a sample of it a Teavana store.
So I, beaming with excited tea-happiness, asked the clerk for a couple ounces of it and brought it home. Sadly, I just couldn’t replicate the strength of flavor that was present in the sample I tried. Even when using a full 3 teaspoons of leaf and letting it steep longer than normal standards (the guide on the side of the bag) would advise I still couldn’t get a comparable flavor out of it.
I’m convinced that the employees at Teavana use some kind of magic to get their sample teas to taste like they do. I’d ask them to show me but I’m scared that I’d end up in some shady back room selling my soul to a superfluously titled tea god.
In short, this tea is not worth the hefty price tag.
Preparation
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ahhh the teavanna god… here’s a little bit of insight …
a friend of mine is a former store manager… she says that they used the winter white honey in the samples instead of the rock cane sugar.. but they couldn’t advertise that… and that many times they doubled to an iced tea amount of tea for the samples without watering them back down…
AND their rigs in the store only pour at a pre-boiled 208-210… there is no measured 195 or 175 in the store… they cool it down while it’s steeping so the initial water hit is much hotter that what you would do at home and it’s cooled during the steep so it doesn’t burn the leaves.
I really don’t like that they don’t follow their own instructions… and the only reason she talked to me about it is because I kept ordering cups of tea that I swore up and down were burned… so now I don’t complain… but I know I can’t trust the cups you buy there.
I hate the corporate side of that company.
I bought it because of the sample as well and it tastes nothing like the sample at home. It’s frustrating.
The new blend is the Samurai Chai Mate and Maharaja Chai Oolong. I don’t know what it was like three years ago but now there are definitely two water heaters with different temperatures, and the sample definitely has german rock sugar!
ahhh the teavanna god… here’s a little bit of insight …
a friend of mine is a former store manager… she says that they used the winter white honey in the samples instead of the rock cane sugar.. but they couldn’t advertise that… and that many times they doubled to an iced tea amount of tea for the samples without watering them back down…
AND their rigs in the store only pour at a pre-boiled 208-210… there is no measured 195 or 175 in the store… they cool it down while it’s steeping so the initial water hit is much hotter that what you would do at home and it’s cooled during the steep so it doesn’t burn the leaves.
I really don’t like that they don’t follow their own instructions… and the only reason she talked to me about it is because I kept ordering cups of tea that I swore up and down were burned… so now I don’t complain… but I know I can’t trust the cups you buy there.
I hate the corporate side of that company.
I bought it because of the sample as well and it tastes nothing like the sample at home. It’s frustrating.
The new blend is the Samurai Chai Mate and Maharaja Chai Oolong. I don’t know what it was like three years ago but now there are definitely two water heaters with different temperatures, and the sample definitely has german rock sugar!