First visit to Teavana

I stumbled upon a Teavana shop yesterday at the mall, and I think this store may end up relieving me of a large portion of my money! Somehow I refrained from buying anything, but I don't think I'll be nearly as successful at this on my next visit.The variety of teas was pretty impressive. I think I'll be getting a butt-ton of teacups and accessories at some point, as well. Who else has visited one of their shops?

Super expensive.
Quality is meh.
Not very helpful.

ouch said:

Super expensive.
Quality is meh.
Not very helpful.

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+1. Try adagio.com

ouch said:

Super expensive.
Quality is meh.
Not very helpful.

Click to expand...

Agree, but better than no other options for loose leaf tea. You can mail order, but you don't get to see/smell/sample prior to buying (save this until you have better idea what you're looking for). I'd NOT go overboard and let them sell you the BIG canisters of tea. Start small and low cost until you learn what you like and in what quantities. I thought that Teavanna was all we had in our medium sized Midwest city, then discovered we had a Gong Fu tea store in town with better tea, more knowledgeable staff, and better prices. Look around, if you're large enough to have a Teavanna, you might have other options.

Also, we have an Asian store with a good selection of Green Tea (decent enough), even their most expensive is at a much lower cost than either of the specialty teas stores.

It would do in a pinch; they have some decent loose teas, but the price/quality ratio is off, and you have to wade through the fruity/herbal concoctions.

But, if I ran out of tea entirely, and really wasn't feeling a cup of coffee, then - no, I'd still go to World Market.

I personally like Teavana, yes some of the prices are a tad high but the quality is far and above any bagged tea and better than any other loose leaf tea I have ever had. They have plenty of teas that are from 5-7$ so its really not that hard to find a good well priced tea.

To each there own I guess.

JPDyson said:

It would do in a pinch; they have some decent loose teas, but the price/quality ratio is off, and you have to wade through the fruity/herbal concoctions.

But, if I ran out of tea entirely, and really wasn't feeling a cup of coffee, then - no, I'd still go to World Market.

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Went there the other day because all the mom and pop shops within driving distance were closed for the day.

Prices were 100%-300% higher than they should have been. Had a selection of about 5 greens (versus 20+ at my local shop). Not impressed.

I ended up buying a couple of teas from Central Market in Fort Worth instead. They had a pretty wide selection of teas, and the prices were pretty good. Way better prices and selection than anything in Amarillo, which is just too small of a city for tea drinkers, apparently.

Enigma said:

I personally like Teavana, yes some of the prices are a tad high but the quality is far and above any bagged tea and better than any other loose leaf tea I have ever had. They have plenty of teas that are from 5-7$ so its really not that hard to find a good well priced tea.

To each there own I guess.

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A word of advice. You pay $5-7 for loose teas in a bag at Teavana. If you buy from other suppliers you get a similar quantity of tea in a tin - something that Teavana makes you buy separately. Granted, online stores require that you pay shipping but you will find that many of them offer a better quality of product.

Your call, but just something I learned after starting out with Teavana.

Tevanna is a good gateway into tea, but I quickly realized there were better options out there both quality and price wise. I was turned onto to Harney and Sons by another member here and have been quite pleased with their quality and pricng.

I go to Teavana all the time, but I treat it as more of a museum than anything else. The tea sets are nice to look at, samples are nice to smell and taste (because who doesn't like tea with a LOT of sugar?), etc. Im a visitor not a customer.

They make ridiculous profits on their supply. I saw a bamboo-handle metal strainer for $12 there and the exact same one in Chinatown for $1. It's no wonder they are expanding like crazy.

I recommend adagio like the above poster. Sampler sets in any genre of tea you'd like, you're bound to figure out what you enjoy.

ouch said:

Super expensive.
Quality is meh.
Not very helpful.

Click to expand...

The Art of Tea?

enigma said:

i personally like teavana, yes some of the prices are a tad high but the quality is far and above any bagged tea and better than any other loose leaf tea i have ever had. They have plenty of teas that are from 5-7$ so its really not that hard to find a good well priced tea.

To each there own i guess.

Click to expand...

+1

Teavana is what I call a "repackager". They buy very average fantasy teas in bulk from companies like Mlesna.

If you want really good flavoured teas, try a true high-end tea maker like Kousmichoff.

I have a love hate relationship with Teavana. I love it because it got me interested in higher quality loose leaf teas while before I only drank Tetleys. On the other hand i hate the place because the prices are high, the tea isnt very good and the sales people are clueless about tea and very pushy. Personally once I did some research and found the excellent online retailers I have no reason to go back to Teavana.

Funny I just stumbled upon one today at the mall. Originally went to see if The Body Shop was still carrying C.O. Bigelow, which they are but no buy one get one deal going on at the moment. While leaving I saw a Teavana and stopped in as my first foray into loose tea. Granted I have no doubt better deals can be found elsewhere but it was an impulse buy and not really being much of a tea aficionado I figured I'd get my feet wet there.

I picked up one of these infusers. Also 2 oz of this green tea. Also one of those big air tight tea holder tins they rope you in with too because "otherwise the tea will go bad in about 5 days". No doubt I will be checking more online but for a noob into loose tea I found it to be a bit more hands on than doing it online.

You will find fruity greens there but no pu-erhs. In the 2 stores I have visited the workers have been VERY pushy almost to the point of comical. The samples are delicious.