Today (9-19-11) I had the chance to visit the Starbucks Support Center (the headquarters), and I noticed something on a shelf, in a corner: a few tins labeled, “Starbucks Finest Tea” caught my eye. I picked them up to get a better look. The packaging was absolutely beautiful. So this was Starbucks tea long before Tazo was in the picture?
I noticed the address on the back of the tins listed the Starbucks headquarters as 2010 Airport Way South. This means that the tins pre-date the June 1997 move into the current headquarters location at 2401 Utah Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98134.
I apologize for the quality of the photos. I spontaneously took some photos with my phone. Hope you enjoy them!
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The first thing that comes across my mind while looking at the pictures was the old British teas packaging during the colonial time, they are very similar. Its good to know that Starbucks never forget its past. But now the tea era has been replaced by a coffee era, maybe? We can still enjoy both, though… =)
Never seen that before. And I would have bought a lot of that black currant tea. Cool find.
These tins of tea are very interesting..in todays context! I don’t remember ever seeing any tea things back in the 90’s..I’m sure because I wasn’t interested……only in COFFFEE.
I did keep tea at home for yrs and yrs, always had a cup at night. And, it almost always came in tins. (never bought it from Sbux)
well, there’s my ‘few words’;)
As an avid tea drinker, I love seeing these tea tins and I too do not remember them. They should bring them back. I bet people would buy them. Were there other artifacts from SB on the shelf?
@purple1 – If you ever get a chance to stroll through the Starbucks headquarters, it is visual overload, which I think is what makes it so entertaining. There really are artifacts all over the place. And it might have been a mistake for me to date these as 1990s. These tins very well could be late 1980s era tins. For sure, they are pre-1997. Starbucks began using the space at 2401 Utah Avenue South before the big official move in. It might be these date to pre-1993 – That news article I linked to in this blog (see Seattle Times link) says they started using the current headquarters for some operations in 1993.
@DeniseR LOL You crack me up. It was nearly wordless Wednesday because I didn’t use very many words. 😉
@Kara86ster – Oh you’re right. There is something that looks old fashioned British about the packaging. Also, I couldn’t find a logo on them!
@Denise R – I changed the title of the blog. “Wordless Wednesday” was a horrible blog title. What was I thinking?
I did not have a problem with the first title, but this new title hits the mark. I am sort of surprised that the corporate office does not put the artifacts into a more organized design where perhaps they can conduct tours. I assume since you said you can walk around that these artifacts are on the main level of corporate.
kara, do you mean like the twinings style tea tins? i have one of those that i keep pens in! it’s totally not that old, but it’s the same kind of style.
I would date these as pre-1993. I started going to SBUX in 92 and was a big black currant fan at the time (hence a fondness for Kenya). I don’t remember seeing these and as said above, I would have bought a lot of them. (I can only speak about the Chicago area in 1992 though).
Melody: you only said NEARLY wordless Wednesday. 😉
I bought Twinings tea (and others) all the time…way back when….always in tins similar to these. Those “old” tins used to have many uses back in the ’70’s……. ;
I don’t recall ever seeing those!
@Karl – I assumed they were 1990s era tea tins, but I am beginning to wonder if they were 1980s era, and I’ve miss-guessed entirely.
@Denise – Even with the “nearly” it was not a great blog title!
I had a customer say that he thought the retail tea was different from the tea he bought in the store. I was like “OKKKKK”
That very well could be Boston Starbucks Rebel. Tazo makes a lot more teas than what are offered at Starbucks, and as I recall, they even have a small subdivision of more rare teas. 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea used to carry a really rare collection of Tazo teas.
I wish i knew more about where starbucks sourced its tea before buying tazo – there are really very few places to get your tea, most tea comes from the same few places, and then is blended or flavored by wholesalers or sold directly.
I never saw these in stores, and I know I would have taken note.
@Boston Starbucks Rebel – there is a variety of teas in retail that are not available in Starbucks – in addition few retail stores carry the full leaf sachets used in Starbucks – this was less true before the switch from CTC paper filter bags to full leaf sachets
The Calm tea sold at Starbucks is different from what is sold aother retailers such as Target and Whole Foods:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/luiscrespo215/6170972055/ – Starbucks version
http://www.flickr.com/photos/luiscrespo215/6171505742/ – Other store version
I lvoe the packaging of this tea! It looks very much like the classic British tea tins – from Fortnum’s, say. I have a couple of those tea tins in my cupboard, those are square, dark green, and have a similar big round lid on top.
Ooh, those ARE nice! They remind me of the tea tins I would see in Europe.
those tea tins were pretty interesting! my grandmother and i are strong tea drinkers and were always looking for something different to drink. we haven’t really ever bought tea from Starbucks because were from a small town and don’t have the privilege of buying Starbucks, but definitely something interesting! thanks for sharing.