On January 6, 2015, you’ll find Teavana teas for your hot tea options at Starbucks. Tazo is being completely phased out. You might even find Teavana sachets in stores now as your neighborhood store’s supply of Tazo teas is depleted. More than one year ago, Starbucks began testing Teavana hot teas inside selected stores in Atlanta. And in March this year, Starbucks transitioned to Teavana iced teas. In September this year, Starbucks began selling Teavana loose leaf tea inside their stores. Under MyStarbucksRewards, you earn a star for every transaction at Teavana (when paid with a registered Starbucks card) and you can register a Teavana card and use it as your Starbucks card. (The Evolution Fresh card and Teavana cards are both Starbucks cards).
So it is no surprise that soon, when you’re ordering a hot tea at Starbucks, you’ll get a Teavana tea sachet. There will be at least ten tea options: (In no particular order)
- Pineapple Kona Pop (herbal tea)
- Jade Citrus Mint (Green tea)
- Earl Grey (Black tea)
- Oprah Chai (Black tea)
- Mint Majesty (herbal tea)
- Emperor’s Clouds & Mist (green tea)
- Youthberry (white tea)
- Royal English Breakfast (black tea)
- Passion Tango (herbal tea)
Have you tried any of these teas? What do you think about the switch? The choices look pretty delightful. I personally normally order coffee over tea (for hot beverages) but I have tried almost every one of the above listed teas. And Youthberry is delicious iced! I’ve heard that iced Youthberry with Starbucks lemonade is delicious – and for areas of the country that have Fizzio, try it fizzed!
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we’re already selling Teavana teas in Canada, well at least in Edmonton. Most of our Tazo Teas are depleted!
My store has completely transitioned because we sold out of Tazo in late November. I feel that all Teavana teas are full of flavor and have a greater feel on the palate than Tazo. They seem more complex, even “simple” or common teas like English Breakfast or Earl Grey. As far as iced, I and several of my partners are hooked on the peach passion iced. It is very refreshing and goes great with lunch!
These teas are a tough transition for some customers but overall it was a great decision for Starbucks.
@Wayne – Thank you for the comment – And I should have mentioned that it is both the US and Canada! Hope you’re doing well!!
@Steve Hardy – I agree! Thanks for the comment!
Woohoo! I’m excited, at the very least, for a change in the teas; they’ve gotten a bit boring for me. However, I am a bit disgruntled that some of the teas are artificially flavoured; I’ll have to check online for the ingredients lists before I risk trying a few of them.
I can’t wait to pair the Royal English Breakfast with my free (reward) breakfast sandwich in a few days!
I just checked for the ingredients of my favourite black tea, Earl Grey, and I am very disappointed that it is artificially flavoured. Natural bergamot is the tea’s signature ingredient, yet they decided to be cheap and use some fake substitute!? That’s pretty appalling in my opinion. A tea company that goes cheap on one of the most highly-regarded, basic tea flavours. Sad. 🙁
@Ryan – I’ve heard that comment before about the artificial flavoring – I understand why some people react to that. I tend to think though that the American diet is full of artificial flavors all the time. As an aside, my favorite of the Teavana teas might be Blueberry Bliss – so good iced! I wish we could get Blueberry Bliss at Starbucks. Thank you for weighing in my friend!
Does this mean the classic Tazo chai latte (not Oprah) will no longer be available?
I look forward to trying the Teavana teas @ Starbucks. Thanks for the article/information, Melody.
@CD – That’s a good question – Shoot – I need to look into that. Not sure if the standard Chai syrup is changing. I will try to find out.
I love the pineapple kona Pop iced from teavana at their store. I actually got some for Christmas! I’m not into hot teas however, so I will just be brewing mine at home so I can let it cool and ice it!
So excited. I like the teavana full leaf but it will be excited to do a taste comparison with the tea satchel bags. I love youth berry and also if you mix kona pineapple with passion tango is good too.
I have tried the Oprah Chai, Youthberry, Jade Citrus Mint, Kona Pop, Passion Tango, Peach Tranquility, and most recently I tried the Royal English Breakfast. I tried them iced and hot. I tried them straight-up and I tried them with various milks (specifically, organic soy milk, whole milk, half-and-half, nonfat milk, and almond milk). I’m a regular at a few stores and all of the baristas were generous in allowing me to really sample these new teas and to try different variations, even letting me take some samples home. All I can say, across the board, is, ‘Bleh!’ The blends, in particular, are unpalatable.
Let’s start with the Oprah Chai. A barista surprised me with a grande, hot, organic soy Oprah Chai on the house one day, and I was so touched and happy that he thought of me. Being a big Tazo Chai fan he thought I might like to try this one. So, I did. Off the bat, I was hit with a strong black pepper-pod flavor. I like the spice of Chai, but this particular Chai lacked that pleasant mellow spice that I’ve come to enjoy from quality, authentic Chai’s. The pepper flavor was jarring, but not entirely bad. The Oprah Chai has a strong black-licorice finish that lingers long after you finish your serving. I recommend brushing twice and drinking iced mineral water to rid your palate of the flavor unless you like black licorice. I don’t. The pepper is more evident in the iced version than the hot and the licorice flavor less cloying, but it still didn’t scream ‘Chai’ to me. They should relabel it. All in all, it was an interesting experience. However, it was not compelling enough to steer me away from Tazo’s Chai, and I will not be trying this, hot or iced, ever again.
Youthberry. Served straight-up the aroma is not inviting. Steeped for recommended two minutes. Very dilute, almost no flavor. Placed satchet back into mug for an additional three minutes. Flavor profile present after resteeping was predominately citrus with a strange, metallic, chemical aftertaste. The strange aftertaste is less pronounced but still present in the straight-up iced version. With milk, the aftertaste is masked but still present. The hot version, with milk (specifically half-and-half) had the least offensive aftertaste. Still, an unpleasant experience.
Jade Citrus Mint. Steeped for recommended two minutes. Tasted like water. (My mom, who is born-and-raised Japanese, took one sip, and said, ‘They call this green tea?’ Lol moment for the day.) So, resteeped for an additional five minutes. Finally, I could taste the green tea. I do not care for the citrus mint. This is green tea – don’t mess with a good thing. The citrus is distracting and muddies the flavor of the green tea. However, the Jade Citrus Mint makes a passable sweet tea with milk and sugar of choice. Tried with several milks and honey, and in one version with Splenda. I do not consider this an authentic green tea, and upon serving it to a guest I would just tell them it was a sweet tea.
Pineapple Kona Pop. Straight-up was unpalatable. Steeped for recommended 5-6 minutes (I timed it for 5 minutes 30 seconds). Had no inclination to steep longer. Bizarre chemical flavor. Did not taste anything like pineapples or whatever the heck a ‘kona pop’ is. Did not taste as advertised (pineapple and citrus infusion with floral notes). Not even close. Tasted like liquid plastic. Tossed it. Milk, honey, and sugar did not improve flavor or mask chemical flavor. Tossed those versions, too.
Passion Tango. Straight-up was not palatable. Steeped for the recommended 5-6 mintues (5 minutes 30 seconds). Tried a second time for 4 minutes. Still, flavor did not improve. Again with the chemical flavor. What is wrong with these teas? Oh wait, they’re teas “enhanced” with artificial ingredients, that’s what’s wrong. I LOVE papaya but got none of it in this cup of tea. I certainly didn’t get that hint of cinnamon either. I was reluctant to give this a whirl with milk, but I did just to say that I tried to like it. Bad idea. Somehow, the chemical flavor intensifies with milk and sugar. It tasted like rubber. The lady behind me in line tried the same tea and said the same thing. She left the store with this deer-in-the-headlights look. Like, ‘Did I just drink a hot cup of liquid GoodYear?’ Absolutely the worst out of all of the teas that I tried.
Peach Tranquility. I was most excited for this tea because supposedly this is Teavana’s version of Tazo’s Calm tea (which was my favorite of Tazo’s line). I did see chamomile buds in the tea satchets. Straight-up the flavor was not inviting. I did not feel enveloped in a blanket of deliciousness and tranquility like I did with Tazo’s Calm. The steam vapors gave me a headache. It smelled like peach jello before you put it into the refrigerator to set. It probably is peach jello, just without the gelatin. Milk (specifically unsweetened, organic soy) and sugar (agave) complemented this tea best. I was given a few satchets to take home. So, I went home, opened the satchets up, plucked out the weird-smelling peach chunks, placed the franken-peach-free tea into a T-ball mesh infuser and steeped for recommended 5-6 minutes. What I got was a weak but passable alternative to Tazo’s Calm. No weird smell. No weird flavor. No weird aftertaste.
Royal English Breakfast. Steeped for recommended 2-3 minutes and sampled straight-up did not impress me. Very weak flavor. Steeped for an additional 5 minutes. At least this did not have that strange chemical flavor that so many of the other Teavana teas do. However, as English Breakfast teas go, this did not strike me as a high quality tea. The malt and oak notes were severely understated (even with two tea satchets). Makes a passable, low quality sweet tea with milk and sugar. Best served with whole milk and cane sugar. I expected a higher quality, fuller-bodied tea after all the hype I’ve been hearing about Teavana and how great their teas are. I’ve had better English Breakfast teas at Denny’s.
In conclusion, I’m still hopeful that I will find a Teavana tea that I like. The consensus seems to be that the Teavana teas are inferior to Tazo’s. (Have you been on My Starbucks Idea? Facebook? Twitter? A veritable deluge of disappointed SBUX customers that gave Teavana a chance but were unimpressed by their offerings.) #BringBackTazo
I don’t believe I have had any of the Teavana teas listed yet. It will be exciting to try them!
Will the iced green tea change?
I always got the Tazo Zen hot. Disappointing it won’t be in stores anymore. Is there an equivalent with Teavana?
Can I still get Tazo in grocery stores?
I have the same question about the Chai – I get chai 90% of my trips to Starbucks, and do not like the Oprah Chai – so I really hope it doesn’t become the default chai!!!
I’ll apply one of my grandmother’s phrases of wisdom here, “if you do not have something nice to say it is better to say nothing at all”. That is my opinion of Teavana and Starbucks decision to further alienate long time traditional customers. Oops I lost control. 😉
Mel,
I believe that there will be some of the usual “resistance” to change at the beginning, however, I like this packaging better. It’s appealing to the eye & it preserves freshness of sachets better. I also like that the expiration date is printed on them for optimal quality. I encourage customers to give them a try without any preconceived expectation or comparison to Tazo teas! A clean slate with an open mind!
No worries … Tazo is readily available & sold at multiple retail outlets (Target, supermarkets, etc.).
As to Teavana Oprah Chai & our regular Chai, one is not replacing the other. They are two distinct choices for chai drinkers and both part of our core menu. Moreover, $.25 out of every Teavana Oprah Chai beverage sale goes to help a youth leadership non-profit!
As a matter of fact, Starbucks began selling a Teavana blend of chai tea months ago, phasing out the Tazo equivalent. The same happened with our Tazo iced teas. This past summer, they were replaced with Teavana products.
Thank you 🙂 Aymee
I’m excited about the Teavana teas, but I’ll miss the mint tea!
@Aymee – You’re right – And of course, if there’s really a big drop in tea sales, they’ll change or tweak the offerings to make it better.
@Alexa – I think it was the old Tazo Refresh that had a nice mint taste! That was a good one. Once upon a time, there was a great Tazo tea called Mintly Citrus but I don’t think that’s available at all anymore – that was a good one too!
Alexa,
If you like the Tazzo Refresh tea (mint), you should try the Teavana Jade Citrus Mint tea! It’s delicious! 🙂
I guess my plan to switch to Tazo Awake tea from espresso at the beginning of the year has been foiled. Totally explains why I didn’t finish the last three drinks iced green tea unsweetened no water. I don’t like fragrant and artificial teas. I like tea and coffee strong, black and unsweetened. I’m all for change but replacing with subpar product is just bad for business.
Side note: I hate walking by Teavana store in the mall it smells like a perfume store.
The Pineapple Kona Pop makes an amazing iced tea.
@Lbuffo – I agree. I get a headache after walking by those Teavana stores in the mall. I should have remembered that before trying their teas. The Peach Tranquility in particular gave me a piercing headache.
I’ve been switching up my location routine, and the consensus seems unanimous: Teavana is a subpar product to Tazo, and everyone wants Tazo back. The partners I talked to said they’ve never seen so many customers come up and ask for a replacement drink after giving Teavana a try (mostly steamed ciders since these tend to be non-coffee drinkers but some steamers). For myself, after giving the other Teavana offerings a try, I gave the Earl Grey a whirl. I was not impressed. Again, as with my previous experiences, I had to steep the satchet longer than recommended. It was tricky to steep it long enough to strengthen the flavor but not over-steep and make for a bitter tea flavor. Two satchets did not do the trick either. Still, the aroma was unappealing and the flavor less so. Have you ever been sick with a sore throat and had that metallic flavor at the back of your throat? Mmm, infection-flavored. Yeah, ew. That is what this tea tasted like. And unfortunately adding milk and honey did not improve the flavor. There was no hiding that strange, chemical/metallic taste. Famously highbrow? 😛 Top-of-the-tier? 😛 That’s how they described this tea. Whatever, Teavana. I went through almost everything Melody listed above in the original article with the exception of Mint Majesty and have not found one tea that had that highbrow, quality, full-bodied flavor Teavana boasts about. So disappointed.
@Aaron – My thoughts exactly. I literally laughed out loud when I read Teavana’s description of their Earl Grey.
I’m generally a coffee drinker but do like bolder teas like Genmaicha and Wu Long. Tazo is not usually to my taste but Tazo Refresh with both spearmint and peppermint and with a bit or tarragon is the best mint tea I’ve ever had, bar none. I keep it on hand to drink with hot lemonade as a sore throat cure and also use it with olive oil and lemon juice in fresh salads or as a chicken or salmon rub. I’m glad it’s still available, even though not at Starbucks. While enjoying the new Passion Tea Lemonade I seldom drink fruity teas. I avoid artifical flavours because of the metallic after taste, very much as Aaron described. We still have mostly Tazo and will see what the customer consensus is.
Aaron, thanks for your detailed report on your tea tastings. The thoroughness was helpful.
I work for a tea company in NYC and I’ve had a number of customers lately who are looking for replacements for their old Tazo favorites. While Tazo wasn’t the greatest quality, I’m not convinced that the Teavana teas are better. There is a great deal of quality tea out there for lower prices to boot. I think I’ll be sticking with my green tea lattes (although I wish they didn’t add sugar to the matcha) 🙂
@Gail – You’re welcome. Interesting suggestion BTW (regarding the chicken and salmon rub). I’m a foodie and cook when I can, so I will definitely give that a try.
@Ryan Carterét – Yeah, I’ve read Teavana’s other product descriptions. Total horse puckey, lol, especially after running their teas through a series of taste-tests.
The teavana earl grey, unfortunately, did not impress me at all….tasted like water even after steeping for quite a long time….I’m sad…. #BringBackTazo
Horrible decision. It’s not that they are changing tea brands; it’s that they are pushing such an undesirable product. They are replacing the respectable, though not extraordinary, TAZO teas with flowery and bizarre (and artificial) flavorings of Teavana, whose outlets smell more like perfumeries than tea shops.
Having drunk countless varieties of English Breakfast teas over the years, I have never encountered one so unsatisfying as Teavana’s Royal English Breakfast Blend. It is bitter tasting and leaves a long, unsavory malty aftertaste. I call it “Royal Bitterroot” instead. As it stands now, I’ll be making my own tea at home, purchasing only a croissant at my local starbucks from now on. That’s how much I hate this change.
There will be absolutely no market in the UK for these types of flavoured teas. Hopefully we’ll stick with Tazo for a while.
@Melody: The saddest part about this thread was that you presented this awful decision like it was a good thing. That said, please read on …
@Aaron: Though the consensus is not exactly unanimous, the majority of posters on this thread seem to want Tazo back. Bringing in Teavana’s unpalatable teas was a questionable move. Phasing out Tazo’s teas was an unquestionably bad move.
@Starbucks: My wife and I were regular Tazo iced green tea drinkers. To me, it tasted great even without sweetener, with a delightful mild minty aftertaste. When our local Starbucks made the switch, we were both like, WHAT HAPPENED?!? A couple weeks, and many disappointing iced green teas later, we noticed the Teavana switch announcement, and it finally dawned on us what happened. Starbucks had drank Oprah’s Teavana kool-aid.
The Teavana iced green tea is not even good sweetened. I’ve since, switched to unsweetened iced black tea, which, though inoffensive, is virtually indistinguishable from Lipton’s. My wife usually added lemon flavoring to her unsweetened iced green tea, before the switch; now she HAS to add lemon flavoring to make it drinkable. Even so, it’s rare that she will finish the entire drink.
Bad move, Starbucks.
@Oprah: Drink Tazo tea. Find your Zen.
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@M.D. – I must jump to Melody’s defense. What follows is my opinion after years of following Melody’s Blog and personal email communications on various topics, some outside of Starbucks. Melody and I have some common bonds but also our own opinions, mine more stubborn than most 😉
Melody is a “glass half full” kind of person. She tries to present Starbucks in a positive light while allowing civil discussion and disagreement. Her positions and opinions are consistent. I consider her one of the most responsible and respectable bloggers on the Internet. She is without agenda and her enthusiasm is refreshing.
All that said, IMHO Starbucks has made two extremely poorly thought out decisions. First was La Boulange and now Teavana. These two decisions exemplify a company that does not understand their core (i.e. long term truly loyal) customers and have chosen a company direction that must constantly chase the fickle “young” uninformed customer. While this demographic thinks they know it all and they know it all because of the Internet, they have no roots, no base. They live a life where they must proclaim everything they do on Facebook and Twitter and they dare not deviate from the crowd mentality.
This in no way means that I do not accept change or evolution, even revolution. I just know when it is true and not smoke and mirrors. More than 50 years of experience in many varied careers from retail to military to business owner and mentoring by people who are wealthy in not just money but ethics has given me a perspective on business and life that you cannot get in school.
Thank you Melody for being who you are. I understand.
@Aaron Liquid rubber – lol. Funny but sad because it’s kind of true.
I loved Tazo’s Sweetened Passion iced tea (1/2 pump of sweetener), even without lemonade it was so good. Seeing as Starbucks no longer carries this, I tried Teavana’s Passion Tango. I could not get past the third sip. Gross. Maybe not liquid rubber but then again I did not try it hot. It did have a strong chemical taste thing going on that I hated. I did ask the barista if I could try one with lemonade. Sadly, the lemonade did not help. 🙁 I left, very unhappy I might add. I ended up walking two blocks away to a small cafe and ordering an herbal raspberry iced tea there. So good! I don’t know, I might go back and try a different iced tea but the reviews are not looking good especially about the artificial flavorings ruining the flavor of the teas. That’s probably why the Passion Tango is so horrible. It’s sad because it probably tastes fine without all that junk.
I am so glad I am not the only one unimpressed with the Teavana teas. I thought the baristas were just making my drink wrong. I am a loyal Earl Grey Latte drinker and the new Teavana tea makes it taste like dishwater. I’ve tried no water, steeping longer, etc… nothing has made it taste palatable. I am so bummed by this change!
I am concerned that my Chai latte will change. Will it as I have become accustomed to the flavor.
I came back from a lovely Christmas break to find my Tazo Full-Leaf Chai gone. My barista Sean made me an Oprah Chai to try. I gotta say, there is nothing ‘Chai’ about the Oprah Chai. I read @Aaron’s review and funny thing, it did taste like black licorice though I couldn’t pin down what was going on with the drink at the time. If they had called it something else like Oprah Spice Tea it would have gotten a better response, I believe, but Chai this is not. Sean let me try a couple of other teas (the ones in the bags) but I was underwhelmed to say the least. Sean let me try an Earl Grey misto and a Royal English Breakfast misto, and both were undrinkable. @Heidi got it spot-on. It looked and tasted like dirty dishwater, like soap really. I left very unhappy. Poor Sean, it was so not his fault and I said as much. Big mistake, Starbucks. Huge misstep. #TakingMyMoneyElsewhere #WhatWereYouThinking? #BringBackTazo
This whole “transition” has been a mess. For weeks now, most of my local Starbucks have been completely out of tea! It started mid-December when, after driving to be with family during the holidays, and after having stood in line on a cold night, dying for a cup of hot tea, was told they were completely out of tea — ALL TEA!! And, they wouldn’t have tea until weeks later in January!! Really? While X-mas shopping, I chanced into a Teavana store and found the same experience most have shared above! Yuck! Perfumed, frou frou nasty tea. These might appeal to those who have pallets only for the tooty-fruity overly sweet stuff, but not true tea drinkers. If Starbucks owns both Tazo and Teavana, why can’t they offer patrons both? Sooo disappointed in this situation…
I can’t say I’m thrilled with the switch from Tazo to Teavana. I don’t care for how much artificial flavoring is used in the Teavana blends. There are other retail tea options that Starbucks could have chosen to partner with IMO that produce both more natural and better tasting teas. I’m fond of Kilogram tea, which has a flavor range very similar to Tazo, and currently has a partnership with Intelligentsia, based in Chicago with LA and NYC outposts. Argo Tea is closer to Teavana in both concept and flavor range but with more natural ingredients.
@DadCooks I appreciate your post. I see so much of this as subjective. There are some Tazo teas that I miss. There are some Teavana teas that I really like. At the end of the day, what tea you like is subjective. For some, their perfect tea is Bigelow “Constant Comment.” I’m not troubled by the number of people in this thread who aren’t Teavana fans. Taste is subjective. What I do know is that if Teavana hot tea really doesn’t sell, Starbucks will change and adapt. Starbucks is the master at constantly changing their product offerings.
To help with any confusion for the tea latte:
The Tazo Chai Tea Latte was actually phased out over the summer (I think) when it became the “Classic” Chai Tea Latte. Recipe has been the same, just no Tazo branding for the menu or chai cartons used for the drink.
Default for chai tea lattes has remained the classic chai tea latte, and not Oprah chai tea latte. Some people will ask which one you prefer, but I don’t believe it is a standard.
However, for just the hot brewed tea, the Tazo Chai tea bags are being replaced with the Teavana Oprah Chai tea sachets.
Also, it should be noted that the new Teavana hot teas come with a price increase on Jan. 6.
So… They’re going to charge us more for (IMO) crappier (some are artificial, and to me that’s pretty crappy) teas!? That doesn’t make much sense. -_-
I used to get a Tazo chai tea in my trusty thermos before teaching classes and other speaking engagements. Last week I tried the Oprah “equivalent” and it was horrible – and that was before I found out that it has artificial flavours. Unless Starbucks brings back the Tazo tea, they’ve lost another customer (including any food purchases that I would make at the same time). Do they seriously believe that this insipid watery stuff would satisfy serious tea drinkers?
I went through my local Starbucks this morning and was surprised to hear they were no longer serving the Tazo teas. I normally get a Zen hot tea, so I asked which green teas were available in the Teavana selection they were now serving and also if there was a tea comparable to the Zen. The barista wasn’t able to even tell me which of the teas were green, and/or if they contained caffeine or not. She consulted several other baristas, tried to check the information on the boxes, yet still came up short. I was given Mint Majesty, which they were pretty sure was green. I didn’t like it and it’s definitely an herbal tea. I’m not happy with the switch or the lack of training on new products. Not a very good experience to say the least. I really don’t forsee myself going back to starbucks for my daily tea!
Can anyone tell me between Youthberry and Pineapple Kona Pop which has less of a floral taste and more of a pineapple or fruit flavor? If it’s about the same with the floral notes what makes them different? I like black tea – Earl Grey is my favorite, or a nice Arnold Palmer – but pineapple tea has me intrigued. I plan on getting an iced tea as one of my freebie drinks and want to make the right choice. Thanks in advance!
Youthberry is a white Tea so it will have some caffeine in it. Also I find the Pineapple the main taste. I like the fact they called it pineapple kona Pop because that is what the pineapple flavor does. Really makes the flavor Pop.
Youthberry on the other hand has a very delicate floral taste. The flavors and tea is so well blended that not one flavor is over powering. While I enjoy both, I prefer the delicate intricacies of Youthberry.
I stopped purchasing Teavana products after one too many issues with their customer service (or lack thereof) in stores. Another big reason was mentioned above: there are better (ALL NATURAL) options out there for far less money than what Teavana charges for the artificially-flavored trail mix they call tea. Sorry Starbucks, but count me out on this one.
Melody, as a longtime Starbucks tea drinker, I am disappointed by Starbucks switch to Teavana, who’s teas seem to emphasize added flavoring over the flavor of the tea plant itself. I’m especially disappointed that a traditional Masala Chai tea bag, i speak of the previous Tazo recipe, is no longer available. Only the Oprah Chai is available in tea bag form, and it tastes only of cinnamon. Starbucks continues to serve a traditional Masala Chai recipe alongside the Oprah version for their syrup-based latte. I wish they would have also kept the traditional chai tea bag alongside the Oprah tea bag.
I’m concerned about the pricing as well. A few years ago when Starbucks switched to whole leaf sachets, they also raised the prices of their brewed tea drinks. Back then the pitch was they were changing to higher-quality leaves and increasing the weight of the tea bags. Both were true and I agreed with the greater value I was getting with the price increase. Now, from what I can tell, for the same price, we are getting teas that favor enhanced flavorings over tea-leaf quality and about half as much volume of tea leaves in the Teavana sachet compared to the most recent Tazo sachet.
Starbucks may be increasing their tea sales by enhancing their teas with non-tea flavors, but they are alienating tea loyalists and straying from their tradition of high-quality natural brewed beverages. To put it in a coffee drinker’s perspective, imagine if Starbucks started enhancing their coffee beans with natural and artificial flavorings, and after these new coffee versions gained some popularity, they started phasing out the pure, unflavored beans. It wouldn’t be pretty – and neither is the way that Starbucks phased out traditional tea in favor of the new Teavana products.
As a partner, and someone who follows all things Starbucks almost obsessively, I was very excited for Teavana.
Unfortunately, I’ve been underwhelmed. The phasing out of Tazo teas in stores made for hundreds of angry and dissatisfied customers… different stores ran out of different teas at different times. And the teas themselves… Honestly, I didn’t love Tazo. But I actively dislike some of the Teavana teas, and I don’t LIKE any of them so far.
I don’t usually have an issue with flavorings/chemicals/organic/non-GMO/what-have-you. As Melody pointed out, that’s part and parcel of the modern diet. However, I like the ability to choose. If I order a coffee black, I assume it’s just coffee. If I choose to add a syrup, at least I’m aware of that. And good coffee stands on its own. Same with tea… it doesn’t seem that good tea should require extra flavorings (natural or artificial or whatever).
I’ll keep experimenting, and I do think that a renewed focus on tea could be a great move on Starbucks’ part… I just am not convinced that this will fit the bill.