My perplexity with Teavana, and more specifically, their marketing department appears to be growing.
With a name like Toasted Nut Brulee Oolong, I naturally expected this tea to taste like nuts. The problem is there is so much else going on here: roobois, apple, pineapple, coconut, cardamom. The flavors are conflicting and the tea is schizophrenic. To me it seems more like it should be called a tropical tea? In any event, it is at least drinkable and not unpleasant.
Can anyone recommend a flavored oolong that really does taste like nuts?
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Teavana is almost exclusively over-priced nonsense. Their primary goal is to sell you an over-priced tea set. Failing that, they sell you over-priced tea.
yeah I have some issues with them myself.. lol
This is one of my absolute favorite teas that I think is reasonably priced. I’ve found after branching out to places like David’s tea/Adagio teas that their tastes tend to be hit and miss as well. I doubt there are many places that have all great wonderful perfect tasting teas as it goes by a tea-by-tea basis. I think Teavana is so large that they’re much more open to criticism than other tea companies. It sucks that you haven’t liked the teas you’ve spent money one though, tough break :( I have a ton of Adagio teas that are just blah.
I’ve had a few from them i’ve liked. The papaya oolong and the white ayurvedic chai are pretty good. I just don’t think this tea tastes like toasted nuts or brulee… agree on Adagio and David’s tea, I’ve had a few lame ones from them myself so it isn’t just Teavana ;-)
Oh yeah this this tea definitely doesn’t taste like a brulee in the traditional sense, so it is disappointing to get a tea that doesn’t taste like what you thought you were buying. I guess I’m just lucky that I like this particular blend!
A few unrelated responses:
1) My primary gripe with Teavana is that their in-store sales tactics are well documented and their primary goal is to sell tea sets, not tea. The margins are much better on the hardware, and they know it, so just walking in the door, if you look around at all someone is rushing up trying to pressure you into buying a set. I hate high pressure sales. Especially when it results in them trying to avoid selling you a to-go cup or loose tea. So, at least for me, it isn’t just slagging a big company — I love buying tea from TeaGeschwendner, Republic of Tea, Argo Tea (retail)… it is that Teavana just has a really crummy business model based on profits, not tea. There are too many independent, struggling tea shops to patronize a giant that treats you poorly — if you have a choice (I know not everyone does).
2) The Houston Galleria location deliberately over-fills bags of loose tea way beyond what you asked for and then tries to convince you to pay for all of it. So our local iteration of the brand is particularly bad. By contrast, the location in Northbrook Court (IL) is a very pleasant place to be with great staff and service — just very expensive for what you’re getting.
3) They offer very few non-flavored teas.
4) The few non-flavored they offer aren’t remotely price competitive for the quality of the leaf.
5) I was completely underwhelmed with Adagio at their price points as well.
I’ve heard a lot of negative things about their sales tactics when you go to one of their stores but I ordered this from their website so I was spared the experience.
I was underwhelmed by most of the teas on their website.
Did you ever try Teaopia’s Creamy Nut Oolong? IMHO a good, nuttily flavoured oolong :) Not that it’s available anymore, sigh.
Krystaleyn – no I never had that… oh well!
I really need to make my way to a Teaopia (if they’re still Teaopia and not Teavana now) and see if there’s any more left… it’s really quite good. If we swap again I can pass some on. :)
sounds good!
Teavana is almost exclusively over-priced nonsense. Their primary goal is to sell you an over-priced tea set. Failing that, they sell you over-priced tea.
yeah I have some issues with them myself.. lol
This is one of my absolute favorite teas that I think is reasonably priced. I’ve found after branching out to places like David’s tea/Adagio teas that their tastes tend to be hit and miss as well. I doubt there are many places that have all great wonderful perfect tasting teas as it goes by a tea-by-tea basis. I think Teavana is so large that they’re much more open to criticism than other tea companies. It sucks that you haven’t liked the teas you’ve spent money one though, tough break :( I have a ton of Adagio teas that are just blah.
I’ve had a few from them i’ve liked. The papaya oolong and the white ayurvedic chai are pretty good. I just don’t think this tea tastes like toasted nuts or brulee… agree on Adagio and David’s tea, I’ve had a few lame ones from them myself so it isn’t just Teavana ;-)
Oh yeah this this tea definitely doesn’t taste like a brulee in the traditional sense, so it is disappointing to get a tea that doesn’t taste like what you thought you were buying. I guess I’m just lucky that I like this particular blend!
A few unrelated responses:
1) My primary gripe with Teavana is that their in-store sales tactics are well documented and their primary goal is to sell tea sets, not tea. The margins are much better on the hardware, and they know it, so just walking in the door, if you look around at all someone is rushing up trying to pressure you into buying a set. I hate high pressure sales. Especially when it results in them trying to avoid selling you a to-go cup or loose tea. So, at least for me, it isn’t just slagging a big company — I love buying tea from TeaGeschwendner, Republic of Tea, Argo Tea (retail)… it is that Teavana just has a really crummy business model based on profits, not tea. There are too many independent, struggling tea shops to patronize a giant that treats you poorly — if you have a choice (I know not everyone does).
2) The Houston Galleria location deliberately over-fills bags of loose tea way beyond what you asked for and then tries to convince you to pay for all of it. So our local iteration of the brand is particularly bad. By contrast, the location in Northbrook Court (IL) is a very pleasant place to be with great staff and service — just very expensive for what you’re getting.
3) They offer very few non-flavored teas.
4) The few non-flavored they offer aren’t remotely price competitive for the quality of the leaf.
5) I was completely underwhelmed with Adagio at their price points as well.
I’ve heard a lot of negative things about their sales tactics when you go to one of their stores but I ordered this from their website so I was spared the experience.
I was underwhelmed by most of the teas on their website.
Did you ever try Teaopia’s Creamy Nut Oolong? IMHO a good, nuttily flavoured oolong :) Not that it’s available anymore, sigh.
Krystaleyn – no I never had that… oh well!
I really need to make my way to a Teaopia (if they’re still Teaopia and not Teavana now) and see if there’s any more left… it’s really quite good. If we swap again I can pass some on. :)
sounds good!