Teavana

I’m one of the suckers who get lured in by their tea samples, and then browse forever, and then actually think that spending $$$$ amounts of money on their tea is a great idea! Luckily, there are occasional sales to keep these costs down.
I find the customer service here friendly, but not too pushy for my taste — perhaps it’s because I’m quite firm when I say I’m browsing, or sometime I actually have a few questions about the products too. Regardless, no complaints here.
My favourites here include the Gyokuza Imperial green tea, which is just a lovely and strong green tea, good for two runs of hot water. Also nice is the Oprah Chai tea, which the bf adores, but we can’t seem to replicate how it is in the store — must be that rock sugar!
My ABSOLUTE favourite way to get Teavana tea, though, is to use the Starbucks rewards to get them. One «earned» reward is good for either a teavana drink, OR 1 oz of tea. DUH, get the 1 oz! You can make 6 drinks at home! I once saved up two rewards to use here, and walked away with $ 40 worth of tea! Y’know, since the conversation goes:
Them: «Of course you can redeem rewards here! What tea would you like?»
Me: «…hmmm, which one is the most expensive?»
Some stores won’t honour the Starbucks redemption but this one does! Love it.

Unfortunately, the takeover of Teavana from Teaopia wasn’t a great one. While I like their tea, the salesperson was very pushy and wouldn’t take no for an answer. She kept measuring more than I originally asked for, and because it was a blend of 2 teas, I was hesitant to ask her to put the overflow back. I ended up spending almost double what I intended to. Unfortunately, I found the experience pretty similar at a different location, so it wasn’t just this store. They do carry one of my favourite teas, which I will be ordering online from now on.

This underground gem of a tea shop is amazing! It’s location is easy to access from the Bloor subway line and out of the rain. My fave teas are the blended teas! I like to stop in for a tea to go and look through all the beautiful tea sets. Buying loose leaf tea is pricy but the quality is worth it! I’m a big fan of classic teas earl grey! Try the earl grey white today if your a double bergamot fan like me!

I had tried a tea blend from Teavana from a friend, and thought that I had to check this place out.
The store front is very clean and inviting with lots of different teas and accessories. And the tea that I bought is actually pretty good. That is all the good news.
The sales associate that «helped» me was overtly pushy, and seriously has me reconsidering ever going back even though I like their products.
First, I was looking for a new tea steeper, and had found the exact one I wanted, while she kept pushing this other product that I was not interested in. She even insinuated that I was too cheap to spend the extra money for the item she was trying to sell me!
If you buy the loose tea from them, take my advice and stick to the amount and budget that you want! The tea that I wanted cost $ 13 for 50 grams! That is not cheap, so I asked for 50 grams. She originally scooped out this heaping scoop of tea that was going to cost me $ 50 and she asked me, «Is that ok?» Are you kidding me?!? She then proceeded to slowly pour out the overstuffed bag bit by bit, decreasing the amount by $ 2 – 3 dollars at a time and asked each time if that was «ok»? It took a good five minutes of telling her to keep pouring until I got down to $ 17 when I finally relented. I had also asked for another tea before, and went through the same wrangling struggle to not pay for 500% more than I wanted!
Then she gave me a few granules of their «artisan» German rock sugar. It tasted like sugar, and it was fine. And then she said that she could send me home with a small sample. When you say sample, don’t you usually think free? Not here! She rang up the sugar on my bill!
I was so excited shop at Teavana, but ended feeling swindled by a snake oil salesman. I have never had this kind of experience at a tea store before. But if you look it up, Teavana ha a nasty track record of pressure sales tactics. If you like Teavana, save yourself some stress and just buy from their online store.

I was first introduced to Teavana in Miami. Their tea is definitely a cut above the rest. I especially like the blends that they offer. In fact, the tea blend I had in Miami is one of my most favourite teas of all time (a jasmine green mixed with tropical rooibos). I re-​purchase it whenever I need to and have scraped many other teas because they simply do not compare to how good this tea is.
They always have delicious samples and that’s what gets you! You go in and just want what you had…
And then, you are bankrupt of a week’s budget all for that half can of tea. I have visited this location twice and have been struck by how slow the service is. If you just want a brewed cup of tea, it is going to cost you your left index finger, a gold amulet and your first born child and take forever to make. Okay, I’m obviously exaggerating here but it costs a lot and it feels like it takes forever. And today, I left because it was taking me so long to get served. I just downed a bunch of samples and left because I felt like I was never going to get my tea.
The teas here are great and I do suggest you try them. In fact, I suggest buying some as well. BUT, the experience is never what I expect and I feel a dedication to David’s because a) they were here first and b) they’re Canadian.

Teavana is a cheery, inviting-​looking shop nestled in the Yonge-​Bloor underground shopping complex near Holt Renfrew. It’s hard to miss, as the staff stand outside the store and offer you free samples of hot tea as you walk past. Unfortunately, all of them are too sweet since they’re liberally laced with German rock sugar. Still, the samples taste good enough to compel you to go inside. But be prepared for the rather aggressive salesmanship. Sometimes you simply want to browse in a store for a while before being subjected to this sort of thing. God knows the store has plenty of tea-​related things to look at – mugs, teapots, and tea-​making devices – before you even get to the tea itself. But the staff here feels overly compelled to educate you about tea. Unfortunately, they are less inclined to educate you about price. I was presented with two choices: I was told that I could buy either a half a canister of tea, or a full canister of tea. Of course, I realize now that I should have asked if they would sell me smaller quantities, but I didn’t, thinking that they were being forthcoming about all my options. And really, in a good store, you shouldn’t have to ask. They kept telling me that I was saving 10 percent today by purchasing the canister, and that I’d save 10 percent on my tea when I returned to refill the canister. No one mentioned that the canister itself costs $ 7.
The teas themselves smell wonderful, so it’s hard to resist buying something. I selected one called Spice of Life, a white tea with nutty, citrusy overtones, as well as Cacao Chocolate Mint, which is a black tea. I decided on two half canisters and felt gobsmacked when my bill came to about $ 100. About $ 60 of that was the spice tea, which I found out later (from the website) sells for $ 14 for a 2-​ounce portion. I suppose it’s a good thing I didn’t purchase the Monkey-​picked Oolong they were trying to push on me, since it apparently goes for $ 25 for 2 ounces. Of course, many of the other teas are much cheaper, according to the website, but I noticed that no one tried to sell me those. I would have felt much better about the whole experience if the staff had bothered to tell me more about how the tea is priced. Instead, I just quietly paid the bill and slunk away, feeling rather harrassed by the staff and embarrassed that I’d been suckered into paying so much. It’s unlikely I’ll ever go back. I prefer shops where the salesmanship isn’t devious and aggressive.
I should note that the Cacao Chocolate Mint is actually quite robust and delicious, but I am disappointed with the Spice of Life, which tastes slightly of oranges and little else. It’s flat and weak, and doesn’t improve with extra steeping, which simply makes it bitter.