DAVIDsTEA

David’s Tea is not my usual haunt but I was in a desperate need of a quick Matcha Fix on my way to dinner with the in-​laws after a long day working. I was pretty dismayed by the service. Very friendly staff, but the place seemed very disorganized and service was incredibly slow. I was first in line (two people were being served ahead of me) and there were four staff yet it took almost 15 minutes for my drink to be made and payed for. The drink was expensive but ended up lukewarm and not very flavourful at all. The brightness of the store is also migraine inducing! Not a pleasant experiencing, despite the syrupy-​sweet customer service (and sample tea). I am not a fan of chains in general, though I can see how this would be a novel and fun place as far as tea selection, but for a matcha-​on-​the-​run, blenz is much better (and they have almond milk, soy is NOT my cup of tea for a dairy free option.)

I had some good and not so good experiences at this store. Some of the staff are super helpful and cheerful, while others aren’t that nice… maybe have some SOP on the service training…

Located on Dunsmuir, this location is pretty convenient, as there is both an exterior and interior entrance from the mall.
Staff were very friendly and cheerful.
The location is quite brightly lit, though the layout is a bit cramped because of location of the exterior entrance.
The mint chocolate rooibos I tried is quite nice. Cold (iced) is the way to go for this tea.

Great place for tea. They have so many varieties! The staff are knowledgable about all the tea. They know what the ingredients are in each one just by the name. I appreciate the deals the store has too.

Let me be clear here — I love DAVIDsTEA. I always have and I probably always will. My cupboards are fit to burst with tins, satchets, and mugs that I have accumulated from their various locations over the years. I even have a rather expensive electric kettle from them where you can adjust the temperature of the water.
I am a regular to this particular store and generally have no problems. Most of the time the staff are a dream and I feel very welcomed, although they are bit understaffed for being in the busy mall.
I was compelled to share this review after my last visit. I had purchased some lattes for myself and a colleague. We work in an office across the street and I can really only imagine how much money we collectively spend here. I offered my points card and let the girl know (as I always do) that we work across the street, as we are generally offered some kind of «neighbors» discount. Granted, I hadn’t seen this employee as much as the others, but she refused to offer us the discount, saying that it was only for mall staff.
I don’t like to be *that* person, and I didn’t want to argue over the 50 cents /​dollar discount here, but I am a huge advocate of consistency. I casually just let her know that my office were regulars and that other staff members had extended us this discount in the past. She just kind-​of smiled, made an uncomfortable noise, and processed my payment without saying anything else.
Overall it’s a solid store and I love chatting with several of the employees that work here as I am ordering my daily cup of tea, but a lack of consistency is one of my pet peeves and I left feeling discontent. To reiterate again here, I am not losing any sleep over not receiving this discount, but I would almost prefer not to receive it at all in the future than receive it time-​and-​time again from so and so.

Lots of flavors. But the service is gawd awful. Wait 15 minutes for hot water and a tea bag. Huge sign on wall saying no pets. Never going back. Whis not pet friendly. It’s 2014

I am a tea whore. I’ve tried many different flavors of teas, heard of many different flavors… at least I thought I did. I walk in and was greeted by two bubbly and energetic young girls, total awesome customer service. I don’t understand why everyone is complaining about the customer service ’cause I found it to be awesome to be honest. They have new carnival flavors. Cotton Candy tea.

Solid 3.5 stars. Like the dual door to the wall and to sidewalk.
I usually come here just to see the great bottles/​tea pots as they do keep up w/​the market. With the summer season, they even have a tea jug with the filter inside, they sure think of everything. and of course, BPA free.
Free samples in nice glass shooters lol.

Friendly service
Not enough staff
Poor selection of natural high quality teas
Lots contain artificial flavouring /​gimmicky ingredients like sprinkles.
Its possible to get good quality tea without having to add flavouring. Just not apart of their Mantra I guess.

Yikes. I love their tea (see: my cupboards!)
However, this review is mostly for their staffing issue (or what seems to be an issue to me).
It’s 1:15 pm, you have a line up of 7 people waiting to get their teas. you let other people who are ready to pay (but wait they want more tea!) so they go ahead of you.
Meanwhile 7 people are waiting in a line to smell and buy tea.
4 people are working in this store. 1 of them is dispensing tea. In a mall. And it’s busy. My mind, it boggles.

When I drink too much of their tea, I urinate a lot more. Maybe it’s correlational instead of simply a causation but it does makes me very suspicious. Or maybe it’s one of the health benefits I hear people rave about. I could live without this side effect of tea though; I grab my weiner quite enough, thank you.
I’m working through trying each of their teas with the nifty checklist book they have on their counter. The gift sets and $ 1/​tea deals make drinking tea fun, affordable, and varied.
The customer service is superb.

Davids Tea has really unique, fun flavours — red velvet cake, pom tango, to name a few.
However, upon trying another company’s loose tea leaves, I realize the quality of Davids Tea leaves are inferior. Still better than grocery store tea bags, but they aren’t dehydrated enough and not as fresh. The leaves expand a little, not a lot.
I have also noticed, from my numerous purchases, that you never know when you will receive «full» tea leaves vs crushed ones. This makes using their silver ball diffusers pointless as the fine powder of the broken tea leaves slip through the cracks so your tea has texture and you risk getting bits stuck inbetween your teeth which is not good when you meet with clients/​people all day.
The company is expanding fast in Vancouver and I’m starting to feel it’s going too commercial and the quality is slipping.

DavidsTea — oh the wonders. There are so many tea varieties to choose from, I just ask the staff for suggestions or get whatever I’ve sampled in-​store. That being said, their colour-​coordinated system makes it a bit easier to pick something based on the type of tea you want. They also have amazing gift-​worthy accessories and kits for all types of occasions, recipients, and budgets.
So I came in a few days after Christmas (a few weeks after they had just opened) and there were literally only about 15 teas to choose from, none of which included the ones that I wanted. This was annoying, but understandable… and since I’ve been back, this has not been an issue.
Now for my somewhat negative experience. I bought the Noble glass travel mug (
), which is beautifully designed, but insanely non-​functional. First, it does not insulate very well compared to metal travel mugs; second, it is prone to leaks if not kept fully upright; and third, it is very fragile — mine shattered into a million shards of glass inside of my bag, and as a result I had to throw the bag out.
However, when I brought in what remained of my hopelessly broken mug into the store and explained what happened, a staff member without hesitation offered a replacement, 100% free of charge and hassle. She also offered to fill it up with sample tea for me to take along. This is the kind of customer service that will keep me coming back!

Upon entering the store, you are greeted by friendly staffs that put a small cup of warm Tea of the Day into your hand. While sipping, you can browse and inquire about the colourful and colour-​coded tea jars neatly stacked on the wall.
David’s tea boasts over 90 selections of tea. As such, whether you have a taste for black (colour-​coded black), green (green), herbal (yellow), rooibos (red), white (white), mate (purple), pu’erh (brown), or oolong (blue), or creative tea blends, you will find your match here.
Staffs are always happy to chat with you about tea knowledge and your preferences and they would fetch various tea jars for you to sniff. You can even request small samples for the ones you are interested in.
I like how David’s Tea has included the staple basics for each of the tea categories. For instance, Earl Grey for black tea, Dragon Well for green tea, Egyptian Chamomile for herbal, and *drum roll please*, Golden Pu’erh (organic) for Pu’erh!
To elaborate, Pu’erh, also spelled as Pu’er, is a type of fermented dark tea produced in Yunan province of China. Tea leaves are usually pressed into a round disc or small brick and undergo gradual fermentation and matures over a period of time, like wine. It boasts various health benefits such as digestion-​aiding, cholesterol-​lowering, and blood-​cleansing.
Going back to the tea selection, there is also a lot of «bubble-​gum» type of blends that make me cringe. NooooooOoooOoOOOoo what are you doing!!! Examples:
— «Birthday Cake» — Red and green rooibos, honeybush, sprinkles, ice cream bits (WHAT?)
— «Red Velvet Cake» — Black tea, semi-​sweet chocolate bits, white chocolate bits, beetroot powder, sprinkles…(WHAT ARE THE SPRINKLES DOING IN HERE?)
— «Mamma Mia» — Hisbiscus, apples, raisins, rooibos, candied pineapple, candied papaya, orange peel, coconut…(FAINTING ALREADY)
Furthermore, in terms of the quality of the tea leaves, I have to shake my head a few times. Consider the Dragon Pearls for example, which is the jasmine flowers scented green tea that are hand-​rolled into tea pearls, when you examine the tea leaves after brewing, you’ll notice the long tea leaf stems with only a few, and small tea leaves — no good. After first brewing (generally tea can brew for up to 2 – 3 times depending on the type), the tea loses its fragrance and taste like water.
The Tie Kuan Yin, or Iron Buddah is a let-​down as well. The leaves are small, with lots of breakages, and are overly fermented. The tea is dull orange-​yellow colored, nothing compared to a light green colored tea and full of aromas, which is how the Iron Buddah is supposed to be.
Regardless, for $ 3/​cup, you can walk away with a relatively healthier drink in hand while have the opportunity to try various types that may help you define your tea taste buds. When you purchase tea you’ll also be given customized tea instructions as a form of sticker on the packaging.
I suppose, this place is for light-​hearted, adventurous, new world tea drinkers/​explorers. An old-​world tea drinker like moi would be a pain to please.
David’s Tea, you’re not my cup of tea.
Cheerio~

Davids Tea at Pacific Centre — it’s open!