Teavana

I had a great experience with Alex C. Today. I needed a last minute birthday gift– fancy, but not too expensive– and in a hurry, since the recipient was in the mall with me. He was super responsive to my needs and knowledgeable but not at all pushy, and I wound up with a chic gift within my budget. Also, don’t leave without requesting that they mix up a drink for you to go.

High quality tea! Very good! They have samples out front. The staff is very nice and has some good recommendations.

Mixed feelings
I bought a last minute Christmas tea set that included teas, cups & strainers from a very helpful & patient man. The set was on sale & seemed cute plus reasonable.
Then– I thought about getting a red tea as an different sale. I was told to pick out a container. They did not offer just red tea, but the smell of the mixed one they offered was great. I ordered $ 20 worth & did not get much tea. The kicker was the bill came out to $ 28 because of the container & tax. I was in a hurry & did not think about it till I was gone.
Lesson learned– only get «gift sets». I will buy bulk tea elsewhere.

My VERY first time in there as a customer for Christmas shopping as well as a birthday gift. I can say I will NEVER go in there again. The people who work there are nice and will help you figure out exactly what your looking for. HOWEVER, they DONT ask is if you’re a first timer in the store and they don’t tell you exactly size of how much tea you’d like to purchase or ANYTHING. (basically the things you NEED to know before you go in there to buy tea). I got one gift 30% off which was FABULOUS! HOWEVER, I shouldn’t have went back in again because when I did THAT, I did not know how much id be paying altogether, FOR TEA! Just for some lousy TEA! When the guy rang me up and told me the grand total (I had bought two little things of tea a second time), I thought I was going to pass out! I honestly felt like I had been robbed! I ALMOST started crying on my way home because of how much the second order had cost and I had NO idea what I was getting into. All I wanted to do was something nice for people who I loved. The WORST part was when I wanted to go back in tomorrow to get a refund, I realized I had thrown away the receipt! That was when I REALLY became upset. (with myself, of course) I called the store and spoke with the Manager on Duty and she said shed report this to her boss. As nice and they are and how nice the tea tastes, I will NEVER go back into Teavana again.
Lesson I learned today: You can STILL get nice tea for a heck of a LOT cheaper at the grocery store and don’t EVER throw away the receipt of what you bought (I was just happy I had found gifts I thought my friends would love)

This is the second Teavana that I’ve reviewed now and this one is much nicer than the first. The previous store was small and poorly spaced and this store is large and they are very generous with the samples. I do disagree with a lot of Sonna’s review. You have to understand that Teavana is a specialty loose leaf tea store and is and always will be somewhat expensive. They only provide high quality teas and tea blends. If you shop here you should expect to spend a few bucks to get what you like. Also, they’re correct in telling you that the product will not taste the same as the samples if you don’t put the same product in yours at home. You shouldn’t be upset with them for that. I would be upset if they didn’t tell me and I got home to drink my delicious tea and had something that tasted completely different than it did in store.
The canisters you mentioned are essential to tea storage. You don’t need to purchase their canisters though. You can get by with an airtight screw top container from Walmart/​Target. But, you do need to store your tea in an airtight container for it to hold it’s flavor and so it doesn’t go rancid. The sugar does not require a special grinder. Sugar devolves and does not need to be ground for it to do what it does naturally in a hot beverage. It is a specialty sugar though and if you want that flavor you won’t get it from refined supermarket sugar that has no developed flavor. If you don’t want to purchase the sugar I would recommend using honey. You also don’t need a special pot to brew your tea.
Please disregard Sonna’s review. Just understand that you are going to a specialty tea store and there is a generally excepted idea that specialty high quality tea is more expensive than the generic supermarket teabags.
Overall I really enjoy this store. I stop by every time I’m in this mall for a cup of hot tea and samples. I would recommend you do the same.
***I’m not affiliated with this or any other Teavana***

The difference in rating may depend on if you know what you are getting into or not. I sampled the tea outside the store, told the salesclerk it was good and I wanted to get some. Boy did they take me for a ride. You don’t just buy some tea. You gotta buy specialty tea brewers, tea that costs nearly $ 17 PER 2 OUNCES, special canisters to put that ungodly expensive leaf in, and special sugar to flavor it with (which would probably require a special grinder). And if you don’t, they will LET YOU KNOW that it will NOT have the same flavor as the tea you sampled. I accepted the disdain for passing on the special sugar, managed to convince them I did not require the 80 plus dollar pot to brew it in, and still dropped $ 75 to brew a cup of tea. The tea was good, but it was not $ 75 good. Please.