Teavana

I was really saddened by my recent experience at this location. I went in with the intention of buying about $ 50 worth of two different teas — the winterberry sample was delicious, and I wanted to also buy the new defense tea. I walked in, and the flustered (probably new, not his fault) cashier was trying to help two other customers who were together. I was the only other customer in the store. There were three girls and a toddler (?!) behind the counter; two of the girls were shoveling tea into large containers and mixing sugar etc. The girl with the kid was obviously an employee. A fourth girl, possibly the manager, was standing to the side of the cashier, looking annoyed. I stood in front of all of them for over 5 minutes and they all tried as hard as possible to avoid eye contact with me. No one even said hello or asked if I was being helped. Since no one would help me, I just ended up leaving empty handed. It was the weirdest shopping experience I have ever had.

I walked by and someone working there offered me a sample so I took it. Then he went into explaining some of the specials they had going on that day and lead me to the discounted holiday dessert tea package, 50% off! I bought it and got 4 different teas for a great price. He answered all my questions too. The store is pretty well organized with teas along the walls and some in the middle of the store, and most of the kettles/​tea makers in the center. Next time I walk by for a sample I will probably head on in to see the specials.

My mom and I came here to celebrate National Iced Tea Day with a Free 22 fluid oz of Pineapple Berry Blue Iced Tea. When we arrived, one of the ladies at the counter basically tried to tell us off that it was one per email. The manager handled this situation well and said if anyone knows about this offering, they would honor it. I’m not complaining about the taste but rather the presentation. Being National Iced Tea Day, you would think they would serve it with ice but neither of our teas were iced. Thus, making the teas as enjoyable as the store sample!

Happy Hour Tea Time!
Tea is just tea right? WRONG!
Come on in and visit Gonzalo. This guy hands down explained the different teas and the ingredients! Also how to brew/​fuse/​stew the teas! You could not stump this guy. Great customer service!
Amy was pleasant too.
I am loving the pineapple tea! Sounds odd, has a slight hint of it.
Although… the Blackberry Mojito Green Tea, simply marvelous. I called it Happy Hour Tea Time.
Stop by, great customer service!

I came to get a cup of the advertised Winterberry tea. I came at 8:00 on a Saturday night, so that might explain why the store looked so disorganized. I usually stop by on the seldom occasion that I visit the mall to sample the teas, but they appeared short staffed tonight. Usually the employee will open up the top of the canister, and fan the tea leaves so the customer can get a whiff of the scent of the tea. I am not a big tea snob, so I would not go out of my way to buy what they’re offering here.

This is a generous 2 simply because the tea is overpriced and not good. I came in about a month ago and bought six different teas — 4 of which had 100% no flavor whatsoever. They smelled very pungent yet after steeping, all I had was the taste of hot water. I also don’t like that teavana stores the tea in huge containers and invites patrons to bend over it and sniff anytime they are interested in a tea. They should store smaller amounts in glass jars for this purpose. I don’t want tea that has had 100+ people sniffing over it. they only tea I enjoyed was the samurai chai, but it wasn’t mind-​blowing. I can’t imagine I will ever buy tea here again.

I always get my teas sweetened! My favorite tea so far is opera’s chai tea. To add the cherry on top, this place is awesome for last minute gifts!

I love Teavana tea. I got it as a gift once and really enjoyed it. I’m a tea aficionado and really appreciate the flavor and texture of loose tea leaves. My experience in the Teavana Store at the Beverly Center (Los Angeles) was however a big turn off. The pushy salesman was borderline aggressive and was all about force selling me the biggest quantity of the most expensive tea and even added the tin before even asking me. I guess I’ll have to find a way to buy it on line as I will not subject myself to another unpleasant experience.

The young lady that offered us a sample also helped us with our questions. She was very courteous and friendly. I wish all retail service was like that.

Although Teavana is one of the few stores that sell tea leaves in the Bethesda area, I really don’t like going there. The tea is fancy but of only average quality, often heavily flavored, and overpriced. The sales staff is overly aggressive as in: the caricature of a car salesman. You tell them the one tea you liked to buy, they come with a dozen others. You need a cup, the come with a tea pot. You want black tea, they suggest green. Even when you are paying, they will try to quickly add something completely useless to the bill. To brew tea one needs the leaves, hot water, a vessel, and perhaps a strainer. Following Teaism, one has to build an addition to the house to store all the equipment, tins, and teas.

We have all probably walked by this store in the mall at one time or another and noticed the samples of tea displayed in the entry of Teavana. Did you know they also serve full sized made-​to-​order drinks in the back? This is particularly great if you are thinking of purchasing a canister of tea and want to try it before purchasing. I had a tall Sakura Allure iced green tea with the taste of cherry, pineapple, mango, rose and hibiscus. The cost was approximately $ 3.00. You can sample it without sugar and they will add sugar as needed. Teavana uses German Rock Sugar for hot tea and they use a cooked down/​liquefied syrup version for cold teas. The only downside to the iced tea is that the ice melts almost immediately
One of the store attendants, Karina, was super helpful, courteous and knowledgeable. She really knew her stuff and seemed passionate about tea; and passionate about helping me:) The attendants will remove a large vat of the tea of your choice from the shelf and open the container to reveal a beautiful loose tea. The attendant will then waft the various tea varieties in your general direction so you can get a sense of the flavors. They all smelled divine!
Teavana also has really cool tea contraptions for dealing with loose teas. My favorite was the Perfectea Maker, which allows you to steep loose leaf tea and once the steeping process has completed you hold the bottom of the Perfectea Maker over a glass of ice and click a button and the tea is dispensed without any of the leaves. I was told that you can leave the tea in the Perfectea Maker for a couple more uses before discarding the tea leave. Teavana also sells pretty tins for holding the tea leaves.
Here are some examples of other types of tea varieties Teavana offers:
— Slimful Chocolate Decadence Oolong Tea — draws its inspiration from Hawaiian chocolate cake; cacao, toasted coconut, ginger spice and pink rose petals.
— Apple, Lemon, and Pomegranate — this one smelled amazing!
— Château Blanc White Tea — vineyard grapes, red delicious apples, mandarin oranges, candied pineapples and sweet fig.
They sell white teas, green teas, black teas, mate teas, scented teas, rooibos teas and herbal infusions.
Teavana seems to have something for everyone and I love they will customize the orders so you can spend as little or as much money as you want. They even have a monthly tea club for avid tea drinkers.

You will probably need a nice soothing cup of tea after experiencing the gauntlet of salespeople at this store, which seem to be in a ratio of about 14:1 for customers. I have no idea whether the tea they sell is any good because I was so anxious to get the hell out of there before I was force-​marched to the register.

Their tea is wonderful! I love their tea. I DESPISE this Teavana location though. The employee (tall dude at the door) is an aggressive salesman and should be avoided. They must have been used car salesmen before, because I feel myself defending my decisions to them as they try to get me to buy more expensive stuff every time I go in there! They are deaf to the word NO.
I went in the store knowing exactly the tea I wanted to buy. He came up and I asked him for some Rooibos Tropica (delicious!) and he wouldn’t get it for me originally. He kept trying to sell me other things instead of ringing me up. «Have you tried this…» and «Look at our tea pots [at the counter]». Him: «You should get it in a [$ 7] tin». Me: «A bag is fine» Him: «You should really get a tin it will last longer» Me: «Put it in a bag, please». The problem here is that they try to EXPLOIT CUSTOMERS. He said a bag of Rooibos Tropica is about 24 dollars, but filled it up and it turned out to be $ 32 and didn’t want to take the extra out.
I asked him to take some of the extra out — after all, he said it was going to be ¾ of what it was, and despite this he argued with me that it will keep if I bought a tin and will spoil if I didn’t. Even after I told him I didn’t want the tin twice, he still pushed it.
THEY ARE NOT THERE TO HELP YOU! They make commission off of whatever you buy and it is their sole objective to get you to spend money regardless of what you want.
My recommendations when dealing with Teavana (especially at Montgomery mall) are the following:
1) ASK FOR THE BAG, NOT THE TIN. I have had tea for months in the bags from Teavana at other locations and they never go bad, despite what Teavana Employees will tell you. If you don’t drink it, it is probably because it wasn’t as good as you originally thought anyhow, and it’s not like you want it to be fresh for someone in the far distant future excavating it from an archeological dig… it will be fine long enough for you to drink it in a reasonable amount of time.
2) DO NOT TELL THEM IT IS YOUR FIRST TIME in the store or that you are new to tea, not matter what. I made that mistake a while ago. They will have you buying a lot of unnecessary crap. If necessary, tell them «I already have one of those at home.»
3) GET A CUP OF IT THERE IF YOU ARE UNSURE. They don’t talk much about it, but they can make you a cup of anything there — you just have to ask. Before you spend $ 40 on some tea that may smell great but taste like sh**, order a cup of it. If you don’t like it, tell them and don’t let them pressure you in to buying it — because they will surely try to. If you are unsure, get 1 — 2 Oz of it. You can always come back later and get more of what you want instead of being stuck with something you will never drink.
4) DON’T MIX TEAS IN ONE BAG — Get them separate and combine them yourself. Rooibos Tropica and Jasmine Pearls are a good combination to get, but if they dump both into one bag, you are stuck with how they combined it, which is a somewhat arbitrary proportion. Get them in separate bags and then you can try it and combine them as you personally like. You don’t need a lot of jasmine pearls in this case either despite what they may tell you.
5) WHEN YOU ARE DONE, YOU ARE DONE. Don’t let them talk you into more. They tend to EXPLOIT NICE PEOPLE, and even after you tell them that is all, they ignore you and try to sell you more. Be assertive and let them know that is all you want to spend! They are just as bad as the people in the middle of the mall that try to sell you soap and junk from the dead sea. In my opinion, this is unethical and you will regret it later if you submit to this crap when you walk out and ask yourself, «What did I just waste $ 160 on?»
6) Avoid the tall dude at the entrance at all costs. There are two nicer ladies who aren’t as aggressive. You don’t have to be rude, but be assertive about what you want! They will still try to sell you other things, but accept the word No when you don’t want it. I am a really nice guy, but have limits like anyone, and they tend to strike a nerve every time with how rude and aggressive they are — especially the tall dude at the entrance.
7) DO NOT GO TO TEAVANA IN MONTGOMERY MALL! GO TO DIFFERENT ONE. There are Teavana locations in Columbia, MD, Pentagon City, VA, Tyson’s Corner, and others around. Go to those instead! They are nicer and you don’t feel bad about what you spent compared to what you got after you leave.

I go into the store and mooch their free samples all the time, so I decided to actually patronize for once. I know that good tea is not cheap, but the experience I had today has completely turned me off to ever shopping there again.
The sales person was so so pushy and tried upselling the crap out of me. I know next to nothing about buying loose leaf tea, and he tried to convince me that most people buy it by the pound. A pound of tea? Seriously?
I knew exactly what combination I wanted (it was one of the samples), and was finally able to convince him that I only wanted a few ounces. He still managed to upsell me to 8oz. He seemed appalled when I told him I only wanted 8oz total, and that I wanted the two types combined into the same tin. He had already started shoveling the second tea into another $ 7 tin. He was moving so fast, and was so unwilling to listen to me.
Lastly as he was ringing me up, he picked up a tea strainer and said «I’ll just throw this in for you as well» and started scanning it. I asked him if it was free, and he said no, it was $ 4.99. HE HAD ALREADY SCANNED IT! You’ve gotta be kidding me.
Anyway, it was a very unpleasant experience, and while I love the product, I think I’ll be shopping online from now on.

I love the store and the products but each time I go I encounter odd scenario’s.
A month ago an employee followed me around the entire store and refused to let me pour my own tea. When I reached for the spigot, he physically blocked my hand. That might be a little too violent for strawberry tea.
Another occasion, the sales clerk was so aggressive it was actually frightened me. He kept pressuring me to buy more products, when I refused he gave me very rude explanation as to why I needed to buy them. When I refused to buy a tea bin he commented, I guess you don’t want your tea to stay fresh.

I like tea. It’s tea-​y and tasty.
But I don’t like being pressured into buy $ 160 worth of tea as a gift for someone that I’ve never tried nor know if the recipient will even enjoy… I didn’t spend $ 160 by the way.
I’ve been to this Teavana twice. I think I’ve had the same person help me both times. If it wasn’t, then they have at least two condescending pushy salespeople. That said, the one employee that looked like the singer from Coheed and Cambria was super nice and friendly. Condescending pushy salesguy was also «friendly» but severely in need of a bitchslap.
I was looking for a gift for my dear mama, and thought it would be nice to get her some nice loose green tea. Condescending pushy salesguy (CPS we’ll refer to for short) immediately showed me their best green tea, which I can understand. It smelled great and I was OK spending a little extra on mommy for putting up with all my bullshit for years. So I asked how much it was, and he told me $ 20/​2oz. So I asked how much 2oz was, which he never exactly answered. Rather he said «well I recommend getting AT LEAST a pound, which if you do you get 2oz free.» Quick math tells me $ 20/​2oz x 16oz = $ 160! Um. No.
So I asked if their tins came in smaller sizes because I don’t think my mom would ever get through a pound of green tea that could be reused 7 – 8 times. He then told me, «if you want to make it seem like you got a good amount of tea, but not really get a lot, you can get this container which is $ 10… do you like the red one or black one better?» WTF! First insult me, and then basically assume that’s what I want.
I asked about less expensive teas as well, which CPS basically told me the cheaper ones were equivalent to lawn clippings and that I obviously didn’t want to get such inferior tea (that the company he was representing offered).
Long story short, about 10 more minutes of combination belittling, pressuring, interrogating (at one point he said «well, how much do you want to spend anyway?»), I went home with what I felt was a fair deal — I ended up mixing a combo of more expensive and less expensive green teas, which at that point CPS praised me for my ingenuity.
In summation, I really do like their teas and teaware, but I’d rather wait for a free shipping day and just order online.

I’m a bit of a tea purist, and when I buy tea, I generally spend in the triple digits (and usually shipped from Asia). No, it’s not that I have mad bank… it’s just that I’m *really* passionate about my tea. A *good* pot of tea is akin to a day at the spa.
So you can understand my mixed feelings about Teavana (infused flavor tea is like pouring ketchup on a peice of wagyu rib-​eye steak).
However, I was impressed by the level of service at this Teavana. I was on the hunt for a new teapot (because the several dozen I currently own aren’t enough) and spied a lovely pot as I was strolling by this store. I stopped in, and although the store was *packed*, a sales associate made sure to greet me, checked on me several times to see if I had any questions or needed any help — and was all in all incredibly helpful.
Super impressed by the level of service… enough so that I let him talk me into trying an infused peach dragon jasmine tea (and yes, it tasted *exactly* like ketchup on a steak)…but never the less, I still walked away impressed and vowing to come back for more tea accessories.

The tea I bought here smelled so good I wanted to eat it. Good to know I was not alone. The employee that helped me admitted that he actually once tasted the dried coconut in the Zingiber Ginger Coconut Rooibos tea. He did not advise.
Unlike a number of the other reviews, the customer service that I experienced was great! I had no idea what I was looking for, how the pricing worked or where to even begin when I first walked into Teavana.
They walked me through the types of teas to choose from (Green Oolong, Black, Herbal, Rooibos and Maté), explaining the origins and flavors.
There are also plenty of cute tea pots and brewing containers to purchase here as well, so you can find plenty items that make great potential gifts.

Let me clarify my rating… I give the products a 5-​star rating. But the sales people are always trying to get you to buy something else. I have a lot of their merchandise. Iron kettles, metal tea tins, rock sugar, tea blossoms, white honey, strainers,… shall I go on? I have hipped 4 family members and 2 co-​workers and they love it! There are a lot of pluses to drinking tea! Anyway, they are always trying to get me to buy more. Really? During my last visit I spent $ 85 on sugar and one tea flavor. Don’t ask me to by another damn thing! JEESH!
If you go here, you do get a lot of great samples. You also can get hip to a lot of different teas and the plus side of drinking it. The bad part is that when you do go there, you have to have a will of steel. Dont be afraid to tell them your budget while shopping in there or else they will keep making you buy things.
For Teavana, this one isnt the worst. People working in Bethesda dont have as much time to beg you to spend money like in other stores. They have a nose for people who want to spend their mullah.

I got back here again yesterday after a few months’ absence. I have so big a cabinet full of different teas that I’ve been avoiding buying much tea lately and — unlike the Zen Tara shop in Bethesda — this is not a place to drop in and just have a cup of tea, but is a place where you go in, figure out what you want to buy, and leave. (That is not a negative about Teavana; it just means that, in a sense, the two are in different businesses.)
After this visit, it occurred to me that neither I nor any other reviewer has made some things clear avout this place. Tea purists will probably cringe at Teavana’s approach. Most tea merchants sell a product that is purely tea (leaves of a particular plant, botanically known as Camellia sinensis) with possibly some flavoring oils added if you buy a flavored tea. At Teavana, what they mainly sell is blends of stuff (though you can get some pure teas too, they tend to be at the high end of the price range, and I really mean HIGH!). For example, the mixtures with the fruity names are generally little pieces of dried fruit combined with tea leaves. This makes for a more intense fruit flavor, but while I like it, others may not.
They also blend different kinds of tea, with or without the other material, so you may find a mixed oolong/​black tea with some particular added flavoring materials. Again, tea purists will probably be aghast, but I judge by what I like and not what should be, and I’ve liked most of what I’ve bought here. I do think that the reviews of this place should tell you about this, so you know what to expect.