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Can I go ahead and throw out another "If you're just getting into tea (and even sometimes if you're already into it), DON'T go to Teavana right away"...? I used to work there (but have since moved on to the local tea shop), and the training actually states you need to hear "no" FIVE times before you drop the subject... I quit pretty quickly. Also, someone mentioned earlier (I apologize for forgetting who) Teavana employees work for commission. To clarify, Teavana employees don't work for commission, per se--it's more of an incentive program where if you sell so much per hour, you get a percentage of that back. However, the bulk of your paycheck is still coming from your hourly wage. In other words, you're not putting any tea selling employees on the street by telling them no, so don't be afraid to if you're uncomfortable with where things are going! Edit: That being said, I don't harbor any ill will towards Teavana, and I still use some of their products, go visit, etc. I'm just stressing don't let them think you need to drop $500 to properly enjoy a cup of tea. Niemat fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Nov 7, 2011 |
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Nov 7, 2011 21:00
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aldantefax posted:At the risk of sounding like a corporate shill I'll say that their quality of product is fairly high for some of their stuff! For functional accessories I'll agree with you that they are pretty ridiculous, but for aesthetic accessories and more expensive stuff such as tetsubin and cast iron 'wares their prices tend to even out. They make their profits mostly on gouging for normally cheap accessories and tea in-store. I will definitely agree with the quality of their items, but I can't help but be suspicious of their mark ups on the tetsubin... Our local tea shop is selling some of the same tetsubin WITH cups for about half to a third of the price of just the pot at Teavana. Again, I won't argue with the quality, but I definitely recommend shopping around a bit first. On a vaguely unrelated note, does anyone know anything about Steepster?? I had never heard of it, but found a link on Upton's site. Is anyone here using it?
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Nov 8, 2011 18:25
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DurianGray posted:Oh, I'd totally forgotten about Steepster! I had an account on there a while ago, and it's actually still around. I haven't been on there in a while but it doesn't look like it's changed much from a year or so ago. It's pretty good for reviews of teas from specific vendors that you might be thinking of trying out. A lot of the people on there tend to be pretty harsh in their criticisms, moreso than you'll see in reviews that might be hosted on the vendor's actual sites, which can be a good thing sometimes. It can be a good way of keeping notes on the teas that you have and what you liked or didn't like. Their forums, from what I remember, can get sort of catty occasionally. No idea if that's changed. Right on. Maybe I'll try it out then.  If anyone's interested in giving it a whirl with me, my Steepster username is also Niemat.
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Nov 8, 2011 19:58
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KarmaticStylee posted:Anyways, real reason I'm posting right now is to say SCREW Teavana. They have the most aggressive, harassing, in-your-face sales people I've dealt with. I went in there for a second time today thinking that my previous visit was a fluke but once again I had the exact same experience with a brand new employee. I will never EVER return to that place again because of the sheer anxiety stepping foot into their establishment causes me Along these lines, if stepping into Teavana is anxiety-inducing, but someone in this thread would like honest information on their products (without the pushy bullshit--like I said, there was a reason I left) from a former Teavana employee, I'm more than happy to field questions. I can't promise I know everything, but I can promise I'll share what I do know. Also, sorry, you had to get a new guy, KarmaticStylee... they're always the worst. 
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Dec 10, 2011 17:01
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Okay, so a friend gave me this pot as a gift yesterday. I've never had a yixing pot before, so I'm both super excited and super nervous I'm going to gently caress up the initial seasoning/subsequent brews... Anyone have any experiences/tips with yixing they'd be willing to share??  edit: I guess I should also throw out there that the pot is a whopping 23 ounces, and everything I found online for seasoning/brewing instructions is for much smaller (6-8 oz) yixing pots. I'm not sure what the best way to season my new pot or brew tea in it would be as a result. Niemat fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Dec 11, 2011 |
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Dec 11, 2011 16:56
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Manuel Calavera posted:Any Rooibos you recommend in particular? I think those are the ones with the most caffeine, right? I need to get tea sometime in the future, I started drinking mine again. It's a year or two old, but still good. And it will disappear at some point. Hummingbirds posted:Rooibos has no caffeine, are you thinking of mate? Also wondering this... If it is mate you're thinking of, what sorts of tea have you started drinking again? Are you drinking bagged tea or loose leaf? Do you drink coffee at all? If you're a coffee drinker trying to kick the habit through tea, Teavana could hook you up with something like this. The JavaVana mate smells very strongly of cocoa/coffee, but (like all of Teavana's coffee-mimicking mates) is a little weak on taste for what the tea smells like. That being said, it's not a bad tasting tea--just weak. Personally, I never really drank much Teavana mate, as they only carried mate that was supposed to replace coffee or was filled with fruit (although all of my coworkers went NUTS for the Raspberry Riot Lemon Mate, and the Samurai Chai Mate is Teavana's best selling tea). My mate of choice is always a yerba mate, like Guayaki. If you like near a Whole Foods or an organic/local source grocery store, they usually have Guayaki in their tea sections, and Guayaki seems to be on sale quite a bit. A yerba mate has more of a grassy taste to it, though, and can really come on strong. Some acquaintance of mine once told me they thought mate was an acquired taste when prepared correctly, and I definitely agree. But don't let that scare you off! There are few things more satisfying than enjoying a nice mug (or gourd!) of mate to kick the day off right. TapTheForwardAssist had an interesting post about mate about ten posts back talking about some of the cultural aspects of mate I'd check out as well! Also... angor posted:That thing is freaking awesome. I have a 10 cup yixing pot that I bought years ago and never got around to using. I just can't imagine when I would use it. It sits on our entertainment unit and stores batteries and collects dust now TEN CUPS?  That must be one hell of a pot!
Niemat fucked around with this message at 06:39 on Dec 13, 2011 |
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Dec 13, 2011 06:34
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Manuel Calavera posted:I'm sure I can find that Guayaki stuff at my work, I know we sell the pre-made bottles for sure. That Samurai Chai sounds good too, I like peppery tea. Excellent! I hope you find a mate that works for you! As a side note, if you're thinking about the Samurai Chai Mate, but you're unsure if you'd like the taste, that's one of the two blends Teavana has standard to sample at the door. Granted, it's blended with their White Ayurvedic Chair, but you can still get an idea of what it tastes like (in my experience, the Samurai Chai overpowers the other one). Two ounces can be quite a bit of tea if you hate it, you know?
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Dec 14, 2011 21:50
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I still haven't seasoned my yixing pot from a few posts ago for fear of ruining it. HOWEVER, I found a promising alternative seasoning method yesterday (as opposed to the "boil a bunch in a large pot" method) that seems more "large yixing"-friendly... Does the second method listed (the alternating the hot/cool water bit) on the Tea Masters blog seem like a solid plan to people with yixing experience...?
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Dec 17, 2011 00:41
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ZombieParts posted:Whatever method you use will be just fine. Seasoning is an ongoing process and takes a very long time. That's one of the reasons antique pots are very sought after. Besides artistic value, they will produce a very unique taste. What they're doing on most blogs is glorifying the initial cleaning process. That's fine. Gong Fu Cha can be as ritualized as you want it to be but, I live in China, and people are more impressed by your tea knowledge, skill, and tea quality than by what condition your pot is in. Sounds like solid advice! Thank you! 
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Dec 20, 2011 01:03
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dik-dik posted:Thanks for the tip! looks like most of the on sale teas are sold out on the website; do you know if the sale applies to their stores too? Yeah, the sale is in store as well and lasts until the end of the month. edit: Also worth noting is that even though some of the teas are currently sold out, Teavana has been getting new supply in online and in stores, usually after only a few days of the tea being out of stock.
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Jan 9, 2012 00:23
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Inspired by GrAviTy84's beautiful gaiwan pick up from an Asian grocery, I decided to swing by our local Asian grocery to see what I could find! I picked up two teas in my eagerness, before getting home and realizing I have no idea if what I bought was in any way legit/good. My purchases!:  The Chrysanthemum jar says it's distributed by Fuzhou Blue Lake Import & Export Trading Co.--does anyone know anything about them? I'm not finding too much on Google. Here's a close up of the label for the Chrysanthemum:  Okay, so this one is fun: I realized the only English words on it are "Golden Bridge Brand" and "Ginseng Oolong Tea." The "Ming Cha" on the front might be the brand...? There's a Hong Kong brand called "Ming Cha," but their products don't look much like this tea. Plus, the "Golden Bridge Brand" at the top makes me think "Ming Cha" might not be the brand. Again, does anyone know anything about this brand?  edit: my pictures are apparently no longer sideways. Niemat fucked around with this message at 07:36 on Jan 13, 2012 |
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Jan 13, 2012 06:43
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Hadlock posted:Effort. I drink probably 6 cups of tea at work a day, and we have a shared kitchen/break room area. I'd rather not be known as "the guy who leaves his tea poo poo in the sink all the time". There's actually a wide variety of loose leaf tea equipment tucked away in the cupboards, but not being known as "that guy" & getting promoted regularly > ultra high quality tea. I'm also chiming in to say that I have friends and am respected by my supervisors at work, and I steep loose leaf tea there every night I work. In fact, if you're worried about what your coworkers might think, I actually made a lot of friends at work because I did loose leaf tea; coworkers would come by my desk to watch me make my tea, and they'd ask a lot of questions. As a result, I've converted some of my coworkers to loose leaf, so there's a few of us making loose leaf tea and none of us are hated for it. I use a small kitchen strainer for my tea and set it on a little tea bag holder. Most of my coworkers use the Teavana PerfecTea maker (which is like the ingenuiTEA). Both of these are fairly clean processes, and we all keep our supplies at our desks; I've never seen a mess in the kitchen from tea. edit: I should also clarify that I'm talking about my other job--not my tea shop job I've mentioned before. Everyone drinks tea at the tea shop.  Hadlock posted:Oh brilliant, I've found a use for the $50+ in starbucks gift cards I've accumulated over the years! What are some of the flavors I should avoid with Tazo? I'm not a huge fan of Tazo, but I would definitely avoid the Passion tea... it tastes like stewed fruit. Niemat fucked around with this message at 21:47 on May 17, 2012 |
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May 17, 2012 21:42
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OnceIWasAnOstrich posted:I personally go for the "try to destroy the trash bin with force of the smash". This is definitely also my technique whenever I've used one of these devices, regardless of brand. V  V I have yet to break one (but now that I've announced that...)Bob_McBob posted:It's pretty easy to break off the plastic feet on this style of brewer. This makes it almost impossible to use because the valve mechanism depends on the brewer sitting on the feet, so it can be pushed partially open if one is missing.. I'm game, and this sound like an interesting story, so how do you know?
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May 22, 2012 13:14
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Koaxke posted:Anyone? This kettle is a little (okay, a fair deal) more than $60 right now on Amazon, but it's the one I have (so I feel comfortable recommending it... and I think a few other goons may have it, too, if I remember correctly), and I'm very happy with it: http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-CPK...electric+kettle It's a pretty durable unit, and I bring it to work with me all the time. If you're willing to wait for a good sale, I got mine at Younkers on a stupidly good sale for about $70. Watch out, though, if you go the Younkers route: their coupons rarely include "small kitchen electronics." Otherwise, a quick Amazon search turned up this friend: http://www.amazon.com/Adagio-Teas-U...electric+kettle I don't have any experience with this kettle, but the reviews look pretty positive (save the different temperatures are shown by colors instead of numbers...). Adagio puts out some pretty good teas, so maybe they also put out some good kettles...? :S edit: HA! That's the kettle you asked about above. If only I could remember things better!  Sorry! No experience with it, but, like I said, the reviews look pretty positive for the most part...
Niemat fucked around with this message at 02:53 on Oct 19, 2012 |
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Oct 19, 2012 02:50
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Rollofthedice posted:Thing is, I'm liking the idea of that Yerba Mate stuff. Does it work iced? From what I can tell, it's traditionally served hot, but the thought of coffee levels of caffeine in iced tea form is almost too good to be true. And if that's a terrible thing to do, are there any alternatives? Normally I drink mine sort of lukewarmish anyway, but iced isn't bad. At a coffee shop I used to work at, one of my coworkers would go NUTS for iced Yerba, so we always had some on hand. Due to his constant pushing of it, iced Yerba actually got to be pretty popular with our customer base! My advice for doing iced Yerba is to have a very fine strainer on hand for when you pour the tea into your glass--fine particles always manage to make it through the initial straining, and the particles are gritty as hell.
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Nov 25, 2012 17:53
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aldantefax posted:I've actually used this recently which has proven to be pretty awesome - the price point is a bit high however the material quality is good and the plunger works just fine. I got it on sale at the tea festival and if I'm feeling lazy but still want tea I can use that instead of the gaiwan I have at my desk at work/home. That is legitimately the coolest tea product I have seen in quite some time. Am I reading the description correctly: the brewing compartment is plastic while the outside is glass?
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Apr 11, 2013 19:27
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In case anyone is interested, Teavana is running a 10% off orders of $50 or more until May 12. The online code is "SPRING" I know people generally aren't too big on them, but I thought I'd throw it out there just in case.
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Apr 22, 2013 14:47
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Anyone in the DC area (or that's visited the DC area) have experience with Teaism? On a recent excursion to DC, we visited, and I really enjoyed the restaurant section, so I picked up two teas (the Mind & Body and the Ginger Zing--I was in a ginger mood at the time) to try from the tea shop section. I just got herbal blends, because I was unfamiliar with the shop, so I wasn't sure what the quality would be like on their actual tea leaves.
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Aug 10, 2013 04:20
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Does anyone have any blooming teas they enjoy? Might be a bit of a silly question, but I got a clear glass teapot as a gift with a few starter balls, and I've grown to like watching my tea bloom.  I also couldn't remember if anyone had this asked before.
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Feb 26, 2014 22:58
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Enfys posted:If you like watching tea in your glass teapot, you should look into more greens and oolongs as well because they are fun and beautiful to watch. Jasmine pearls are lovely to watch unfold, especially with the smell. I thought about just letting some of my normal leaves hang out loose in the pot (it doesn't have a glass strainer), but I was worried they'd oversteep. Am I off base...? Because I do have some pearl teas that would probably be quite lovely in a glass pot!
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Feb 27, 2014 23:18
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milpreve posted:I brew loose in a pot, and decant all the liquid either into my drinking vessel or a second, warmed pot. I pour through a mesh strainer and dump any leaves that come out back into the brewing pot. I thusly avoid oversleeping and can save my leaves for reuse. This post makes a lot of sense, and this did not occur to me (I think it's been a long week). I was imagining just leaving the tea leaves in for the duration of me drinking the pot when I posted last. 
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Feb 28, 2014 15:28
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milpreve posted:So, guys, I got a job at Teavana. I'll try to disclaim my future posts whenever I talk about them, but there's your notice. I still hate most of their tea and sales techniques, but the people at my store are cool and we're overall a laid-back location. Best part is free tea to drink while you work! I actually did a stint at Teavana myself before I left it for the local tea shop in town... and then went back to Teavana a few months later for the holiday rush because money was tight (you definitely don't strike it rich in the tea peddlin' business). I didn't feel like people that hate Teavana hated ME--they hated the business practices. I hated that every day was a competition, and your paycheck is partially based on how well you sell. I feel like their target customer isn't a repeat customer--it's an impulse buyer, so there's no focus on building relations with people. Coming from the coffee shop atmosphere, I definitely thought it would be more laid back, hanging out, drinking tea, and helping people (who are also laid back, hanging out, and drinking tea), so I was a little culture shocked my first few days. The best part is definitely getting to drink the tea for free! You also used to get a super steep (HA) discount on products (although I hear Starbucks lessened the discount  ), so I would always pick up gifts for people there.The worst part is sampling. I hated sampling. I felt like the people that are always trying to get you to buy ~special, ancient secret lotion with dead sea salt~ in the mall, and I also got a little sick of drinking the actual samples with people like my store required. All this being said, I'll still pick up a thing or two on their biannual clearance.
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Feb 28, 2014 20:58
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coyo7e posted:I do this in my electric steeper however, I use a smaller amount of tea than I would otherwise, and when I drink the carafe down halfway I pour in more hot water. It usually sits on overnight, and tastes great first thing in the morning after my shower. Nice! We didn't use spoons for sampling--Teavana uses 1-2 oz plastic condiment cups for their samples, so it's bottoms up! pointsofdata posted:What are people go to teas when they just want a cup of tea? Genmaicha
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Mar 4, 2014 00:05
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Undeclared Eggplant posted:I used to think so too, until I discovered genmai matcha. Even better. I think my genmai matcha isn't as great a quality as my genmaicha, so I'll definitely have to try a different company (or try to bungle through my own concoction), because I wasn't super impressed with the stuff I have. Where do you pick up yours? Okay, electric kettle question... I have this kettle, and I've recently noticed some deposits accumulating (which I'm sure are from our hard water). Does anyone with this model or a similar one have a way that they clean out their kettle or clear deposits?
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Mar 6, 2014 17:55
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Thanks, guys! I was thinking about boiling some vinegar, but I was pretty sure the smell would be horrendous... glad to know that is indeed the case! 
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Mar 6, 2014 22:38
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The lemon juice is a great idea--I just keep vinegar around on the regular for cleaning. Maybe I'll run to the store this weekend for a lemon, though, because a lingering lemon smell/taste wouldn't be so terrible temporarily...Goddamn posted:Cleaned off any tannin stains too (this last part isn't guaranteed if enough have built up). Definitely going to try this on a china mug I have to see if it'll remove the tea stains! Thanks!
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Mar 7, 2014 15:49
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hope and vaseline posted:Hey Teavana employee, I'm just curious, have you noticed any changes since Starbucks bought it out? If it's even ok to talk about that from your position. I know I'm not the person you asked, but as a former Teavana employee who left about when Starbucks took over, I can say there's definitely a difference. Starbucks cut the Teavana discount (which used to be pretty substantial), but they now offer a lb of coffee a week (which Starbucks employees receive) or a lb a tea a month in a certain price range (unless they've since changed that, too). There's a bigger focus on things like coupons and short term sales (like, the "this weekend only!" or "20% off spring teas!" sorts of sales). I get mailers from Teavana almost every week advertising their new products or deals, which I never received before Starbucks. In addition, like milpreve said, they're definitely marketing their teas differently and focusing on different points to sell tea. Post-Starbucks purchase Teavana is also focusing on seasonal teas a lot more, so their tea wall changes a bit every season, where it used to be fairly static. Those are the big differences coming to my mind... Although I'm guessing their training materials have changed quite a bit as well, based on what my training materials were when I worked for Starbucks and how different they were from what my Teavana materials were. However, Milpreve would be better able to speak to what training is like at Teavana now. Edit: milpreve posted:I'm hoping Starbucks expands our markout from a free pound of coffee to include 2oz of tea! So it sounds like they nixed the pound of free tea every month option then... Bummer! Niemat fucked around with this message at 04:07 on Mar 22, 2014 |
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Mar 22, 2014 04:03
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hope and vaseline posted:That's good to know, my biggest pet peeve with Teavana (aside from the pushy sales) was all the dubious health benefits that they use to push their teas. Yeah, there was this weird, fine line you had to dance, where you were supposed to SUGGEST there might be benefits, without actually saying there were benefits, because legal stuff... And then everyone would rush in after Dr. Oz suggested some sort of amazing, life-changing tea, and customers would want something with the same benefits as that tea if we didn't have the tea Dr. Oz suggested, which got weird. milpreve posted:I'm jealous it used to be an option! I can't drink coffee anymore, so I give my markout to my parents. How does markout work for a Teavana employee? When I worked at Starbucks (and I swear it just sounds like I've worked everywhere under the sun!) we would pick out our pound, give our employee number to the manager, and the manager would do the mark out through the till. Where you don't have Starbucks coffee hanging out, I'm guessing you have to travel to a Starbucks and then do something similar...?
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Mar 22, 2014 04:45
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hope and vaseline posted:What's everyone cold brewing or making iced tea with this summer? I've been cold brewing a spring harvest taiwanese Bi Lo Chun the past week and its so refreshing. Got some new puerhs in today so I'm gonna see how a ripe one does overnight, probably will have to play around with leaf amount so it's not super strong. I had a whole bunch of the Blueberry Kona Pop blend from my days at Teavana that I've been making, but it's running low, so I'll have to find something else soon! I'm a big fan of iced greens, so maybe that's where I'll go next! FAUXTON posted:Maybe not as good as the Ceylon Star blend from The Tea Smith (possibly local to me, not sure) but that's probably the price talking. The Tea Smith is local, but they do have a website if anyone was curious enough to check it out.
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Jun 2, 2014 14:49
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hope and vaseline posted:Crazy rear end Teavivre anniversary deal, 5 samplers for $1 (Shipping $4-$6, china post or usps). About 40g of premium chinese tea for dirt cheap. I saw this post this morning, and I thought, 'oh, I'll have to grab that during my lunch break!' NOPE. It's already sold out. 
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Jul 15, 2014 20:50
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Jhet posted:It's back in stock today if anyone else was trying to snag it. I managed to snag it this time, and I picked up their oolong sampler that was on sale as well! Did everyone else get YET ANOTHER free sample at check out...? Or was that attached to me picking something else up in addition to the $1 sampler? Either way, I'm excited.
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Jul 18, 2014 14:25
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What teaspoons do you guys normally use for measuring out your tea? I had a couple of the Teavana measuring spoons that have slowly disappeared on me, so I'm in the market for new ones! I liked the Teavana ones enough--I'm just feeling like a change.
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Aug 6, 2014 16:58
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DontAskKant posted:A scale? Fair enough. I was mainly seeing if anyone had any suggestions for a tea spoon, because it's an easy thing to bring to work with me.
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Aug 6, 2014 17:43
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