Teavana, maybe you remember seeing them at the mall handing out free samples of their delicious tea infusions. Teavana is an American tea company that up until a few years ago had store locations throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the Middle East.
Originally started in Atlanta, Georgia by Teavana founder Andrew T. Mack and his wife in 1997. In late 2012 Starbucks made an offer and bought the entire Teavana company for $620 Million in cash. This was the largest acquisition ever made by Starbucks. But why did Teavana close?
Teavana’s closure was partly due to underperformance.
Teavana, now owned by Starbucks announced in 2017 the mass shutdown of all of the Teavana locations. That's right, they closed 379 Teavana stores across the country. They even closed the locations in Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Middle East.
So is Teavana Closed For Good?
The stores have been closed, but the company as a whole has just been downsized. Currently there are a few Teavana products that remain available to the public. These include sachet teas & premade iced tea products that you can usually find at your local grocery stores where specialty teas are sold.
But Can You Get Teavana Tea at Starbucks?
The answer is yes. Teavana and Starbucks go hand in hand and they currently offer four teavana herbal teas. These fully decaf teas include Teavana Mint Majesty, Teavana Peach Tranquility, Teavana Passion Tango and Teavana Pineapple Kona Pop.
This is great news for lovers of Teavana Tea. However, Teavana used to offer a full line of premium loose leaf teas, herbal infusions, blooming teas, yerba mate and more that you can no longer get your hands on. This is a major disappointment to Teavana patrons and tea lovers looking for their specialty teas that they loved so much.
Tea Trends
Looking at the tea market, there are many different tea trends that are constantly changing. Nowadays there are more online tea vendors than brick and mortar shops. This allows customers to purchase high quality teas for a more affordable price.
Teas that used to be very difficult to get your hand on have now become much more accessible. The trends of what tea drinkers like is constantly changing too. Usually tea drinkers start with sachet teas (tea bag teas, then move to flavored teas and then switch to pure leaf.
Why Teavana Closed
Years ago when Teavana had opened initially 20 years ago, pure leaf teas were harder to get your hands on. Green tea, white tea and oolong tea were popular and almost a novelty. Even flavored teas were scarce.
So if you’re wondering why Teavana failed, just fast forward to 2017 and you can plainly see why Teavana was having store performance issues as the entire market for tea had changed completely.
Sadly Teavana stores are gone along with a majority of their amazing tea products and delicious teas. They will be sorely missed, but you can still get your Teavana fix at your nearest Starbucks or grocery store. So go and grab some Teavana tea and revisit those times when you went down to the mall to get your favorite tea.