What a disappointment.
This is advertised as one of the rarest teas in the world, a delicacy and imperial reserve. I read a lot about it before heading to Teavana to try it out, so I thought I knew what I was in for.
My past Teavana experiences haven’t been ideal. Overall, I’m not thrilled with their overly spiced blends, unreasonably high prices, and kitschy health benefit claims. But I wanted to give them a second chance and figured to do so with one of their most expensive teas (thinking it must be expensive for a reason and therefore is probably really fantastic).
This tea was so not worth my time. First off, I don’t think my tea barista was very well educated. I went in describing this tea, and she directed me to a Jasmine Dragon Pearl blended with some kind of tropical rooibos. Umm, what?
I picked up one of the tea catalogues next to the register and immediately found the name of the tea I wanted…on the first page…in red font…with a big picture. sigh
Even though this is an expensive tea and I expected her to try to sell it to me, she continued to pull out other “silver” teas for me to smell. I explained yet again that I was there to try the Silver Yen Zhen Pearls, and she finally consented to sell me a cup.
Can’t I just try it without having to pay for an entire cup? Nope! Not an option at the lovely Teavana. So, I spend almost $6 just to try a new tea. I’m already feeling like this was a mistake. But I’m finally getting what I wanted, so I try to keep a smile on my face and let the frustration melt away.
Upon receiving my cup, I knew she had messed up. The tea catalogue I had picked up earlier said very clearly to steep the leaves for 4-5 minutes in 175 degree water. She couldn’t have steeped the leaves for more than two and a half minutes, and this water had to be boiling. I took the top off and tried to smell the tea. I got nothing.
Puzzled, I looked up at another tea barista who was watching me (the one who served me had disappeared into the back). She looked at me like I was weird for wanting to smell the tea’s aroma. So, I smiled and told her which tea I was trying.
She said, “Oh that tea has virtually no flavor or smell. But it can be blended with any of the other teas!” Umm, why bother? I stared at her blankly and she seemed to hear my silent question. “It’s very good for you,” she said with a big smile and a nod. Of course. I should have known they’d try to sell me on its health benefits.
But back to the tea itself, the liquor was a fairly deep shade of brown. Shouldn’t it be lighter, I thought? It almost looked like a weak black tea! Did they use hard water?? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had white teas before. But I’m expecting perfection with a tea that’s $22.00/2 ounces.
After all this build up, I couldn’t wait for the tea to cool off any longer. I tried it a bit early, which just made me burn my tongue. But what did I taste? I’m searching for the words to describe this other than “tastes like water.” I do taste something more than water, but just barely and only when it’s actually on my tongue. There’s no aftertaste of any kind.
Very disappointing. At almost $6 for a cup of burning hot water, I’m convinced yet again that I really hate Teavana. I know white teas can be bland, but this is ridiculous. There’s no flavor at all!
I gave Teavana a second chance, and they failed miserably. Why can’t I try tea before buying it? I thought that was the common practice. That’s the way I’ve been treated in every other tea shop I’ve stumbled into. I thought about buying a package of tea samples, but it’s just as expensive as trying one tea in the shop. Four tea samples for $70?? They’ve got to be kidding! Their only free samples are 2-3 overly sweetened iced teas spread throughout the store. I don’t want sugary juice water! I want tea!
As I’ve always said, Teavana is great for teaware and accessories. But I can’t recommend their tea blends, and I’ll never buy their tea for myself. The rarest tea in the world was nothing more than over priced, tasteless, brown water.
Epic fail.
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Sorry you had a bad experience with this. I don’t like Teavana and your post illustrates one of the reasons why. When I enter another tea shop, I find someone who is knowledgeable about tea. Heck… when I go to Whole Foods, I can even find the person who is working in the tea aisle to be quite knowledgeable about tea. But not so at Teavana. And they not only try to sell me things that I’m not interested in buying, but they treat me like I’m the one who knows nothing about tea. They are interested in their quotas and bottom line at Teavana. The tea is secondary. They aren’t passionate about tea.
That doesn’t mean that I’ve not found really delicious blends from Teavana, I have. But, I only stop in there if I happen to already be in the mall. It is never a “first choice” kind of shop for me.
Part of me is glad I’m not the only one. But then the other part of me says, why am I happy someone else has a bad tea experience too?
I went here again recently and met a fairly pushy tea salesman. He definitely seemed to know more about tea than anyone else in the shop, and I think it’s an improvement that Teavana has started hiring knowledgeable tea salesmen.
But he also didn’t leave me alone. He kept following me around and eavesdropping on the things I said to my boyfriend. It was like, jeez! Can’t I shop in peace? If I said I kind of liked something, he’d say, “Let me wrap that up for you!” Just ‘cause I whisper to my boyfriend that I think a teapot looks cool doesn’t mean I’m ready to drop $400+ on a set.
Seriously, this place could be so good! When I’m in the mall, they always pull me in somehow. But I’ve never walked out with any tea.
Sorry your experience wasn’t great there. I just wanted to note that, although it says steep 4-5 minutes, the tea is actually better at 2-3 minutes. When you buy this tea loose they usually specify this to you. So, the barista didn’t mess up. She was doing it the way she was taught.
She had to mess something up because it was a cup of hot, brown, flavorless water. I’ve had white tea enough times to know that it does have flavor (and probably shouldn’t be brown).
I just meant the steeping time. If it was bad I’m sure yeah she did do something wrong.
Reading reviews for this one as I try it, and I had to laugh when I read yours. Yep, definitely sounds to me like the barista botched it. Brewed two minutes, it should be a lighter color than you describe.
From what I’ve heard, American Teavana stores only have one water dispenser. (Unlike Canadian Teavanas, which are all converted Teaopia stores, and thus have both a hotter water dispenser and a cooler water dispenser.) In an American Teavana, they’re supposed to add a certain number of ice cubes to your cup to compensate for the boiling water. Sounds like she forgot the ice cubes!
Daniel Scott – not all Canadian Teavana’s are converted Teaopia stores. They do the ice cube thing in Canada too.
My bad, I totally forgot that – there were some locations before the buy-out as well.
Ugh, the ice cube thing just kills me. Admittedly, two dispensers still aren’t perfect, a couple of variable temp dispensers of some sort would be better. But one dispenser, I don’t get that.
@Daniel Scott yeah I’ll admit that’s the worst thing most tea shops are doing these days. At least the ice cube thing is better than nothing. DavidsTea’s water is always WAY too hot.
I will agree with what everyone has said. I work at one of the converted Teaopia stores and we do in fact have two dispensers. The Silver Yin Zhen Pearls should be brewed for no more than two minutes and with the lower temperature water.
I suppose it depends on what you like in a white tea, but I definitely think the first steep of this one needs at least 4 minutes. If you’re worried about bitterness, go with a lower temperature. But the pearls have barely started to unfurl before 4 minutes so there isn’t much flavor earlier.
Sorry you had a bad experience with this. I don’t like Teavana and your post illustrates one of the reasons why. When I enter another tea shop, I find someone who is knowledgeable about tea. Heck… when I go to Whole Foods, I can even find the person who is working in the tea aisle to be quite knowledgeable about tea. But not so at Teavana. And they not only try to sell me things that I’m not interested in buying, but they treat me like I’m the one who knows nothing about tea. They are interested in their quotas and bottom line at Teavana. The tea is secondary. They aren’t passionate about tea.
That doesn’t mean that I’ve not found really delicious blends from Teavana, I have. But, I only stop in there if I happen to already be in the mall. It is never a “first choice” kind of shop for me.
Part of me is glad I’m not the only one. But then the other part of me says, why am I happy someone else has a bad tea experience too?
I went here again recently and met a fairly pushy tea salesman. He definitely seemed to know more about tea than anyone else in the shop, and I think it’s an improvement that Teavana has started hiring knowledgeable tea salesmen.
But he also didn’t leave me alone. He kept following me around and eavesdropping on the things I said to my boyfriend. It was like, jeez! Can’t I shop in peace? If I said I kind of liked something, he’d say, “Let me wrap that up for you!” Just ‘cause I whisper to my boyfriend that I think a teapot looks cool doesn’t mean I’m ready to drop $400+ on a set.
Seriously, this place could be so good! When I’m in the mall, they always pull me in somehow. But I’ve never walked out with any tea.
Sorry your experience wasn’t great there. I just wanted to note that, although it says steep 4-5 minutes, the tea is actually better at 2-3 minutes. When you buy this tea loose they usually specify this to you. So, the barista didn’t mess up. She was doing it the way she was taught.
She had to mess something up because it was a cup of hot, brown, flavorless water. I’ve had white tea enough times to know that it does have flavor (and probably shouldn’t be brown).
I just meant the steeping time. If it was bad I’m sure yeah she did do something wrong.
Reading reviews for this one as I try it, and I had to laugh when I read yours. Yep, definitely sounds to me like the barista botched it. Brewed two minutes, it should be a lighter color than you describe.
From what I’ve heard, American Teavana stores only have one water dispenser. (Unlike Canadian Teavanas, which are all converted Teaopia stores, and thus have both a hotter water dispenser and a cooler water dispenser.) In an American Teavana, they’re supposed to add a certain number of ice cubes to your cup to compensate for the boiling water. Sounds like she forgot the ice cubes!
Daniel Scott – not all Canadian Teavana’s are converted Teaopia stores. They do the ice cube thing in Canada too.
My bad, I totally forgot that – there were some locations before the buy-out as well.
Ugh, the ice cube thing just kills me. Admittedly, two dispensers still aren’t perfect, a couple of variable temp dispensers of some sort would be better. But one dispenser, I don’t get that.
@Daniel Scott yeah I’ll admit that’s the worst thing most tea shops are doing these days. At least the ice cube thing is better than nothing. DavidsTea’s water is always WAY too hot.
I will agree with what everyone has said. I work at one of the converted Teaopia stores and we do in fact have two dispensers. The Silver Yin Zhen Pearls should be brewed for no more than two minutes and with the lower temperature water.
I suppose it depends on what you like in a white tea, but I definitely think the first steep of this one needs at least 4 minutes. If you’re worried about bitterness, go with a lower temperature. But the pearls have barely started to unfurl before 4 minutes so there isn’t much flavor earlier.