94
drank Cha Yen Thai by Teavana
119 tasting notes

FOREWARNING: I just finished writing this, and it’s VERY long. So please don’t feel like you have to suffer through it. Blame it on my hankering to avoid my homework and not writing a review for a couple of days!

Did I make this tea while I was literally on my way out the door to get to my school’s girl’s hockey championship game (they won)? Yes, I did. Did I forget about it the whole car ride and when I got there I was already late so an almost full cup sat in my car for two hours? Yes. Did I drink it two hours later anyways? Yes. Did I also unintentionally leave the tea leaves out all night? Yes. Did I ignore this fact and continue to resteep them almost 24 hours later? Yes. Did I forget that my timer went off so the tea steeped for about 15 minutes? Yes.

SO MANY BAD HABITS THAT IAN IGNORED IN ONE TEA!

Anyways, this is a tea that I received in my swap with The DJBooth. Thanks for sending this along!

This is actually really yummy! Generally, I’m not a fan of Teavana for these reasons:
1.) Their blends are like…. all blend no tea. This one actually isn’t an exception… I can hardly see any tea in all of these spices, but it is still very good.
2.) I HATE their website. I can’t stand it. I can’t pinpoint exactly why, but it has to do with the colors/design choices and the fact that it doesn’t flow.
3.) I’ve only been to their retail locations like twice (there aren’t any in Vermont) and the sales people were annoying.
4.) I’m scared to order online because of what I’ve heard from the discussion thread here….
5.) Along with their salespeople, they. know. almost. nothing. about. tea. This is not true with everyone, I’m POSITIVE about that, but the few that I’ve met in person knew nothing. They couldn’t answer my questions and they thought Teavana was all that (quote on quote: “I’ve tried a different version of this tea from a different company and I love it, so I don’t want to try this. Thank you though!” [me] “That’s impossible! Teavana makes the highest quality teas in the US. You won’t find better than this” [sales person]. In fact that tea was one of the lowest rated teas by them here on Steepster).
However, I won’t say that I’m unwilling to try their teas. Personally I don’t like the company and the environment they put off. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy some of their teas.

Anyways, on from my rant.

This tea is very good. It’s pretty bold and has almost a chai-y type flavor to it. Next time I brew this up I think I’m going to make a latte! I think that would be SO good, and it would be sort of reminiscent of Thai tea.

Pretty good! I wouldn’t repurchase it, but this is very nice. Thank you again, The DJBooth for letting me try some of this!

Oh yeah, PS: The brewing parameters are for the first steep!

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 5 min, 0 sec
Daniel Scott

I hate their website, too! It’s just visually/design-wise a total mess.

And I’ve seen Teavana employees on Adagio chat, and that’s exactly what they sound like. It’s a little scary/cult-like.

Ian

I’m glad I’m not the only one who hates the website!

I totally know about the cult thing! I’ve seen them comment on Youtube videos that give them bad reviews….. ALSO, I totally left this out but I hate how they never let bad reviews through. Like, if you look at ANY tea on their website, there’s next to no negative reviews. That’s so frustrating, because you can tell that they pick which ones to let through. I just want HONEST reviews, not promotion!

Tamm

I don’t think that I’ve noticed a lot of problems with looking at their site, but then again I’ve only ordered from there once! I have gotten the reaction that their teas are the “best out there” though. Which is funny coming from people who, when asked, have never sampled from other stores.
About the tea reviews on their site; I left one and it took them almost 3 months to post it. I wouldn’t trust them at all. After their newest batch of tea releases they didn’t allow reviews to be shown for weeks after the fact. I think that it was so there were no negative reviews to be found and people would splurge more on the new product.

Ian

I really don’t think a lot of them have tried teas from elsewhere… But hey, to each their own! As for the reviews, I completely understand where you’re coming from! It’s so sad though, because people buy from them so much and are blissfully unaware of all the crap that Teavana does…. Tea should be fun and personal but they make it annoying and corporate

TeaBrat

one experience I had ordering from Teavana’s website is they said they couldn’t call UPS to have a package redelivered to another address. But Rishi Tea did it and they were very pleasant about it!

Ian

They are so sassy! I haven’t ordered from them online but now I’m even more afraid to!

ashmanra

When I was in Tin Roof Teas, the young lady who helped me told me that she left Teavana because they repeatedly got on her case for not being pushy enough. She likes Tin Roof much better!

Ian

I’m sure she does! I can’t imagine how you could tell someone to be more pushy….

Tommy Toadman

that’s funny, totally unrelated to tea but more to the comments here, my hubby actually lost a job at a repo place because he was “too nice over the phone with customers” it’s crazy that sort of thing actually happens

Daniel Scott

Not surprised. I work in a fairly high-pressure sales job (one I’ve actually – cringe – seen compared to Teavana, although previous employees of the store I work for generally have liked working there, rather than carrying endless horror stories away…crucial difference, I think), and we are “allowed” to back off when people tell us to, but are otherwise expected to be pretty pushy. We get constantly berated if we’re not. It’s unfortunate, but the thing is, it DOES work, i.e. people demonstrably buy more.

Invader Zim

You’ll have to make it a latte and let me know if it actually tastes like Thai tea. I’ve been eyeballing this stuff but I’m afraid to buy it and be disappointed that it doesn’t taste like Thai tea because you can’t get samples from Teavana…I really dislike that about them.

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Daniel Scott

I hate their website, too! It’s just visually/design-wise a total mess.

And I’ve seen Teavana employees on Adagio chat, and that’s exactly what they sound like. It’s a little scary/cult-like.

Ian

I’m glad I’m not the only one who hates the website!

I totally know about the cult thing! I’ve seen them comment on Youtube videos that give them bad reviews….. ALSO, I totally left this out but I hate how they never let bad reviews through. Like, if you look at ANY tea on their website, there’s next to no negative reviews. That’s so frustrating, because you can tell that they pick which ones to let through. I just want HONEST reviews, not promotion!

Tamm

I don’t think that I’ve noticed a lot of problems with looking at their site, but then again I’ve only ordered from there once! I have gotten the reaction that their teas are the “best out there” though. Which is funny coming from people who, when asked, have never sampled from other stores.
About the tea reviews on their site; I left one and it took them almost 3 months to post it. I wouldn’t trust them at all. After their newest batch of tea releases they didn’t allow reviews to be shown for weeks after the fact. I think that it was so there were no negative reviews to be found and people would splurge more on the new product.

Ian

I really don’t think a lot of them have tried teas from elsewhere… But hey, to each their own! As for the reviews, I completely understand where you’re coming from! It’s so sad though, because people buy from them so much and are blissfully unaware of all the crap that Teavana does…. Tea should be fun and personal but they make it annoying and corporate

TeaBrat

one experience I had ordering from Teavana’s website is they said they couldn’t call UPS to have a package redelivered to another address. But Rishi Tea did it and they were very pleasant about it!

Ian

They are so sassy! I haven’t ordered from them online but now I’m even more afraid to!

ashmanra

When I was in Tin Roof Teas, the young lady who helped me told me that she left Teavana because they repeatedly got on her case for not being pushy enough. She likes Tin Roof much better!

Ian

I’m sure she does! I can’t imagine how you could tell someone to be more pushy….

Tommy Toadman

that’s funny, totally unrelated to tea but more to the comments here, my hubby actually lost a job at a repo place because he was “too nice over the phone with customers” it’s crazy that sort of thing actually happens

Daniel Scott

Not surprised. I work in a fairly high-pressure sales job (one I’ve actually – cringe – seen compared to Teavana, although previous employees of the store I work for generally have liked working there, rather than carrying endless horror stories away…crucial difference, I think), and we are “allowed” to back off when people tell us to, but are otherwise expected to be pretty pushy. We get constantly berated if we’re not. It’s unfortunate, but the thing is, it DOES work, i.e. people demonstrably buy more.

Invader Zim

You’ll have to make it a latte and let me know if it actually tastes like Thai tea. I’ve been eyeballing this stuff but I’m afraid to buy it and be disappointed that it doesn’t taste like Thai tea because you can’t get samples from Teavana…I really dislike that about them.

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Bio

Hello!

I’m Ian and I’m a 15 year old student who lives in Vermont. I started (heavily) drinking tea in Late 2010 and have been obsessed ever since!

I tend to drink more black and herbal teas, though I do enjoy oolong, green, and white, and I’m exploring other facets of the tea world (I’m still trying with pu-erh!)

I tend to lean towards sweeter and fruity flavors in my teas, and I’m not a big fan of smoky flavored teas, or anything that’s VERY bold.

I also enjoy a cup of coffee every once and a while, though it does mess with my stomach sometimes so I don’t drink it as often as I drink tea.

In addition to tea drinking, I’m also really interested in:
Classical music (I’ve been playing clarinet for 5 years now and it’s my favorite thing to do), independent arts/music, education on environmental sustainability, reading, Fair Trade and safe-trade practices, Cognitive science, art history, and a lot more.

I’m open to swaps, but I don’t have a very wide collection. Regardless, if I review a tea and you would like a sample, feel free to message me and we can work something out! If you would like to just try something without a swap, feel free to ask too! I know that I personally don’t have a lot of teas to swap and if you’re in the same position as me just feel free to ask for a sample and I’ll send you some, no strings attached!

I run a blog on TeaTrade which you can find here: http://serendipitea.teatra.de/. The goal of my blog is to better connect tea with the arts and go beyond just the taste aspect of tea. Enjoy!

Location

Vermont

Website

http://serendipitea.teatra.de/

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