In November 2012 Starbucks announced that it would acquire Teavana the Nirvana of specialty tea chains. In the same way that travel to America was intended to tap the riches of India’s spice trade the Teavana purchase promised to give Starbucks a central role in what it estimates will be a $90 billion tea industry. And all of this would happen without Starbucks having to start its own tea brand. Starbucks had already acquired Tazo Tea in 1999. The Teavana deal would allow the coffee giant to gain an even bigger foothold in the tea world.
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 Jem Kegawa | 2019-06-13 18:00:09 |  2,514 Views |
Teavana is gone. What now?!
The plan was simple. The coffee retailer would take over Teavana’s specialty stores that existed in American malls. Sandwiched between Peanuts holiday displays and blue-hued shark aquariums the hundreds of teas and counter clerks called “teaologists” stood in stark contrast to the opulent atmosphere of 1990s retail life.
These “tea shrines” as Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz called them in the Huffington Post offered shoppers a moment of reflection before heading to Macy’s the Mac counter or the mall pet store. The coffee-tea deal which included brand pairings with celebrities like Oprah Winfrey seemed like a match made in hot beverage heaven. But despite all the promise the purchase of the so-called “Heaven of Tea” turned out to be anything but.
For a company that would eventually be acquired by Starbucks Teavana’s beginnings were about as start-up as they come. Founded in Atlanta in the late 1990s with the savings of Andrew and Nancy Mack the tea company reflected the Macks’ love of tea culture and a dream to share that with others.
