Compare: "Teavana vs Adagio Teas"

[Jackie]

Just read an interesting comparison betweeen Teavana and Adagio by @cazort of Rate Tea. Lots of observations to think about. I prefer Adagio for certain, I’ve only bought tea from Teavana twice but I order pretty regularly from Adagio. Why? I drink very few flavored teas but the ones I do like aren’t available from Teavana. How can they not even have a black Vanilla tea? Pityful. As to unflavored teas I do think of Teavana as the more expensive between the two. However I admit I don’t really buy those higher end teas from either of these two companies. I purchase them from other retailers who specialize in those teas.  What about you? Thoughts?

Cazort’s post is here.

[Anonymous]

I do think it’s quite odd that Teavana doesn’t have a vanilla black tea.  It makes a little more sense though if you look at Teavana’s focus…they really seem oriented towards complex blends with a lot of different ingredients.  I wonder if this is because these blends are very hard to reverse engineer or emulate, or if it’s because they know people want it.  I do notice that Teavana has retired quite a few teas and blends over the years, and introduced new ones, so I suspect there’s a selection process going on, that reflects particular tastes of the people who shop there–or at least a particular image the company wants to cultivate.

[Jackie]

@cazort – I think one reason why Teavana won’t sell a simple black Vanilla tea is that it can’t be easily branded, and there are a gazillion other vanilla teas on the market.  The same could be said for English Breakfast but that’s probably one of the most widely recognized tea names, which Teavana can use as an anchor tea. Flavored teas are ideal for creating signature blends and lend themselves to  high mark-up.  I’m sure there’s a selection process based on trial and error, cost and yes, as you said, image.

[Xavier]

Perhaps they are also competing on different niches: one is on the pure teas one and the other one is on the complex blends.

[Gingko]

where is the writing??? Alex it drove me crazy that nowadays i don’t know where you write! i added your new blog site but still feel i missed a lot of stuff!

[Gingko]

As for comparison of the two companies, I haven’t tried either seller’s tea but like Adagio a lot better, partially influenced by tea communities and partially due to the properties and styles of the two businesses.

In terms of advertising and public relation, I feel Adagio aims at grabbing more returning customers (just see the teachat effects!) and Teavana aims at grabbing more new tea drinkers – many of whom would graduate to buying from other tea companies eventually – and this is also why I think no matter how people feel about Teavana, it’s making positive contribution to the tea market 😀

[Author]

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