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Starbucks teahouses can no longer be opened, and they may only sell tea in cafes.

Published: 2026-06-05 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/06/05, Starbucks, which made Americans fall in love with coffee, did not make Americans fall in love with tea after all. According to US media reports, Starbucks has announced that it will close its four teahouses, Teavena Tea Bars, and keep only one in Seattle as a pilot. The official explanation given by a Starbucks spokesman is that the company can pool funds and resources to bring better to customers through Starbucks and Teavana retail stores.

Starbucks, which made Americans fall in love with coffee, did not make Americans fall in love with tea after all.

According to US media reports, Starbucks has announced that it will close its four teahouses, Teavena Tea Bars, and keep only one in Seattle as a pilot.

The official explanation given by a Starbucks spokesman is that the company can pool money and resources to bring better tea and tea experience to customers through Starbucks and Teavana retail stores. In Starbucks stores, these teas can reach more consumers.

Teavana is a brand founded by a couple in 1997. They hire professional purchasing teams to buy high-quality tea from tea gardens around the world, tea merchants (including, of course, Chinese) at high prices, then mix them into special teas and sell them online and in brick-and-mortar stores. Before the Starbucks acquisition, Teavana had been selling its own assembled bulk tea, including China's Xihu Longjing Tea and Biluochun, focusing on tea combinations of flowers and fruits. Teavana's bulk tea sells for an average of 2 ounces (56 grams, 15 to 20 cups) between $7 and $10 in the United States. Currently, Teavana has 350 retail stores in the United States.

In November 2012, Starbucks bought Teavana, which is already listed on the New York Stock Exchange, for $620 million. At the time, Starbucks expected the market to reach $90 billion over the next five years. Then, according to the Starbucks model, Teavana no longer just sells tea. In November 2013, Teavana Fine Teas+Tea Bar, the first teahouse specializing in tea and light food, opened on the Upper East side of New York. This is a very Starbucks teahouse with Teavana logo above its head. Teavana started selling experiences. It wants you to drink tea and chat here. Starbucks hopes to make Teavana a lifestyle and a third space for people.

In stores, Teavana also sells specially blended teas, which seem to be a bit like lattes and caramel macchiato, which give them a new taste through different proportions. Secondly, Teavana is very particular about food. Here, you can eat croissants, macarons and some freshly baked goods.

Although Teavana teahouses offer a new tea-drinking experience, Starbucks is cautious about opening Teavana teahouses on a large scale compared to retail stores. In 27 months, only five stores have opened. Now its plan to keep only one store seems to suggest that this way of doing business will not work in the United States.

Although the teahouse business is not improving, Teavana's retail business is doing well. Teavana tea sold in Starbucks stores is also well received by coffee lovers. Fortune previously reported that Starbucks' business is growing at an annual rate of 15%, and 1% of the 7% increase in same-store sales in North America is driven by the tea business. At the results meeting in the middle of last year, Kevin Johnson, chief operating officer of Starbucks, said Teavana's iced shakes and lattes sold well.

It seems that people are more willing to buy a Teavana at Starbucks stores. No wonder Starbucks tends to integrate its tea business into its own coffee stores. For Starbucks itself, it also helps to boost its own same-store sales. In North America, the coffee chain is becoming more and more like a light-food restaurant, experimenting with dinners and alcoholic drinks last year to boost store sales.

In the Asian market, Starbucks seems to have higher expectations for Teavana. On January 8th, the company just announced that it would sell Teavana tea products in the Indian market, and the second step of the store opening plan is also in the pipeline. In China, Starbucks has decided to introduce Teavana handmade tea drinks to its stores in 2016.

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