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Starbucks, which sells coffee, plans to sell tea seriously in China. Let's start with tea bags.

Published: 2026-02-26 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/02/26, 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 acquisition of Starbucks, Teavana mainly sold its own assembled bulk tea, including China's West Lake.

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.

In November 2012, Starbucks bought Teavana, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, for $620 million. 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 also very particular about food. Here, you can eat croissants, macarons and some freshly baked goods, which works so well for the American market that young people start to walk into Teavana and drink tea as well as coffee.

In terms of appliances, Starbucks, which likes to sell cups, will not miss this creative opportunity. On the takeout cup, Starbucks abandoned the corrugated cup cover for anti-hot coffee paper cups and used a double-layer design with a feathered, foam-like embossed outer layer, and the lid was specially designed to suit tea drinking. As for ordinary tea cups, in addition to traditional filter cups, Teavana also sells mug-style teacups, which are more fashionable and brightly colored, which are obviously more attractive to young people who love fruit tea.