Starbucks Rant
This rant has been a few weeks coming since the first time I walked into a Starbucks and was told they were out of Earl Grey Tea. Yes, out.

I regularly visit 6 Starbucks locations in Vancouver (Westin Bayshore, Denman and Robson, Robson and Jervis, Royal Center, Hyatt and Shaw). All are now out of Earl Grey Tea and running low on most others. I was even at a Starbucks in Seattle on Friday (the motherland of Starbucks) and they had NO tea bags at all. I was offered Chai which they make with pumps of syrup which by the way is NOT actually tea.

So why is this happening? I have been told very apologetically by many baristas that Starbucks is switching from Tazo to Teavana and will not be receiving Teavana until the new year at some date TBA.

So my question to Starbucks is “are you trying to get rid of all your tea drinkers”? Is this being done on purpose. I know we are a smaller percentage by far, but I do eat breakfast sandwiches a few times a week, plus cookies, smoothies and being an entrepreneur hold many meetings at Starbucks bringing in coffee drinkers! I would be scared to know what I spend at Starbucks in a year!!

So I say to Starbucks…fix my problem or I will take my tea money elsewhere!

Blenz Coffee Company
I actually would prefer to be a Blenz regular (being a Canadian company and all) but to Blenz I say please get a loyalty program and be more consistent. Every time I buy 10 teas I want a reward of some kind. Every time I visit a different location I want my latte to be the same. Since Starbucks has no tea I will be coming to you anyway, but make me want to stay.

Urban Tea Merchant
I do love Urban Tea Merchant. They make tea the way it is supposed to be, steeped with tea leaves and if I have a latte they steep the tea first then make the latte. Love it. But at $7 each and with no area to work Urban Tea is a weekend treat.

So who wants my tea business? Anyone have a favourite tea shop that I can work in that they recommend?

We, Jeff & Tara Ciecko of CK Golf Solutions write two blogs, one is our 19th Hole Blog where we share personal experiences and the other a Biz Blog where we comment on business best practices and give golf industry related opinions. We have owned CK Golf Solutions for 7 years and provide marketing, social media and business services to the golf and other industries. We DO NOT get paid for ANY of the blogs on our website. These are the places we visit and the things we do because we want to. When we say that we like or dislike something or have a good or bad experience this is our opinion and the truth as we see it. If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact us anytime.

Related Posts