Thread: Tell me about tea-houses/ Teavana?

In Madison we've got Dobra Tea. It has at least 50 different varieties and even if you aren't a tea drinker, you'd be able to distinguish the flavors and aromas. You get enough tea for 12 cups for only $4, so it's very affordable. The staff's very friendly, and the environment is cozy compared to most well-seated venues in town, though it's never been too full (though I've only been there during school breaks, which is probs when they get most business). They've got an elevated pillowed area surrounded by bead-string walls, which I think is p. cool. Also, most of their tea is imported.

If you're in the neighborhood, I highly recommend.

Teavana usually has 4 samples in large containers, and 2 "kinda secret" samples in teapots amongst the displays of teapots. They let you "smell" any of the tea from the large canisters. Just be careful, they try to sell you things that you don't need, like extra storage canisters, or blends, or other things (although I bought a tin there, since it had a nice design and went with the decor of my room.)

We have two tea-houses, one is a Victorian-style place that has very rude staff, and then a more traditional Japanese tea house, which is interesting. I'm sure they can recommend a tea to you if you aren't a frequent drinker, few places turn away new customers!

Teavanna is way expensive but its definitely good stuff. I order it from online sometimes, usually mainly during sales because i don't like all the fancy froofroo flavored teas. They throw so much dried fruit and herbs in there thats why its so cheap, but Teavanna's straight teas are expensive as in up to 5x more than the flavored ones. I guess what I'm saying is that if you want to buy straight tea, you might want to look elsewhere but they seem to have good prices on flavored ones.

If you wanted to gooo drink tea somewhere, then Teavanna is not what you are looking for. its a tea-store. At best they have tiny plastic cups of moderately heated tea out front of the store. Its just to go buy loose teas and accessories.