In a country where tea is more popular than coffee, it makes sense that a behemoth chain like Starbucks would supplement its existing eight tea-based offerings with new variants. Just last month, Starbucks launched Teavana, a line of 18 teas. Available across the brand’s 88 stores in India, Teavana includes a range of teas across temperatures (iced or hot), flavours (herb-based tisanes or tea blends) and more. The company has been rolling out the Teavana brand internationally after buying the Atlanta-based tea-purveyor in 2012.
According to Manmeet Vohra, director of marketing for Starbucks, Teavana brings an entirely modern and reimagined tea experience for the Indian customer. “This gives them the opportunity to enjoy a range of 18 distinct tea offerings, including an Indian signature tea, iced teas, brewed hot teas and tea lattes with bold, layered flavours handcrafted in the way only Starbucks can,” he says.
This extends to a new specially crafted innovation for the Indian customer: the India Spice Majesty Blend. In Vohra’s words, it’s “an invigorating blend of full leaf Assam black tea with rich spice infusion of whole cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, pepper, star anise and ginger”. It is made with black tea from Tata Group’s tea plantations in Assam.
For the slightly adventurous tea-lover, options include the black tea with ruby grapefruit; hibiscus herbal infusion; iced shaken hibiscus with pearls made of real pomegranate juice; and matcha and espresso fusion, which brings together both tea and coffee.
Sumitro Ghosh, chief executive officer of Tata Starbucks, says the Indian customer wants new tastes and experiences. “This is a tremendous opportunity to leverage the company’s expertise in creating handcrafted customised beverages,” he says, adding that the India Spice Majesty Blend has helped create a signature India innovation that is bold in flavor and rich in heritage.
The new blend took over a year to go from drawing board to menu board. It is served with milk, for those that are hankering for a cup of masala chai.
Asked about plans for Teavana as a brand going forward, Ghosh was coy, saying that for now, the plan is to simply introduce Indian consumers to the brand.
