Starbucks, the world’s most valued coffee chain, is planning to introduce its international speciality tea brand Teavana for Indian consumers in 2016, said Starbucks chairman and CEO Howard Schultz during the Tata-Starbucks Thought Leadership forum in Mumbai on Thursday.
In December 2012, Starbucks acquired Atlanta-based Teavana, a speciality tea and tea accessory firm, for $612 million, which has 400 outlets across the US, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Middle East.
“We see a major, major business opportunity here... In 2016, we intend to bring our speciality tea brand Teavana here, which we acquired in the US two years ago,” said Schultz, adding that while adhering to a standardised retail model, Starbucks also has to balance local requirements.
In India, Starbucks operates through an equal joint venture with Tata Global Beverages and runs 75 outlets across seven cities under the Tata-Starbucks label since October 2012. Teavana exotic tea offerings will be initially made through Tata-Starbucks stores.
However, the company has plans to launch exclusive Teavana stores going forward.
Teavana offers teas and herbal infusions, with categories such as white, green, flavoured and scented green, ‘blooming’ white, black, flavoured and scented black, oolong, and pu-erh teas along with rooibos, herbal infusions.
Blooming teas are popular form of tea in which various flowers and plants are hand-rolled into specific shapes and placed at the bottom of a glass teapot. \When the water is poured over these plants and allowed to steep, the flowers ‘bloom’ by unfurling to their true shape.
Teavana retail stores generally offer various blends of each type of tea, and consistently promote cross-blending different types of tea. In April 2014, Starbucks and Teavana collaborated with Oprah Winfrey to develop a tea called Teavana Oprah Chai Tea, along with additional tea accessories.
In addition to tea, Teavana sells tea products, including cast iron Tetsubin teapots, Bone China teapots, Yixing clay teapots, Japanese porcelain teapots and cups, stove-top kettles, electric kettles, milk frothers and automatic tea makers, Japanese hot water dispensers and electric tea makers, tea measures, tea infusion, honey, world music, and Asian books. Teavana also markets rock sugar sourced from Germany.
