Starbucks + Teavana
Starbucks buying Teavana could do great things for tea:
If Starbucks is willing to do the heavy lifting, willing to suggest to a populace that Chinese teas are more than a complement to General Tso’s chicken, willing to point out the difference between an oolong and a pu-erh, I will be much obliged.
This article reminded me of what Starbucks did previously to coffee: made otherwise non-coffee drinkers aware of coffee, and then made some of them go find good coffee.
Local consumers might have a formative experience with a Java Chip Frappuccino, but chances are they’ll branch out to the cheaper, less crowded, and often higher-quality independent cafe later on.
