Tea Parties just got more expensive at Starbucks

I love tea.

I drink a lot of it.  And mostly one flavor from one brand – Tazo’s China Green Tips, which is conveniently available at most grocery stores and Starbucks.  One of my favorite Starbucks hacks has been to buy a box of tea at Starbucks, ask for a free cup of hot water, and voilá, I get a robust (two-bag)  cup of tea for $0.40.

(It’s a hack because the cost of the drink nearly quadruples to $1.50 if the baristas put the tea bags in the same cup of water.)

But this week, it all changed.  This week Starbucks replaced their regular Tazo teas with a new “full leaf” Tazo line.

Check out this three-way consumer fail:

Old China Green Tips
box
New China Green Tips
box
$4.00 / 20 bags = $0.20 each
2 bag drink  = $0.40.
$6.90 /15 bags = $0.46 each
2 bag cup = $0.92
Easily recyclable box 130% price increase!
“Thanks for the fancy aluminium box”

Value fail.

They raised the price by 130% and put the tea in an aluminium box.  What am I supposed to do with that?

So you’re probably wondering what makes the new tea bags so special?  Perhaps they’re bigger?  Maybe they  come with little silver dollars attached to them? Nope.

Old China Green Tips
bag
New China Green Tips
bag
2.0 grams each 1.8 grams each
Recyclable bag 10% less tea!
“Thanks for the nylon bag.”

Nope.  The only difference to the bags is that they are nylon, and the “flag label” is no longer folded around the top for the tea bag.  This means that the baristas are forced to use tongs when they make customers’ teas whereas before they could pinch the paper and avoid touching the submersible, business part of the tea bag. Convenience fail!

But what about the tea you ask.  Well, it is different.

Old China Green Tips
tea
New China Green Tips
tea
2.0 grams each 1.8 grams each

The new tea “leaves” look more like little twigs or blades of thin grass.  The old tea looks more like ground pepper.  If this eureka fact is supposed to make it all worthwhile, I have some bad news for Tazo/Starbucks: I can’t tell the difference.

So Howard Schultz – if you’re reading this – please know that I think you made a pretty big Tazo-Uh-oh, and I plan to limit my tea purchases to the grocery store and toting them with me to your stores.  (Kind of like your Via idea.)  But thanks for the free water!

5 Responses to “Tea Parties just got more expensive at Starbucks”

  1. Jess Says:

    Rush, this is just nuts! And I can tell they are making you nuts! Well done, and great expose. You have multiple futures, now add “muckraker.” 🙂

  2. Maya Laurent Says:

    Ha ha ha! The new tea is closer to it’s original form, at least that’s what the guy at my tea place told me. He said you won’t taste a difference though. You could just make tea at home and bring it to Starbucks! 🙂

  3. Melissa Says:

    More proof you just needed to stick with your first love…diet coke.