Special Teas Inc. Edit

Love the variety and the atmosphere in the shop

I don’t know if I can legitimately review this shop as I haven’t actually tasted their teas. I do want to step up and say that this is not the same company that went under and got bought by Teavana; this is a local store, and I gather that shops can have the same name in different countries.

I have a fairly full tea shelf right now, and practically no money since we just got a new ipad(!) but I wanted to pop in and see what they had. The salesperson there was fairly knowledgeable, though almost to the point of being annoying in that “I know more than you and all the things you are saying are wrong because I obviously know more than you since I work in a tea shop” way. And the salesperson talked down on the other chains in town, basically talking about tea from China, and this and that, and straight teas are better and these other places have lots of blends and not much straight tea…but, the really funny thing is, this shop had LOADS of blends, and a CRAPLOAD of rooibos too. I’m not sure if the salesperson was just bitter at the chain competition in town whereas this shop is a mom and pop shop. And I get that. I get that there is a lot of care put into the blends, and that some are very old and/or unique to the shop. I like that. But I don’t like the negativity toward the other shops. I like tea…I don’t discriminate where I get it, so long as I like it. I think that if you are going to compare yourself, you should focus on the positives, and not let the negatives be your mode for sales. All the stores in town have different things to offer, whether the business is a local one or not, and generally, the salespeople like what they are doing and selling, and are tea enthusiasts regardless of where you go. Focus on your strengths, not someone else’s weaknesses. So, will I go back? Maybe. I do like supporting local businesses, and I like tea. My biggest concern is that you cannot buy less than 50g, and there are no returns available. I suppose I’d have to try something very basic and straightforward as an initial tea, and go from there.