Customer : TAZO

Some Love for you Verismo® System Owners

Joy D — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 23:45:00 GMT

We’ve heard that you want some great offers to stock up on your favorite pods!

From Thursday, March 21 - Sunday March, 24 at participating stores, you’ll receive a $5 Starbucks Card for a purchase of Verismo™ pods, while supplies last. It’s a great time to connect with your favorite coffees or taste something new.

We’ve also been keeping an eye on your Verismo ideas, so you may be interested to know coming at the end of March, you’ll see a fresh new look for our Verismo™ pod display in our retail stores that makes it easier to find and shop for your favorite pods. The pod choices will be clearly labeled to locate the coffees and espresso varieties you want.

Don’t forget to keep an eye on My Starbucks Idea for future announcements of new pod varieties. Several of your ideas are under review and the team is currently vetting your ideas like decaf pods and tea pods. Our coffee and tea experts are hard at work on great new tastes for your Verismo machine.

What other Verismo ideas do you have? We’re listening.

Answers to Your Tazo Questions

Dan Karches — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 17:00:00 GMT

Friends of Tazo:

Thanks for all your comments and questions on the Tazo Facebook page recently. I’m not just saying that! It means the world to us that you care enough to speak up, and we want to honor that with a full and truthful response to your questions and concerns. And the truth is, these answers are a little complicated. I hope we can satisfy your concerns here. If not, please let us know in the comment thread at the bottom of this post. We’re listening.

As many of you have noticed, we’ve started rolling out a new look for the 20 year old Tazo brand. We’re incredibly excited about it! Tazo has a legacy of design innovation, and we think this new look is the best thing we’ve ever done. Not everyone likes it, of course, and of course we respect that. But if you’re interested, you can learn more: Check out “Behind the Design: Redesigning the Tazo Brand” on The Dieline, a leading website dedicated to the world's best packaging design. The article features Daniele Monti, Tazo’s Creative Director.

With the arrival of the new-look packaging, a number of questions have emerged, and I’ll take them one at a time here.

Was the recipe of my favorite tea changed?
Let's be clear: Our recipes haven't changed. But the complex truth is that we do make tiny adjustments to our blends in order to achieve a consistent flavor profile.

Here’s more, from Chris Palmer, whose team of passionate tea enthusiasts is responsible for maintaining the quality of our tea blends:

“With the new packaging change no major blend formulations have changed. That said, we do make minor formulations adjustments thoughout the year to account for harvest seasons (we buy from over 30 origins) and inventory.

For example, in Refresh we use two different flavor profiles of Peppermint and use them in varying percentages throughout the year. If we don’t have enough components arriving to support production, we may push out a blend order, expedite components, or do some minor formulation changes.

However, any minor formulation adjustment we make, we taste the blend to assure the customer gets the same flavor profile each time.”

Do the new Tazo filter bags have less tea?
No. While the volume of tea may differ, the new filter bags contain the same amount of tea as the previous ones by weight. Here’s Chris Palmer again:

“Due to the density of the tea, the volume in any given package can vary based on leaf style, and take up more or less space. It’s consistency by weight that ensures the flavor profile of the tea is correct, and we’re not as concerned with how the leaf looks (in the filter bag).”

Why is Tazo’s ingredients list different?
The confusion is understandable, because as some of you have pointed out, the ingredient lists on our new packaging are different. The idea is to better highlight the distinctive flavors in our tea blends—but the blends themselves, we promise, are just as they were before the packaging redesign.

In the case of our Berryblossom White blend, customers have expressed concern that the ingredients list on the new packaging includes black tea, which wasn’t the case on the older packaging. The fact is, Berryblossom White has always included a small percentage of black tea, but we’ve only highlighted it in the recent packaging redesign.

Chris Palmer provides more detail: “I looked back at the full history of this blend and we’ve always used 1% (or less) Black Darjeeling or Black Nepal (Nepal and Darjeeling have comparable flavor profiles) in the blend. It’s just recently that we’ve called this out in the ingredients statement.”

I hope these answers begin to satisfy your concerns. Again, our sincerest thanks for sharing our passion for sourcing, blending, and sharing the world’s finest teas and botanicals. You’re what makes our day-to-day effort worthwhile, and we want to continue to earn and deserve your trust.

Yours,
Dan Karches
Director, Tazo Brand

Starbucks Senior Tea Specialist, Chris Palmer, and his team of passionate tea enthusiasts are responsible for maintaining the quality of our Tazo tea blends.

Welcome Teavana!

Jeff Hansberry — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 21:05:00 GMT

On the eve of a new year, we are proud to officially welcome Teavana to the Starbucks family. This is an exciting announcement on a symbolic day. Together, Starbucks and Teavana are embarking on the next chapter of a journey that we believe will reinvent the way the world enjoys tea, just as Starbucks did decades ago for coffee.

For those of you who have had the chance to visit a Teavana store, you know this is a brand that has true tea authority. Each of Teavana’s stores offer an impressive variety of super-premium, loose-leaf teas and uniquely-curated selection of authentic artisanal teawares hand-picked from around the world. Teavana’s 5,000 partners (employees) are passionate and knowledgeable about the ritual and enjoyment of tea, and are expert ambassadors that help guide and educate new tea enthusiasts and tea connoisseurs alike. We are excited by the opportunity to bring their expertise to even more customers, while learning from them ourselves.

As we embark on this next phase of our tea journey, you may notice some changes in both Teavana and Starbucks stores over time. Our goal is to create the best possible tea experience for our customers and we are committed to listening to you and learning about what you would like to see in our stores along the way. Although some of Teavana’s product line-up may change, most of the Teavana experience will stay the same and several new additions will be offered. One of the most immediate changes you will see is the addition of new Teavana stores outside of malls in neighborhoods and on urban streets. Down the road, we also have plans to add tea bars to Teavana stores that will serve hand-crafted beverages for customers, which may also be served in Starbucks stores in the future.

You also may have noticed changes to our TAZO tea brand. Recently, we launched new packaging for our TAZO tea offerings that we believe will extend our leadership position in the super premium packaged tea segment. Earlier this year, we also opened a TAZO retail store in Seattle which is serving as a learning laboratory to help us understand more about the best way to create a retail tea experience for customers, including what type of hand-crafted tea beverages customers would like to see from us.

We have an exciting road ahead, and we look forward to having you join us on the journey. As always, we thank you for your continued feedback, support and comments, and we encourage you to continue to share your thoughts here on the My Starbucks Ideas blog.

Warmest regards,

Jeff Hansberry
president, Channel Development and Emerging Brands

My Starbucks Idea Year End Review

sbx_bean — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 17:29:00 GMT

This is the time of year for reflection and celebrating the highlights of 2012. We love hearing what ideas matter most to you. Thank you for sharing with us this year. Looking back at your response to the Ideas in Action blog posts, here were the most popular highlights based on post views.

#1 Verismo® System by Starbucks
You told us you wanted the new Starbucks Verismo System offered in Starbucks retail stores and you shared your excitement with us when they arrived. We also provided in-store demonstrations on how you can make a Caffé Latte at home.

#2 Create Jobs for USA One Year Anniversary
With your support we raised over $15 million for the Create Jobs for USA fund, creating or sustaining 5,000 jobs across nearly all 50 states.

#3 Cochineal Extract
You asked us to remove the cochineal extract as the red dye used in some of our food and drink products. Thanks to your feedback we have since replaced this ingredient with lycopene.

#4 Treat Receipt
Back for its fourth year, you responded with excitement. Should it come back again for summer 2013?

#5 Starbucks Refreshers™ Beverages
Starbucks Refreshers beverages launched nationally and in some international markets too. You can find Starbucks Refreshers beverages in stores as a handcrafted beverage, in the refrigerated case as a sparkling option, or make it at home with Starbucks VIA Refreshers™.

#6 Starbuck Mobile App Now Drive-thru Friendly
Due to the popularity of our Starbucks Mobile Payment app, we soon realized a solution for the Drive-thru was needed. This idea was launched last summer, thanks to your encouragement.

#7 Tasting Tour of Our Holiday Beverages
Some of you shared that you needed a little incentive to break up your beverage routine. This idea is what inspired this year’s holiday beverage sampling card.

#8 Our Commitment to Tea
Tea became a much bigger focus for us this year. We are thrilled about the opening of our first dedicated tea retail store in Seattle, the launch of Tazo.com and to welcome Teavana to the Starbucks family. We’re excited for the opportunity tea will bring in 2013.

#9 Two Starbucks Petites for $2 for Two Weeks
This was a fun way to celebrate the one year anniversary of the Starbucks Petites introduction. What’s your favorite Starbucks Petites treat?

#10 More Ways to Love Pumpkin Spice Latte
Wow! The love of Pumpkin Spice Latte continues. This year we brought you some new ways to enjoy PSL. Pumpkin Spice ice cream, Starbucks VIA® Pumpkin Spice, Pumpkin Spice sauce available at StarbucksStore.com, and we even debuted this beverage in some international markets as well.

Keep the ideas coming. We’re all ears.

Happy New Year!

Tazo Opens Its First Tea Store

Charlie C — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:59:00 GMT

We’re so excited to announce the opening of the first Tazo® Tea store in Seattle’s University Village. It’s a sensory-rich, premium tea place where you can see, touch, smell and taste different teas, browse a curated collection of tea merchandise, and engage with highly trained tea partners.

With 80 loose leaf teas sourced from more than 30 countries , you’ll have the opportunity to explore rare single-estate teas, classic varietals and distinctive blends. The store’s blending stations offer more opportunities for discovery where you can create your own personal tea blend. With help from your tea partner, you start with the tea type and flavor base of choice, then adding a variety of flavorful inclusions like lemon, hibiscus, jasmine, ginger and more.

In addition to the teas and blending stations, the Tazo store features a variety of tea merchandise curated from around the world – everything from tea kettles and cups to unique serving sets and decorative accessories. And, of course, you can also enjoy handcrafted tea beverages in the store – you’ll find your choice of freshly steeped loose leaf teas, hot or iced, lattes and sparkling iced teas. Delicious food pairings like savory madeleines, tea-infused shortbreads, scones and tea-infused chocolate bars offer further temptations.

When we designed the Tazo store, we set out to create an experience that would demystify tea and make it accessible for everyone, from the occasional tea drinker to the experienced tea enthusiast. The partners at the Tazo store can’t wait to share their passion for tea with you. Stop by soon!

For those of you not in Seattle, you can discover Tazo at Tazo.com.

A Tazo store for our hometown of Seattle

Charlie C — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 17:52:00 GMT

With so many Tazo® tea enthusiasts actively engaged on MSI, I am proud to share with you that we will soon open our first Tazo retail store in our hometown Seattle later this fall.

Tea has been a part of Starbucks heritage since 1971, when we were founded as Starbucks Coffee, Tea and Spices. In those early days, Howard Schultz scooped 27 different kinds of loose-leaf tea from the original store at Pike Place Market. With this new Tazo store, we’ll explore new ways to bring the artistry and heritage of tea to life for our customers and raise consumer expectations for their tea experience the same way that Starbucks did for coffee.

The Tazo retail store will provide customers with a sensory-rich, informative experience of discovery and personalization. We’ll offer an interactive retail experience with more than 80 loose-leaf teas, a curated collection of tea merchandise, and a tea bar with a wide range of beverage options and food pairings. We see an opportunity to introduce the casual American tea drinker to something unlike anything they’ve experienced before. In addition to providing a great experience for the “tea curious”, the store will offer tea enthusiasts a dedicated environment to create a premium tea blend, or relax and enjoy a flight of single-estate rare teas within the store.

We hope you’ll stop in and say “hello” whether you are a Seattle native or traveling from afar.

We’re excited to share more detail with you in the future – it’s going to be an exciting year for Tazo with much more to come! Keep in touch here and on our facebook page.

Inspired by your ideas:

More Variety for Tea Drinkers
posted by crnemz

Tazo® Iced Tea Filterbags Are Back!

Leigh B — Mon, 14 May 2012 23:14:00 GMT

Many of our tea drinkers look forward to the summer months and enjoying iced cold Tazo® Tea. Now it will be easier than ever to brew Tazo iced tea at home because we brought back our pitcher size filterbag teas!

Our Tazo® Iced Black, Green and Passion Tea Filterbag packages come with six oversize tea bags for brewing a full pitcher (eight servings) of iced tea – each made with the same artisanal blends you enjoy in our stores. Pick up a package online, at the supermarket or at your neighborhood Starbucks store.

Inspired by your ideas:

Iced Tea Bags
posted by Megannesmom