Tea is quickly becoming a favorite beverage across America, with 158 million Americans are drinking tea daily. Even at Starbucks, handcrafted tea beverages sales are up 12% over the last year. With tea on the rise, Naoko Tsunoda, Teavana’s Master Teaologist spoke with us about Teavana’s new handpicked, micro-lot teas. Have you ever tried reserve roast coffee? These micro-lot teas are the equivalent for tea. The Southcenter and Bellevue Teavana locations will be the only stores to offer these 15 micro-lot or small-batch teas.

What is the purpose of bringing in these micro-lot teas?

Our micro-lot teas provide customers—especially the more sophisticated tea drinkers—a sensory pure tea experience they might not otherwise have the opportunity to enjoy, whether it’s Anji Baicha green tea that is harvested in the early spring from the Yangyanwu tea garden in the Zhejiang Province of China with its natural sweetness or Himalayan Splendor, which is grown at 5,900 feet at the foot of the Himalayan Mountains and offers notes of peach and apricot. It is similar to the experience one gets when drinking Starbucks Reserve Coffee, Starbucks rare single origin coffees.

Who sources and picks these teas?

Over the years, Teavana has established strong relationships with farmers in tea-growing regions around the world. It is through these relationships that we have found some of the rarest and most unique teas available anywhere.

How are they different from the other teas offered?

Teavana’s micro-lot teas are rare, exquisite teas that are hand-plucked at the peak of harvest from small—often times family-owned—tea gardens. Many are grown at high elevations where the rich growing environment gives the tea complexity and character. Himalayan Splendor, for instance, is grown at 5,900 feet. We selected only one harvest day’s worth of its entire harvest season for its exceptional complex flavor profile. You cannot purchase this lot anywhere in the world other than our two stores.

Quantities of these special reserve teas are limited. Stop by the Bellevue or Southcenter store soon to give them a taste. 

Photos by Teavana.