Subscribe
E-Paper
 |
| Starbucks Coffee Korea employees promote various beverages of its tea brand Teavana during an unveiling at a store in downtown Seoul, Tuesday. Korea's largest coffee chain started offering a dozen tea drinks at its 940 stores across the country. / Courtesy of Starbucks Coffee Korea |
By Lee Hyo-sik
Starbucks Coffee Korea is betting big on its tea brand Teavana, attracting not only coffee lovers but also those opting to drink a variety of tea for health reasons.
By adding more than a dozen tea flavors to its menu, the country's largest coffee chain can offer more options for its customers who may seek something different from conventional drinks.
The company said Tuesday that it began offering Teavana beverages at its 940 stores across the county, holding a range of promotional events to attract consumer attention.
It sells eight types of Teavana full leaf tea drinks, as well as five kinds of tea latte drinks and three others containing both tea extracts and lemonade. Some of its representative flavors include a shot of green tea latte and grapefruit honey black tea.
"We believe that Teavana will change the paradigm of Korea's tea drinking culture by offering unique tastes and experiences to tea lovers of all age groups here," Starbucks Coffee Korea CEO Lee Seock-koo said. "We have reinterpreted the taste and aroma of tea from a modern perspective to appeal more to younger consumers. Teavana will offer special experiences."
Starbucks plans to donate part of its sales to help develop Korea's tea industry and share the profits with tea growers, as well as implement new corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, Lee said.
Founded in Atlanta in 1997, Teavana was acquired by Starbucks in 2013. The company now operates 300 Teavana brand stores in North America. After Korea, the Seattle-headquartered coffee chain plans to introduce the Teavana brand in Japan, China and other Asian countries in the second half of the year.
