7 Discontinued Starbucks Teas! (Read This First)
Last updated on October 26th, 2022 at 05:18 pm
Starbucks offers a variety of tea-based beverages on its menu. You may have had a particular tea you liked at a time but can’t find it on the menu anymore.
Well, that’s because Starbucks has discontinued some teas. And your favorite tea may be on the list.
So, if you’re trying to find out if that’s the case, this article is certainly for you.
Remember the Tazo tea infusions? Or the all-time best seller, Chai tea? Sadly, these teas are no longer on the Starbucks menu. Along with several others like the Berry Sangria tea, Oprah Chai tea, and all-white teas. Once on the Starbucks menu, these teas are no longer served at Starbucks.
Discontinued Starbucks Teas
They’re several teas Starbucks doesn’t serve anymore. Here’s a listicle of such teas;
#1. The Tazo Tea Infusions
Starbucks regulars of 2009 should be very familiar with this tea. If you were a regular, surely, you’d recall this tea.
It came in two distinct and satisfying flavors; the apple chai infusion with apple flavor and the berry chai infusion with the berry sparkle.
This tea blended Tazo black chai tea and fruit juices to give its lovers a sweet and healthy delight.
Unfortunately, this tea is no longer on the Starbucks menu. But of course, they’re a lot of other available options on the menu you could try.
You may find something else which is as good as the Tazo tea infusion or even better.
#2. Chai Tea
The chai tea was a perfect infusion of black tea and certain flavors like cardamom, cinnamon, and ginger.
Chai tea is a loose-leaf style tea, unlike the latte, which is powder style. Brewed with milk, honey/sugar, the chai tea is as tasty as it looks.
#3. Oprah Chai Tea
Nothing like good tea named after an amazing celebrity, right? This tea hit the Starbucks menu back in 2014 and lasted three years.
By 2017, this nourishing dark blend was sadly not on the menu any longer. Let’s take a look at discontinued Iced Teas.
#4. Very Berry Hibiscus Tea
The fanciest thing about this tea was its color and flavor. The raspberry and blueberry flavor with the Teavana base made it quite a delight.
#5. Berry Sangria Iced tea
The comfort of sipping your herbal tea laced with berries, orange slices, apples, and ice. This tea was quite the delight of many; too bad it couldn’t remain on the menu.
#6. Shaken White Tea
At some point, Starbucks had to remove all white teas from the menu. Starbucks substituted all white teas with healthier black and green teas.
The shaken white tea was not an exception from the elimination.
But if you’re looking for good options, the green and black teas have much more nutritional value than the shaken white tea. You may want to consider them instead.
#7. Iced Guava White tea
Are you a guava lover? Well then, certainly, this tea was for you. But with the elimination of white teas, the iced guava tea also had to leave the menu.
But now, they’re other beverages on the menu with the guava flavor you may find satisfying.
The good thing is that Starbucks always has a better replacement for every discontinued beverage, tea, or coffee.
Reasons For Discontinuing These Teas
Finding a tea you love and making it part of your morning routine can be exciting.
Suddenly you walk into Starbucks one Monday morning, and it’s no longer on the menu.
Well, there are reasons for Starbucks discontinuing each tea on the list. Let’s try to see this. Hopefully, you’ll see reasons to understand Starbucks.
#1. Tazo tea Infusions
With new flavors and the evolution in the industry, Tazo tea infusions became outdated.
This tea is quite an old blend, so it had to leave the menu for better teas. There are better options on the menu you’d love to try now.
#2. Chai Tea
Nothing sucks as much as having temporary supply shortages restrict the production of many customers’ favorite tea. Well, that’s the case with chai tea.
But Starbucks has said this is a temporary problem. So hopefully, we should all be sipping our chai tea again soon enough.
#3. Oprah Chai Tea
The Oprah chai tea had to leave the menu in 2017 for a better replacement.
The organic chai tea was the replacement with a darker appearance and a more subtle spice flavor. There’s absolutely nothing better than an upgrade.
#4. Very Berry Hibiscus Tea
Starbucks discontinued the very berry hibiscus tea to focus on other higher demands.
Well, that’s to say, the demand for very berry hibiscus tea was not high enough.
Thus Starbucks had to discontinue it to produce more of what was in high demand.
#5. Berry Sangria Iced Tea
This tea left as quick as it came in 2016. It had to leave the menu for a much better option, an evolution of teas. The iced passion tango tea is just as good as the berry sangria tea.
And also, Starbucks has made more options available with the sangria flavor to replace the former.
#6. Iced Guava White Tea and Shaken White Tea
Both white teas are no longer on the Starbucks menu. Starbucks had to eliminate these teas to go healthier with green and black teas.
Are The Discontinued Teas Coming Back?
From the various reasons why these teas are no longer in existence and how long it’s been, you can tell whether or not they’d be making their way back to the menu.
A table should give you a mental picture to remember. Whether or not these teas would return can only be decided by the management.
But with all the information and facts, we can deduce some knowledge from that.
| Teas | Returning to the menu or Not |
|---|---|
| Tazo tea infusion | Not returning to the menu |
| Chai tea | It’s a temporary issue, so it should be returning to the menu. |
| Oprah Chai tea | It is outdated and replaced by a new option, so it is not returning to the menu. |
| Very Berry Hibiscus tea | Not returning to the menu |
| Berry Sangria iced tea | Not returning to the menu |
| Iced guava white tea | Not returning to the menu |
| Shaken white tea | Not returning to the menu |
But of course, remember that Starbucks management may decide to bring any of these teas back onto the menu at any point.
They run the place, after all. And if the demand is high, then certainly. Also, many menu options are similar or even better than each of these teas.
If you’re sad and can’t get over not seeing your favorite tea on the menu anymore, perhaps you should find time to explore other options.
Starbucks is a best seller for a reason; you’d surely find a favorite tea from many options available on the menu.
If that doesn’t work either, you could find the recipe for your favorite tea and enjoy it on your own.
The recipes are available online on the Starbucks website. Great, right? Well, lucky you indeed. You could make it even better.
Conclusion
Starbucks discontinues its teas to bring in way better options for customer satisfaction.
Whereas the switch may be unpleasant initially, the new teas make better options than the previous ones.
You only need to try it out to confirm this fact. Nothing is as good as moving from one good tea to an even better, tastier, and healthier tea.
