- Tazo
:"The following article is about the tea company; for Tazos from the 1990s fad game, see
pogs ..
History
Tazo Tea was founded in 1994 by Steve Smith (who retired from Tazo in 2006) along with his business partners Stephen Lee and Tom Mesher. Lee and Smith had co-founded the
Stash Tea Company in 1972. Stash was sold in the fall of 1993 toYamamotoyama , a Japanese tea company.Smith used his corporate connections within the food services industry to convince many restaurants, food stores, and tea houses to carry the new Tazo Teas. Smith approached
Starbucks CEOHoward Schultz in 1998, seeking further investment partners.The company was purchased by Starbucks in
1999 for $8.10 million.Marketing
The company uses "
New Age "-style marketing and product labeling. For example, every box of tea is labeled as "blessed by a certified tea shaman".The logo uses the Exocet
typeface .List of tea products
"Below is a complete list of the tea products produced by Tazo as of March 2008. This list may become obsolete over time."
Black teas
;Filterbag
*Organic ChaiChai
*Earl Grey tea
*Decaffeinated Tazo Chai
*Awake
*Organic Darjeeling;Full Leaf
*Montage
*Chai
*Earl Grey
*Awake;Iced Teas
*Organic Iced Tea
*Tea Lemonade
*Tazoberry
*Mango
*Iced Tea with Lemon;Tea Lattes
*Tazo Chai
*Decaffeinated Tazo Chai
*Organic Tazo Chai
*Tazo Vanilla;T-Disc
*AwakeWhite Teas
;Filterbag
*Berryblossom White
*Vanilla Apricot WhiteGreen Teas
;Filterbag
*China Green Tips
*Organic Om
*Zen
*Envy
*Green Ginger
*Lotus
*Organic Green;Full Leaf
*Zen
*China Green Tips;Iced Teas
*Organic Iced Green Tea
*Giant Peach
*Plum Delicious
*Lemon Green
*Passion Potion;Tea Lattes
*MatchaHerbal teas
;Filterbag
*African Red Bush
*Organic Apple Red
*Calm
*Passion
*Honeybush
*Lemon Maté
*Wild Sweet Orange
*Sweet Cinnamon Spice
*Refresh;Full Leaf
*Mambo
*Calm;Iced Teas
*Lemon Ginger
*Simply Red
*Bramble Berry
*Wild Orange;Tea Lattes
*Red Tea Latte
*Black Tea LatteExternal links
* [http://www.tazo.com/ Tazo Homepage]
* [http://www.starbucksstore.com/ Official Online Store] - Starbucks' Official Online Store
* [http://www.startupstudio.com/tazo-tea-founder-steve-smith/podcasts/2007/02/09/ Startup Studio - Interview with Steve Smith on the founding of Tazo Tea]
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