Guardian US production editor and actual British person, Tim Hill went to US chain tea shop Teavana, and wrote extensively about what he found:
It's easy to mock – boy, is it easy to mock – but Teavana, with all its new-age, pseudo-spiritual bullshit, points to a wider trend: what you might call America's fetishisation of tea. Since when did tea become part of a marketable lifestyle? The questions in New York's cafés are always the same: black or green? Hold or cold? Kale or quinoa? Gay or straight? And once you've finished this back-and-forth, what do you end up with?
A rather forlorn-looking cup of tepid water into which the bag has yet to be introduced.
(Photo: Curatorial Assistance, Inc/EO Hoppe Estate Collection)