Tazo

Tazo Tea Company

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Beverage
Founded	1994 in Portland, Oregon
Founder	Steven Smith
Headquarters	Kent, Washington, United States
Area served	Global
Products	Teas and herbal teas
Number of employees	Approximately 50 (2010)
Parent	Starbucks (1999-present)
Website	www.tazo.com

Tazo Tea Company is a tea & herbal tea manufacturer and distributor founded in Portland, Oregon, now a division of Starbucks based in Kent, Washington.

Tazo (/tɑːˈzoʊ/) Tea was founded in 1994 by Steven Smith. The manufacturing and distribution was maintained by North American Tea & Coffee, a Canadian-based food manufacturing company.

Tazo approached Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz in 1998, seeking further investment partners. The company was purchased by Starbucks in 1999 for $8.1 million.

Starbucks opened the first Tazo-branded tea shop in November 2012. It closed a year later and was converted into a Teavana store.

The company uses "New Age"-style marketing and product labeling. For example, every box of tea was once labeled as "blessed by a certified tea shaman" and an original tag line was "The Reincarnation of Tea."

Until 2013, the logo used the Exocet typeface, slightly modified. For example, the T in Tazo was changed for readability purposes in 2006 by sliding the cross-piece toward the top of the letter.