Starbucks Corp. said Thursday that it has agreed to sell its Tazo tea brand to Unilever PLC for $384 million in a deal that will enable the coffee giant to focus on a single brand of tea, Teavana. Unilever will acquire Tazo's recipes, intellectual property and inventory. Starbucks acquired the brand in 1999 for $8.1 million, five years after Tazo was founded. Tazo is primarily sold in grocery, convenience and mass merchant stores. The deal for Tazo comes months after Starbucks said it would close all 379 of its Teavana locations and would focus on selling Teavana inside its coffee shops, rather than at stand-alone retail locations. Starbucks said that, by selling Tazo, it would "sharpen its focus on its up-level tea strategy with Teavana." The company plans to invest in growth, innovation and development of Teavana. Tea sales inside of Starbucks locations are growing at double digits annually, particularly as the chain expands in Asia and other markets where tea is popular.