Celestial Seasonings - A Tea-riffic Tour!

I don't particularly like tea, but Meghann does, so upon our arrival in Denver, Colorado, we immediately went to Boulder (45 minute drive from the airport) to visit the Celestial Seasonings Factory. After visiting the factory I can definitely say I dislike tea a lot less. The opportunity to taste as many of the 89 flavors they make definitely made me rethink my feelings toward the flavored water.

Upon arrival, we received two tea bags as tickets for the upcoming tour starting twenty minutes later.

No reservations are necessary for the tour and people were steadily arriving the entire time we were there. (Note: They don't allow kids under 5 years of age on the tour—not that they drink tea anyway). While we waited for our tour to begin, we could taste as many flavors of tea as we desired (kosher consumer note: just ask for a paper cup so you don't have to use the ceramic one they will hand you). This was one of the nicest features of the already free tour. And it was at this time when I learned the most important lesson about tea I may ever learn: no matter how disgusting the tea tastes, with enough sugar or honey, every tea has potential. To be honest though, there were some better tasting teas than others. I discovered I much prefer herbal tea to "regular" tea; I also quite like spice in my tea. This led me to my second lesson: Meghann doesn't like any of the same teas as me. Every time I found one I liked I'd offer Meghann a taste and she'd tell me each time, "I'm glad YOU like it," which is wife for 'that's gross.'

When we were called for our tour, we crammed into a theater for a ten minute video. But first we were welcomed by our tour guide named Stayshine. This was the first of many things on our trip to Colorado to remind us of the state's place as the hipster paradise of the midwest (Portland on the west; Brooklyn on the east coast). Anyway, the well-executed video gave a nice introduction to the company, what it stands for, its global resources and just how successful it has been, with an appropriate amount of personal touch. We then put on our hairnets, and for the elderly and hipsters among us, beardnets, and proceed to enter the factory (no pictures allowed).

Most factories are visually stimulating and/or stimulate your palate. With the exception of smelling yeast at brewery, the nose is rarely stimulated. This factory tour was an olfactory adventure (pun intended). We first entered a storage area, but not for the finished, packaged product, just the raw and finished tea product in huge bins towering to the tall ceiling. As we were warned, every step through the storage area presented a different smell, some more easily identifiable than the others, but nevertheless producing an abundance of sensory intrigue.

After learning more about the types of tea from Stayshine who, despite her young age, knew an impressive amount about each and every tea, their source and how the company acquired them, we entered the most intense part of the tour—the Mint Room. As we all know, since mint permeates and dominates everything it encounters, mint gets its own dedicated room which figuratively smacks you in the face upon entry, immediately clearing up any congestion you might have had. Quite an experience to say the least.

We then moved into the next part of the surprisingly, relatively small factory—the assembly line. The process was almost entirely automated; there were very few workers on the floor but it was an impressive operation nonetheless.

We weren't taken to see the finished product in storage, but we were told a lot about their dominance of the U.S. market and were introduced to their international ambition. We then entered a door exiting the factory and were deposited into the factory store to purchase anything and everything with the Celestial Seasonings logo (and their iconic Sleepytime bear) including a lot, but not all of their teas.

The Celestial Seasoning's factory tour was a great experience. We learned a lot about

something we knew nothing about. The tea market is much larger than we could have imagined—1.6 billion cups of tea are consumed a year! Oddly, there was nowhere on the entire campus to take a posed picture. Pictures were understandably not allowed on the tour itself, but in the tearoom, the factory store and even outside, there was no proper signage lending itself to a nice picture. We settled for one in front of the tea—not bad, but we should have been able to do better.

Kashrus Note: All Celestial Seasonings teas are kosher. As mentioned above, you can ask for a paper cup instead of the ceramic one they hand you for tastings when you walk in.

Overall Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Website: www.celestialseasonings.com/tours

Location: Boulder, CO

Affordability: Free