It's OK to get tea'd off at Celestial Seasonings
Written: Oct 10 '08 (Updated Oct 10 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Interesting free tour. Background of tea manufacturing. Large gift shop.
Cons: May have to wait for tour. A little hard to find.
The Bottom Line: Celestial Seasonings offers a free tour where they manufacture their very popular products. It's worth a visit if in the Boulder area.
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| trailhound's Full Review: Celestial Seasonings Factory Tour Boulder |
I was recently in the Boulder, CO area and decided to stop by one of their most famous tourist attractions: the headquarters of Celestial Seasonings Tea Company. The facility in Boulder offers tours of the factory which packages and ships over 1 billion tea bags every year. If you like tea in any form, the tour is well worth taking.
Free 45-minute tours are offered every hour on the hour from 10AM to 4PM on weekdays, 10AM to 3PM on Saturdays and 11AM to 3PM on Sundays. Be sure to arrive a little early for the tour, which requires a ticket (in the form of a tea bag). I arrived about 10 minutes before 11AM on a weekday but had to wait for the noon-time tour.
The Celestial Seasonings Tea tour starts with a 15-minute video of the company's history, background on tea farming, the unique artwork on their packaging, and an overview of the tea manufacturing process. I was surprised to learn the company's roots date back to 1969 and that they just recently introduced their first coffee products.
After the video we had to darn hairnets to visit the tea-scented factory, where we first learned how tea ingredients are stored, sorted, cut, and eventually packaged. The tour guide mentioned how various tea ingredients come from all over the world, but mostly from Asia. Giant sacks of the ingredients, such as Hibiscus, Chamomile, Licorice, and Cloves are stored in burlap bags where they must be kept dry and cool.
The tour guide later explained how herbals teas are not really teas since they are not made from tea leaves. Teas such as Green, Black, White, and Oolong and the true teas, and contain caffeine. The health benefits of their products were also mentioned. Ironically the most popular teas Celestial Seasoning sells are the herbals teas such as Red Zinger and Chamomile, which technically are not tea at all.
The Peppermint room is an interesting part of the tour. Because peppermint is so strong, it must be stored in a separate room and the scent is so overwhelming it will make your eyes burn! The tour also shows the highly-automated packaging facility. The tour guide mentioned they currently market 104 varieties of tea, and new products are often introduced, such as a high-caffeine variety called ''Fast Lane''. Tea flavors are often discontinued too, since some are special promotions or prove not to be popular.
I've forgotten our tourguide's name but I was impressed with her presentation. She struck a good balance between being enthusiastic and yet professional. During most of the tour she paused to allow for questions and made sure everyone could hear. At a few locations she used a mic to overcome the background noises in the factory, but overwise spoke loudly and clearly enough for a groups of 30 or so visitors to hear her every word without shouting.
Celestial Seasonings also has a large gift shop, a cafe (serving lunch), and a tea tasting room. You can stock up on all your favorite flavors and get tea pots, candy, and tea paraphernalia of all sorts. I recommend visiting the company website for directions to the facility, which is a little hard to find. It's certainly worth visiting if you are in the Boulder, CO area, unless it's simply not your cup of tea.
http://www.celestialseasonings.com/
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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