Celestial Seasonings

Brighton. Colorado            High 82 Low 47

Today started out overcast and cool, but by mid-morning the clouds went away and it ended up warm. Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler.

Today we drove to Boulder to see a tea factory called Celestial Seasonings. The hour tour was free and they had lots of different herbal teas to try. We got there after the first tour had started and had to wait for the second one.

Our tickets were samples of blueberry tea. I think every tour gets a different flavor.

We had time to check out the gift shop and read all the signs about the company and how it got started.

Before the tour we watched a 15 minute video about the company and where the tea comes from.

This dress is made from Tea Bags and is on display by the video screen.

We were told that the herbal teas are really not tea and I don’t remember the correct name. The actual tea comes in white, green and black. They all come from the same plant, but what they become depends on when they are picked. The white is picked with white flowers and tender leaves early in the season. Green tea is picked next and the leaves are immediately processed. Black tea is the last picked and the leaves are allowed to dry completely with some other processing before it becomes tea. Also, the amount of caffeine varies between the three varieties: Black being the most, white next, and green the least. The white tea is by far the most expensive.

We got to see the storage facilities along with the boxing and packaging. One room has the peppermint and spearmint stored. We took a smell, but couldn't stay in the room because the mint smell was so strong. We were told that the dried tea will take on the flavor of the other ingredients, so they have to be stored separately.

We weren’t allowed to take any pictures of the manufacturing process. The herbal teas are made from many different fruits for instance, blue berry, raspberry, peach and mango were some that I saw. 

It was an interesting tour which lasted an hour. we found out that there are 105 different varieties of tea and they box enough tea to make 1.6 billion cups per year. In 2005 they welcomed their first 1 million visitors, now they have had 2.1 million. The company has been in business for 48 years. Their most popular tea is Sleepytime which is an herbal tea and not really tea.

On the way back to our RV we went by a large sub-division with lots of metal buffalo. I managed to get one picture.

Thanks for visiting.