Almighty Dad | A stay at home dad blog

The boys and I went on a tour of the Celestial Seasonings Tea factory today.  It’s here in Boulder, just two miles from my house.  I’d never been there despite it being so close and a pretty big deal here in Boulder.  Why hadn’t I?  I don’t know; it was educational and fun.  The best part is that the tour was free and we could sample all their tea flavors for free while we waited to start (which I should have anticipated would precipitate a hasty retreat to the restroom just before we began the tour). We also lucked out because a school group was just pulling out of the lot in their buses when we showed up, and that meant our tour group was a third the size of a regular group and consisted of adults, rather than obnoxious 5th graders.  

Hair Nets and Mint:  

I was looking forward to seeing the tea room during the tour.  As many of you know, I’m a big tea drinker and a self proclaimed tea snob. The highlight for me was going to be seeing the whole tea leaves up close and smelling them.  We didn’t get to see the actual leaves being chopped up and put into bags, but we did get to see several tons of bagged up fresh tea from around the world (each bag labeled from the particular village and country of origin).  

We started the tour by getting hair nets and laughing at the two guys who had to also wear beard nets.  The hair nets were a highlight for the boys.  But, the biggest highlight for all of us was the peppermint and spearmint room.  It works like this: They can’t have the tea (Camellia Sinensis) and all the other herbs and such mingling with the peppermint so they have a separate room for all the tons of mint.  They only bring it out when it’s ready to use.  Otherwise the mint would contaminate the flavors of all the other teas.  We were all surprised at the power of the scent when we walked into the sealed room.  It was downright overwhelming and it cleared all of our senses immediately.  I was impressed.  Imagine a dose of menthol times 10,000.  

Interesting Celestial Facts:  

1. They were once owned by Kraft Foods in an ill fated merger (Sorry, Cadburry.  You’re next.)   

2. They originally only dealt in herbal concoctions, not real tea (because the hippies couldn’t grow tea in Colorado they just picked wild herbs).  

3. They’ve been in business since 1969 and opened in Boulder because we’re a health conscience people who appreciate natural food (makes good sense).  

4. Celestial Seasonings maintains business relationships with many of the same small farmers from around the world who started selling to the company 40 years ago.  

5. Their tea (white, green and black), from delivery to boxing, turns over every 3 – 4 months from the factory (and faster during the busy season).  

6. Their most popular tea is Sleepytime (first sold in 1970).  

7. The whole company has just over 200 employees who crank out 1.6 billion tea bags a year.  

8. They do all of this from exactly one factory (the one here in Boulder).  

9. They are owned by the Hain Celestial Group (much more in line with their corporate vision than Kraft) who owns a variety of health related brands like Jason beauty products, Alba Botanicals, Avalon Organic, Earth Best Organic Food and Health Valley. They also do Rice Dream and Soy Dream products.  

The Gift Shop:  

No factory tour would be complete without a trip to the gift shop.  They have one hell of a gift shop, too.  They sell every kind of tea you can imagine, including a pretty big bin of reject boxes (that got rejected off the line for aesthetic reasons) at 75% off.  I bought 4 boxes of various teas at a dollar per box while other people were getting suckered at retail price!  If I had actually had more money I would have gone nuts in the shop.  Everything tea you’d ever be interested in having.  Maybe I’m the only one who was excited about it.  Hmmm.  

That was our day today.  Homeschooling is pretty awesome when you can avoid the crowds, ask lots of questions and get to go home afterwards instead of back to a classroom!

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