Colorado, Part 2

So, it's off to Black Hawk, small city of casinos.  But first, we're stopping at Celestial Season's Tea Factory for a look at how tea is make and the ingredients found.

Celestial Seasonings teas are found in most grocery stores around the country, but all the tea is made in Boulder, Colorado.  The herbs, flowers and leaves that make up the tea, however, come literally from all over the world.

The Virtual Tour here is a super-simplified version of the tour we took.  Unfortunately, pictures couldn't be taken on the tour, so this is the best I could do.

I can, however, show you some of the pictures of the cafe, which included displays of the process, as well as four cases of seriously cool teapots and cups, and pictures of the art produced for boxes of the various flavors of tea.

At left is one of the display panels, detailing some of the ingredients used in various flavors, and where they' re grown.  These include chamomile, peppermint, vanilla, lemongrass, blueberries, and honey, to name only a few.

The tour of the factory began with a short video about the teas, the people who develop the different blends, and the farmers who produce the ingredients.  Then everyone donned hairnets, and a few of guys "beard nets" (yes, really!), and we walked into the factory.

 At right is one of the teapots on display in the lobby.

Our tour guide explained that most teas had to be blended, and showed us the large plastic "tubs" that shake and roll the mixtures.  She then walked us through the storage area, where we could see boxes and bags of different ingredients.

One whole room is devoted to the mints -- peppermint, spearmint, and wintermint.  This is because mints have such a strong odor that they would overwhelm all the other scents if not kept separate. 

 It's hard to see the full teapot at left because of the camera angle, but all of those "branches" are actually part of the handle or feet.  I seriously want one of these.  (It stood over two feet tall.)

We continued on the tour, and ended up at the final step in the process: the machine that stacks the packed cartons of tea for shipping.  Then we continued on around the room, looking at the boxing machine, the area in which the tea is actually placed in teabags, and the conveyer belts that move everything along.   The full tour took about 30 minutes, and ended up, of course, in the gift shop.

At right are two of the paintings of art produced for the tea boxes.  Some of the art was labeled with the name of the flavor it was produced to represent, some was not.


While waiting for the tour to start, you have a chance to sample some of the teas, including green and red tea flavors, "zingers" (which have a distinct "zip" to them), and chilled flavors of iced teas.  You also picked up your "tea-ckets" (a variation on the word "ticket"), which showed that you belonged on this particular tour.  Each "tea-cket" was a packet containing three teabags of a particular flavor.  We had peppermint.

In the video theater was the Sleepytime Bear, the official representative of Celestial Seasonings.  Of course, Mom had to have a photo op.  And the staff was kind enough to supply Dad with a wheelchair, so he didn't have to stand through the whole tour.  (No pictures of that, though....)








Once finished with the tea factory, we stopped briefly at Into the Wind Kites and Toys, at the request of my friend David.  This was something of a mistake.  Mom's rubber duck collection suddenly grew by about half a dozen members....

Just to give you an idea of part of the store's inventory: