May 22

Al and Shirley are such sweet hosts.....Shirley made a tasty breakfast casserole and bran muffins, along with strawberries, raspberries, and pineapple this morning.  We were all so tired that we slept past 9:00 a.m.  No problem, we needed the rest.  What a blessing this stop has been.  We feel rejuvenated. 

Al and Shirley...hosts in Windsor, CO

 We left around noon and drove off with our GPS set for 4600 Sleepytime Dr. Boulder, CO....the Celestial Seasonings headquarters, tour/manufacturing facility, tasting room and store...


Christian liked hisi dress made of tea bags 

We were looking forward to seeing the world's most advanced tea production plant. We saw first–hand how the finest all–natural ingredients from around the world become our favorite Celestial Seasonings teas. We watched a 10 minute video and toured the storage and manufacturing rooms. As we exited the welcome room, we were each given a hair net to wear, the kids were thrilled with that!!

On the tour, we saw each step of the tea process. 

The 3 steps are:  

1) Milling
     a) clean
     b) cut
     c) packaging
2) Blending
3) Packaging (they use a specially made pillow bag with no strings to reduce waste)

Their tea products include herbal teas, black tea, red tea, chai tea, green tea, and white tea.Did you know that herbal teas should not be called teas because there is no actual tea in them?  They are actually herbal blends that should be called herbal infusions....learn something new everyday!  In the Tea Room we learned that green leaves picked from the Camellia Sinensis plant are oxidized and dried to create black tea.  Celestial Seasonings uses only the best Camellia Sinensis from countries around the world, such as, Burundi, Kenya, Guatemala, Argentina, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, India, China, and Indonesia.   The herbs (lilac, blackberry leaves, lemongrass, fennel, rose hips, etc...) that they use come from countries such as, France, China and Guatemala. 

As we entered the Mint Room, we all got a sniff of the STRONG smell of mint....and I mean strong!  They actually sell sell tshirts that say "I survived the Mint Room."  As we stood there, we all got tears in our eyes and our sinuses became very clear!! 

There are 3 types of mint that they use in their blends:

1) Peppermint
2) Spearmint (used in Sleepytime Tea)
3) Cat Nip has no menthol in it/calms and relaxes humans

All 3 of the mints are grown in the state of Washington. 

 The plant has a capability of producing 10 million bags/500,000 boxes of tea a day. The highest selling country outside of their US business is Canada.  We watched the assembly line as they packaged completed boxes of tea and processed for shipping out to retailers.  As we ended the tour, we entered the tea shop and from there the tea tasting room.  We tasted all of the teas and energy drinks making note of our favorites so that we could buy some to bring home.  There are flavors that aren't available in all stores so we made sure to grab some of those, especially.




Nice hair nets, Gillettes!!!

the tea shop.....

Celestial Seasons: Taking home a little memory of health and happiness!

Great tour and a fun afternoon......on to Barb's to visit and spend the night.  When we pulled up, we all jumped out and ran to give hugs.  It is so good to see she and the girls.....