This weekend we took a free tour of Celestial Seasonings, which is just 15 minutes from our house in Longmont Colorado. We’ve been meaning to for a while now, since Ashley is old enough (children under five aren’t allowed in the factory area).
You can sample dozens of teas in the beautiful gallery area while you enjoy the original artwork commissioned for the tea boxes.
Even if you don’t take a tour, it’s worth going just to see the gallery, sample teas (there are even tables and chairs for sitting a while), and browse the gift shop. No photos are allowed in the factory area.
The tour was pretty cool. They showed a quick video by the founder/president and then took us through the factory. The machinery wasn’t operating since it was the weekend, which was too bad, but also good. On weekdays when the machinery is going you have to wear a hairnet, and I don’t know if Ashley would have done that. She really doesn’t like anything on her head. So we missed the action, but we all got to go in 🙂
An interesting fact about the factory: It only takes about nine people to operate all that equipment. The entire Celestial Seasonings branch however, includes a couple hundred people. Also, I had no idea: They produce several other brands you may know such as Terra Chips, Garden of Eatin’ and Alba Botanica products (at other locations).
As for the tea, I was giddy to hear they just released an iced tea sweetened with stevia! We tried it there, and it was so good we bought a box to take home 🙂 The tour guide told us they use whole stevia leaves, as opposed to a chemical derivative of the herb. Wow! Cool!
We tried two others that were new to me, and so good we had to buy them: Safari Spice and Sleepytime Vanilla.
The lady behind the sample counter offered to give us a list of the teas that are NOT gluten-free so I can share those with you. NON-gluten-free teas include:
Roastaroma
Detox A.M.
Ginseng Energy
Gingerbread Spice
Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride
Sugar Plum Spice
These are all the glutenous ones on the the free tasting menu list. I don’t know if they have others with gluten as well.
On another note, I want to share two of my favorite organizations with you for your consideration this Christmas:
Click to watch their video, and Happy Holidays lovelies!
♥, Kelly
lizschau.com says
Thanks for the post, Kelly! I was in Boulder this summer, just up the street from the factory! I wanted to stop in for the same tour, but we ran out of time. Thanks for giving us an inside glimpse!
beyondriceandtofu.com says
We went on the tour a couple of years ago when we were trying to move there. It is just great. Did you last very long in the mint room?
I love the seasonal Candy Cane Lane tea and have been stocking up on it. And that Sleepytime Vanilla sounds interesting too. Too bad you can’t find any of their non-standard teas at your regular grocery store. Boo. Guess that means I need to make a visit soon. (We were just there in the Boulder area in August.) Unfortunately that means flying at this time of year which probably isn’t in the budget (from Albq.). So drink and enjoy plenty of it for me!
chasmyn says
I just came to your blog via Elana’s pantry (in the recipe forums, yummy!) and I’m about to rss this baby. Thank you for this video – I shared it on Facebook. though I am not a religious or church person, the message in that video truly spoke to me, and I could not agree more. And your recipes – woohoo! Thank you for this blog. Happy Holidays!