I don't know about you, friends, but off the top of my head, I can only think of one company that offers 105 varieties of tea. It may be because I just recently toured the Celestial Seasoning's production facility in Boulder, but that's the only company that pops into my head!
Yesterday, my visiting family, boyfriend, and I drove to the Celestial Seasonings factory for a free tour. This is the sort of thing my family loves; I've toured the Sprecher Brewery, Fair Oaks Farm (not as "fair" as the name implies, but I digress), and the World of Coca-Cola! Plus, this is something I've wanted to check out for the past two years, so I was pretty pumped myself. Unfortunately, there's no photography allowed during the tour, so this post is going to be light on imagery and none of the images will be my own property.
The tour begins with some free samples, a.k.a. the best part of any tour. And darn if they didn't convince me that I will need Celestial Seasoning's new drink mix in my life from now until forever. The Godfather is a cross between a mocha and a chai latte and I love it. I'm using it to make breakfast smoothies and poor-man's lattes. For the cost of two or three lattes at Starbucks, I should be able to make twelve or so lattes at home with this concentrate. My tastebuds are I are thrilled.
After some taste-testing, you present your ticket/souvenir teabag at the theater door to enjoy a ten-minute commercial for Celestial Seasonings since it's clear by your presence that your interest in their products isn't high enough. My favorite part of the video was when they jumped from the legendary roots of the creation of tea in 2737 BCE to Celestial Seasoning's start in 1969. Obviously those are the most important moments in tea history. It's not like entire countries were colonized for tea products or anything.
The highlights of this tour for me included the canned-yet-amusing jokes told by our guide, the Mint Room, and the education on tea. The Mint Room was a unique experience. The room is a large rectangular room off the packaging floor. I'd estimate it at about 24' by 40'. It's packed with the various types of mint found in Celestial Seasoning's teas and sealed off from the rest of the warehouse because the flavor and smell of mint is so invasive that if it had access to the other ingredients, every ingredient would become mint-flavored. My eyes watered as I marched in line along the right-hand wall to the back of the Mint Room and out again. Most people hurried out. For me, it was two minutes of my own personal heaven as the natural menthol opened my nasal passages for the first time in weeks. Yeah, I should visit an allergist.
Most interestingly, I learned the differences between green, black, white, and herbal teas. Yes, I probably could have found this online, but it was much more interesting to learn in the tea production place. Green, black, and white teas all come from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis (a.k.a. tea) plant. The color comes from how old and oxidized the tea leaves are. Green is less oxidized than black, and white tea is hardly processed at all. Herbal teas, on the other hand, include no tea leaves or caffeine whatsoever.
I also enjoyed learning that Celestial Seasonings relies on a man with a super palate to sample each batch of tea before it is packaged and shipped off. Charlie, the super palate man, rarely takes a day off because when he does, his skills are dulled. He can taste up to 120 cups of tea in a single day and must approve the quality and flavor of each batch before it's sold.
Less enjoyable was the review of the effects of capitalism upon factories such as Celestial Seasonings. I was appalled when our guide proudly informed us that the factory was almost entirely machine-based and pointed out one machine in particular that had replaced eight people. That is eight full-time jobs that were destroyed. But it's not like Boulder has a significant homeless population that could use the work or anything, so who cares, right?
I was also dismayed that a company based in Boulder, CO with origins in harvesting organic herbs for their teas by hand in the Boulder area would so easily steer from its roots. The company now only offers some Certified Organic teas with ingredients shipped from around the world. I understand that some ingredients may not be possible to grow anywhere close to locally, but the dramatic change in the company's focus over a little under 50 years was surprising if not distressing. Its goals have been so severely altered that I don't believe a representative could give you a meaningful, straight-forward answer on Celestial Seasoning's environmental impact and its efforts to reduce/minimize its carbon footprint.
Finally, I was disappointed that I hadn't thought to do this tour on the one weekday my family was available as the factory is shut down for maintenance over the weekend and no actual tea production occurs. If you're interested in seeing the factory's machinery in action, definitely make sure you schedule time for this tour on a weekday, between 10 AM and 4 PM.
Phew, mini-rant on capitalism and global farming over. I survived the Mint Room, and you survived my rant! Great work all around!
I'll be camping deep in the mountains for the next few days and I have a hectic work schedule after that, but I'll check in about camping as soon as I can.
Until next time!