You’ve seen it on the grocery shelves. Boxes of tea decorated with ethereal drawings of tigers, butterflies, or sleeping bears. Celestial Tea…and now I was to visit one of its factories in Boulder, CO.

You know I love factory tours… but now I’m twitching. I don’t know anything about tea; I just know that this summer I went on a green tea binge because it’s healthy to drink… and I’m not even drinking the “snobby good” green tea, just the bags. Where did Celestial Tea fall on the rating scale of my Chinese, tea-snobby friends?

My clan was greeted upon entry with a bag of tea– our admission ticket– and a tea cup. We were invited to sample a dozen cold and hot teas while waiting for our tour to start. Surrounding the waiting room were tea pot artworks as well as information on Celestial Tea. Soon… the tour began. (AND NO PICTURES ALLOWED. Boooo)

After a brief movie, our guide showed us the packing area– a large room filled with stacks of plastic and wooden crates. Each one labeled with the leaves it contained. We were led into closed-off rooms filled with other leaves that had to be secluded lest it contaminate the scent of other teas. The famous one was the mint/peppermint room. The minty smell was so strong my eyes had to blink the sting out. Ah, but I could have continued sniffing.

Finally, we meandered around the packaging equipment and watched as boxes got filled with a lemon, honey tea bags, wrapped in plastic, and crated.

Naturally, our tour ended in the gift shop which was filled with quirky, tea-related gifts.

Would my Chinese, tea-snobby friends enjoy Celestial Tea? This tour was a quick and informative walkthrough– not much to comment on. My answer to tea snobs resulted with me visiting the waiting room again and grabbing another tea cup to sample.

Because of the rules, I don’t have any tour-related pictures… but click on my pics to join me at Celestial Tea anyway.