Tea Time

Another weekend, another tour.  Yesterday, the folks took a tour of Celestial Seasonings.  Mom has really been trying to cut back on her drinking of Diet Pepsi and she has been trying out some iced brew teas, but hasn't been able to find anything that she really liked yet.  She decided it might be fun to tour the Celestial Seasonings.  It is where they make tea!  They have 75 teas that you can sample and she figured if she didn't find one that she liked there, she wasn't going to find it anywhere. 

All the tea that Celestial Seasonings makes is here in Boulder, CO.  It is their only location. The company started in 1969 by a small group of young people.

Outside of Celestial Seasonings

The tour begins with a short video showing the history of the company.  It is then time to tour the factory.  If you take the tour Monday - Friday, you actually get to see people working.  Tours are offered on Saturday and Sunday and while you are still allowed to tour the factory, the only people you see are maintenance workers.  Even though nothing is going on in the factory, the folks still had to wear hairnets. 

Everyone walking to the factory.
 

The first thing you notice when you enter the factory is the smell of tea.  It is quite strong.  The tour begins in a room with large tubs of herbs.  Next, visitors are taken to the tea room. The tea room has a door on it that remains closed so that the tea does not pick up other odors.  There are three types of tea; green, black and white.  The next stop is the peppermint room and this room also has a door that remains closed.  When you walk into this room, the smell will about knock you over.  Visitors were told not to wipe their eyes.  Mom said they were told that it will feel like their eyes had dried out and they should just blink a few times.  She said the peppermint smell was really strong.  Dad said it was like having a lot of Hall cough drops in your mouth.  Mom said they sell a magnet in the gift shop that says "I survived the Peppermint Room".  :::snicker:::   The next stop is the packaging area.  They just looked at the machinery and used their imagination.  :::snicker:::  Mom said even without seeing production taking place, it was still a lot of fun and educational.  The tours ends in the gift shop.

The folks decided to go back to the tea tasting room and try out some teas.  Mom found several that she liked. The people working there were very nice and more than happy to talk about tea.  Mom asked if she could turn just about any hot tea into a iced tea and the employee said "some of our hot teas are actually much better cold".  Mom admitted that she had never tried their tea before.  They told her it was okay, she was there now.  LOL

Sleepytime Bear

The folks were given free samples of tea to take home, but Mom wanted to visit the gift shop and purchase a few of the ones that she sampled and liked.

The gift shop is quite large.  That is tea all along the back walls and even some in the middle.

The gift shop sold lots of things besides just tea. 

This is everything that Mom brought home.  She bought more than she expected, but she is pretty excited about it. 

On the way home, the folks stopped at a restaurant called The Sink.  It was on Diners, Drive-In and Dives. Robert Redford worked there as a janitor in 1955 while he attending the university. They were seated at the Presidential table. They didn't understand at first, but were told that President Obama sat there when he visited.  I asked Mom what she thought and she said we don't discuss politics on our blog and the food was good. 

Their table was covered with photos of the President.



Fried Mac & Cheese - good but not worth $8

Guests are allowed to write on the ceilings.  It is a college town.

 

Mom's burger and onion rings.  She said it was good. She would have preferred a bun over sour dough bread. She ordered wrong.
 

Outside of The Sink.

 The folks then did a "drive-by" of Mork and Mindy's house.  Remember that show?  They didn't film there, they just showed the outside of the house.  It has become a tourist attraction.

Told you it was a drive-by.  The house is the one with a person with a blue shirt standing in the yard.  It is a private residence, so the folks didn't want to stop. They thought the person in the yard might be a tourist because she seemed to be taking photos.  Rude to go through the fence, don't you think?

One more try from Mom's side.  That person is still there.

The folks said the drive to Boulder was beautiful!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Having A Fun Sunday With His Folks