On Friday, August 15, 2025, through arrangements by Bob Morrison, members of the University Hills (Denver) Rotary Club visited and did a walking tour of the facilities of Celestial Seasonings in Boulder (more Longmont), Colorado.  In 1968, one of Celestial Seasonings’ founders, Mo Siegel, began gathering wild herbs in the forests and canyons of the Rocky Mountains and mixing them to make healthy teas. After finding more herbs surrounding Boulder, Mo, and co-founder Wyck Hay enlisted friends and family to help pick and produce their first tea, “Mo 36,” which they sold to health food stores around the country in hand-sewn muslin bags.  In 1970, the first production facility was established in a barn in Boulder. Eventually, the founders began sourcing herbs rather than picking them themselves, and their dream of launching an herbal tea company—the first of its kind—began to take shape. Two of Celestial’s flagship blends, Red Zinger and Sleepytime, were introduced in 1972 and remain two of the company’s best-selling blends to this day.
Over the years, Celestial’s product line has expanded to include green teas, black teas, wellness teas, and cold brew iced tea, with ingredients being sourced from more than 35 countries, and it is estimated that 1.5 billion cups of their tea are consumed daily!  All of the tea blends are refined and packaged in the Longmont facility and shipped throughout the world. The group (Joe McCaffery, David Henninger, Jim Fleming, Mel Grusing, and his spouse, Georgia, Xenia Matteson, and Jay Carpender) concluded the tour and regrouped at a Boulder restaurant, Efrain's, for a late lunch and typical Rotary camaraderie and recounts of the activities of our club.