Emperor Shen Nung is said to have discovered the world’s second most popular beverage by accident, when a leaf fell into hot water. Being of innovative and adventurous spirit, the emperor sampled the concoction. That time, like most times, the experiment worked out well for the father of Chinese medicine, who mythology holds died from an overdose of toxic herbs.

Some five millennia later, tea is consumed hot and cold, by kings, commoners and an estimated 158 million Americans each day.

At Celestial Seasonings, tea is also a tourist attraction.

Founded here in 1969, the nation’s largest herbal tea company was steeped in the Summer of Love, when Mo Siegal and a few entrepreneurial bohemians took their flower-child ideals in a literal direction, hiking into the Rocky Mountains to forage for wild flora that they then dried and sold as herbal infusions, first in local shops and then to-go in hand-sewn muslin bags.

Today, the company is responsible for an estimated 1.6 billion cups of tea annually, and its globally sourced blends come in vibrant boxes featuring playfully evocative names, specially designed artwork and curated words of wisdom.

What’s your favorite? Mine – and Canada’s – is Bengal Spice.

Celestial Seasonings’ headquarters is home to the company’s sole production factory, as well as a gift shop and cafe serving breakfast and lunch. Free guided tours last about 45 minutes and are offered throughout the day; sign up, get a tea bag for a ticket, and sample some liquid snuggles while you wait. On tap in early December, limited-edition holiday blends Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride, Candy Cane Lane and Cranberry Vanilla Wonderland.

And that’s only the first slurp of this festive, drinkable feast.

Now owned by parent group Hain Celestial, the company holds fast to its original goal of making the tea experience a fulfilling one for multiple senses. Whimsical names such as Tummy Mint and Sleepytime are . yawn . one part of that.

Aroma is the real rub, however, and to whiff it at the source, one first must suit up. Inside the working production facility, hairnets are a requirement. Visitors sporting anything more advanced than a five o’clock shadow (that means you, Colorado) are issued a beard net as well.

Things begin with a 10-minute video about the company’s history and a briefing on safety and the protocol required inside. From there, it’s an A-to-Z tour of tea and the process some 100 ingredients face to get there after being harvested from orchards and farms around the globe.

A lesser-known thing about the beverage is that, whether black, green or white, it’s all derived from one plant, Camellia sinensis, a flowering perennial native to Asia that can live up to 1,000 years. The different styles come from how the leaves are processed. The company’s top-selling varieties – Sleepytime, Chamomile and Peppermint – aren’t technically teas, but naturally caffeine-free blends of herbs, spices, fruits and botanicals.

All those ingredients can pack a sensory wallop. Tourgoers can breathe deep the exfoliating air of the peppermint room, a warehouse space stacked with 45-pound cubes of dried mint.

Creating and getting that special, nostalgic me-moment to cups involves a lot of people, a lot of machinery and the senses of only one man, senior blendmaster Charlie Baden.

His “super palate” is so fine-tuned he can taste the subtle variations in chamomile grown in different regions of the same continent. Red Zinger tastes the same every time you drink it because of Baden, who’s currently grooving on Fireside Vanilla Spice.

The 40-year company veteran grew up drinking tea that failed to inspire, however.

“When I was a kid … being where it was hot and muggy in the summer, my mother would make iced tea. We didn’t have a lot of money and even Lipton was expensive for us, believe it or not,” explained Baden, in an interview with Latin Post.

Point being, an appreciation of the refined and rarefied strata of tea tasting is something that can be taught and learned. So let’s get sipping …