The Bigelow Tea Company (formerly R.C. Bigelow, Inc.) is an American manufacturer of dried
teas based in
Fairfield, Connecticut
Fairfield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders the city of Bridgeport and towns of Trumbull, Easton, Weston, and Westport along the Gold Coast of Connecticut. Located within the New York metropolitan area ...
. It was founded by Ruth C. Bigelow in 1945, based on a recipe she marketed as "Constant Comment" tea. The company markets over 50 varieties of tea, including
black,
green, and
herbal, all of which are
blended
A blend is a mixture of two or more different things or substances; e.g., a product of a mixer or blender.
Blend
Blend may also refer to:
* Blend word, a word formed from parts of other words
* ''Blend'' (album), a 1996 album by BoDeans
* Bl ...
in Fairfield. The company has other plants in
Boise, Idaho, and
Louisville, Kentucky. Their
Charleston Tea Garden in
South Carolina is the only tea garden in America, but does not produce the "Bigelow Tea Company" teas. Still a 100% family-owned business,
["Hoovers article on R.C. Bigelow, Inc."](_blank)
Accessed in 2010. It lists David Bigelow and Eunice Bigelow as Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs, and Cynthia Bigelow as President. Bigelow employs 350 people and had annual sales in 2020 of approximately US$188.9 million.
Constant Comment
Constant Comment remains today one of Bigelow Inc.'s most popular products. It is a
black tea flavored with
orange rinds and sweet spices. The recipe was developed by interior designer Ruth Bigelow in 1945, from an old colonial tea recipe for making orange and spice flavored tea in stone containers.
In 1945, ''The New York Times'' food writer Jane Holt wrote about the newly introduced tea, calling it "unusual", "delicious", "concentrated", and "economical":
A 1945 article by noted food writer
Clementine Paddleford Clementine Paddleford (September 27, 1898 – November 13, 1967) was an American food writer active from the 1920s through the 1960s, writing for several publications, including the New York ''Herald Tribune'', the ''New York Sun'', ''The New ...
tells this story about the origin of the name:
Sales grew slowly but steadily, taking off in the 1970s when Bigelow began packing their teabags in folding
cardboard boxes instead of tins.
According to singer-songwriter
Leonard Cohen, the famous lines, "and she feeds you tea and oranges / that come all the way from China", from his first hit song "
Suzanne", refer to Constant Comment tea.
The tea also gets a mention in the 1977 children's novella 'Mildred Murphy, how does your Garden Grow?' by Phyllis Green in which "
ildred'sloneliness disappears when
hebefriends a secretive woman living in a condemned garage" who is fond of the tea.
In 2016, CEO Cindi Bigelow said of the recipe for Constant Comment: "the only two people who know the formula are my parents
uth Bigelow's son David, Jr. and his wife UTH or Uth may refer to:
Universities
* University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
* University of Texas at Houston (School of Public Health, Medical School, Dental Branch, ...)
* University of Thessaly, Greek University
* Universidad Tec ...
and that the recipe remains unchanged from the original since it was first developed.
See also
*
Earl Grey tea, an English tea blend flavored with oil from the
bergamot orange, but no spices
*
List of tea companies
References
{{reflist
External links
Official WebsiteBigelow Tea Blog
Companies based in Fairfield County, Connecticut
Tea brands in the United States
Fairfield, Connecticut
Tea companies of the United States
Certified B Corporations in the Food & Beverage Industry
Family-owned companies of the United States