Bigelow Tea Company facts for kids
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| Private | |
| Industry | Beverages |
| Founded | 1945 |
| Founder | Ruth Campbell Bigelow |
| Headquarters |
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U.S.
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Key people
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| Products | Teas and herbal teas |
| Revenue | US$188.9 million |
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Number of employees
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350 |
R.C. Bigelow, Inc. is an American company that makes dried teas. It is also known as the Bigelow Tea Company. The company is located in Fairfield, Connecticut. Ruth C. Bigelow started the company in 1945. She created a special tea recipe called "Constant Comment."
Bigelow Tea offers over 50 different kinds of tea. These include black, green, and herbal teas. All their teas are mixed together in Fairfield. The company also has other factories in Boise, Idaho, and Louisville, Kentucky.
Bigelow owns the Charleston Tea Garden in South Carolina. This is the only tea garden in America. However, it does not produce the teas sold by Bigelow. The company is still 100% owned by the Bigelow family. It employs 350 people. In 2020, Bigelow Tea had sales of about US$188.9 million.
Contents
What is Constant Comment Tea?
Constant Comment is one of Bigelow's most popular teas. It is a black tea with a special flavor. This flavor comes from orange rinds and sweet spices.
How Constant Comment Tea Was Created
Ruth Bigelow, an interior designer, developed the recipe in 1945. She got the idea from an old recipe for making orange and spice tea. This old recipe used stone containers.
In 1945, a food writer from The New York Times, Jane Holt, wrote about the new tea. She called it "unusual" and "delicious." She also said it was "concentrated" and "economical." This meant a small amount made many cups of tea.
Another food writer, Clementine Paddleford, shared a story about how the tea got its name. Mrs. Bigelow's friend served the new tea at a party. The guests did not know it was a new blend. But everyone talked about the tea's smell and taste. There was "constant comment" about it. So, Mrs. Bigelow decided to name it "Constant Comment."
The Popularity of Constant Comment
Sales of Constant Comment grew slowly at first. But they really took off in the 1970s. This happened when Bigelow started putting their teabags in folding cardboard boxes instead of metal tins.
The famous singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen mentioned Constant Comment tea in his song "Suzanne." The lines "and she feeds you tea and oranges / that come all the way from China" refer to this tea. The tea also appears in a children's book from 1977. It's called 'Mildred Murphy, how does your Garden Grow?' by Phyllis Green.
In 2016, CEO Cindi Bigelow said that only two people know the secret recipe for Constant Comment. These are her parents, Ruth Bigelow's son David, Jr., and his wife. The recipe has not changed since it was first made.
See also
- Earl Grey tea, another popular tea blend
- List of tea companies
