Want to win an invite to our first-ever Bigelow Tea Social in New York City on January 21st? Read our full details about the contest here. And now, today’s trivia question is:

How many solar panels are on the roof of Bigelow Tea’s Fairfield, CT, headquarters?

Think you know the answer? Reply to us on Twitter or post your guess in the comments below.

Want to win an invite to our first-ever Bigelow Tea Social in New York City on January 21st? Read our full details about the contest here. And now, today’s trivia question is:

How much caffeine, on average, is in one cup of our herbal teas?

Think you know the answer? Reply to us on Twitter or post your guess in the comments below.

Want to win an invite to our first-ever Bigelow Tea Social in New York City on January 21st? Read our full details about the contest here. And now, today’s trivia question is:

In what year was our original tea, Constant Comment, created?

Think you know the answer? Reply to us on Twitter or post your guess in the comments below.

Want to win an invite to our first-ever Bigelow Tea Social in New York City on January 21st?  Read our full details about the contest here.  And now, today’s trivia question is:

Our full company name is R. C. Bigelow.  But what does the “R. C.” stand for?

Think you know the answer?  Reply to us on Twitter or post your guess in the comments below.

This January, Bigelow Tea is having their first-ever Bigelow Tea Social in New York… and you could be invited!

On Thursday, January 21st, we’re gathering bloggers, Twitter users, Facebook fans and fellow tea drinkers together for a cozy cup of tea at one of New York’s tastiest restaurants.  There, from 5 to 7 PM, our guests can chat with Cindi Bigelow (and each other) about tea, try dozens of flavors, learn how our teas are made (and what’s really inside every teabag), and take home some free tea to help keep them toasty through the long nights of winter!

Blogging, tweeting, video and photos at the event are highly encouraged.  Plus, the evening will be videotaped by Creative Concepts and posted online afterward, so all attendees will have additional content to power their blogs (and tea to fuel their creativity)!

So how do you win?  Simple!

All next week (January 11-15) at noon, we’ll post a trivia question about Bigelow Tea both on Twitter and here on our blog.  (If you’re not already following us on Twitter, now’s a great time to do so!)  Guess correctly and you’ll be entered into a drawing to attend the Bigelow Tea Social.  All winners will be notified on the afternoon of Friday the 15th.

Good luck, and we look forward to seeing some lucky winners this January!

Note: You must be 18 or older to attend the Bigelow Tea Social.  In addition, Bigelow Tea will not provide transportation to the event — so if you can’t be in Manhattan on January 21st, hold tight; perhaps we’ll have another social in your neck of the woods later this year…

As a child, my mother gave me tea to soothe sore throats. I never really enjoyed it much—it was a grown up thing– and that’s what I liked best about it.

When I went to college, my mother let me take a big mug with me. I used it once and found it three months later: filled with mold on a top shelf next to my bunk bed. Gross!  Obviously tea wasn’t quite my thing, however, until I studied abroad in Scotland.

In Scotland, I drank tea every day. Multiple cups of tea in fact– with milk, without milk,  but never lemon in Scotland. I met friends out for cups or tea, or had friends ‘round to the flat for tea. I ended up marrying a man from Scotland and stayed. I now have a cup of tea at least three times a day, more if necessary, especially in the winter.

When I first came here, I just had normal tea. I’ve branched out a bit now: Earl Grey, Lady Grey, Peppermint, Spearmint, Green teas. Tea is so much part of life here that when someone visits, you don’t ask if they want something to drink, as in water. You automatically say, “I’ll put the kettle on,” or if you’re on the ball, you’ve already turned it on. Yep—electric kettles are common place here.

When I was home last winter, I had a cup of Constant Comment in my mother’s kitchen, sitting on the same bar stool that I had sat on as a child, and I appreciated that cup of warmth and conversation a wee bit more than I did as a child.

Alice

Living in Scotland via Virginia

By the time I appreciated my dad’s passion for a good cup of hot tea, I had lived away from home for 18 years. During his last month of life, I was lucky enough to be with him 24-7. In the wee hours of the morning, when neither of us could sleep, we shared many cups of Constant Comment® and talked about the most wonderful things… memories of childhood (his and mine), the changing seasons, what happens after death, and endless minutia that only matters to a father and daughter. Now, when I find myself brewing a pot of Constant Comment®, I can’t help but smile at the warm memories of my dad that fill my heart and soul when I smell that steamy citrus aroma.

By Colleen Hyde

The famed English East India Company formally introduced tea to Great Britain in the 1600s. In due course, tea’s popularity and increased consumption swept across England, and by 1700 tea was available in over 500 London tea houses.

The development of Afternoon Tea or High Tea didn’t develop until roughly the mid 19^th Century, and has been a much-loved tradition in England for over 150 years. In the USA, Tea Time is the fastest growing segment of a robust tea market that has tripled in the last 16 years to over six billion dollars annually.

It’s always Tea Time at Bigelow Tea!

”High Tea” is often a misnomer. Some people may refer to “afternoon tea” as “high tea” as it sounds so regal!  But in Great Britain high tea (also: “meat tea”) is dinner. American hotels and tea rooms have developed a hybrid of the High Tea tradition, calling it…

• Afternoon Tea
• Light Tea
• Low Tea
• Full Tea
• High Tea

Warming and flavorful tea is the constant, regardless of the name. Some of the finest Tea Rooms serve afternoon tea 365 days a year, and offer excellent menu options too. Afternoon Tea is as popular as ever and you can find many versions with special themes, like “A Victorian Christmas”, or “A Jane Austen Tea”, or “A Nutcracker Suite Tea” featuring varying levels of service and participation. And not to forget Presidential Teas and Celebrity Teas!

To help with your tea time search there are several Tea Societies — such as the Victorian Tea Society — that regularly propagates the tradition of tea time. However you finally enjoy your tea time – in full regalia with formal setting and time honored ritual, or casually on the back deck with a mug, it’s always high time for tea time.

I have been enjoying Constant Comment® tea since 1973 when I was fortunate enough to get my first after school job at our local public library in a small town in New England. I came in at three o’clock and worked until six-thirty in the children’s book room. The library was an old Victorian mansion formerly owned by a local family at the turn of the century. Walking up the granite steps and through the front door was like walking back in time. In the afternoons the sunlight streamed through the maple trees along the main street and danced through the southwest windows of the great room, over leather reading chairs, the enormous fireplace and vast shelves of books.

When the Westminster chimes of the grandfather clock in the entry room tolled four o’clock it announced tea time. The library’s long time librarians and antiquarians Mabel and Julia would invite me to tea with them in their office. They always served Constant Comment® tea heated by an electric tea pot that stood amidst stacks of books in the corner of the room. Julia would clear the books off a wooden chair and hand me my porcelain tea cup filled with the steaming tea and a ginger snap cookie on the saucer. They inquired about my parent’s health, and were always eager to know how I was doing in school. Mabel would consult with me about what new children’s books she should order for the library and whether I had any ideas about decorations for next month’s bulletin board in the children’s department.

Over cups of Constant Comment® tea I would learn the art of conversation and the etiquette of sipping tea. I remember the very first time I tried the tea I ran home and demanded that my mother buy some Constant “Comet” tea on her next trip to the grocery store. I soon found out that the tea was not a product of an astronomical event but rather an inspiration to conversation, and that it has always truly been for me with old and new friends to this very day. Mabel and Julia have long since left this world and it seems that I am light-years from those Victorian afternoons spent at the library, but if I close my eyes I can still smell the soothing aroma of the Bigelow tea mixed with the intoxicating scent of the old and new books and I recall the love and nurturing of those two dear friends, never forgotten.

By Janice Safoyan

Tea lovers make great inventors, perhaps because their beverage of choice is so stimulating and refreshing.

One great tea-sipping inventor was Ruth Bigelow. In 1945, she wanted more than black tea, which was the only kind of tea the typical grocery store carried. Therefore, she invented “Constant Comment”®, which launched Bigelow Tea and revolutionized the way Americans enjoy tea.

Another invention that Bigelow Tea made the most of, starting in 1978, was a machine for making tea bags that overwrapped each sachet in a sealed flavor-protecting pouch. Read about these innovations in My Mother Loved Tea, by David C. Bigelow. He concludes his book saying that the tea industry’s inventive spirit is far from over: “In the years to come we will see more and more deliciously different teas being offered.”

My Mother Loved Tea, by David Bigelow

In addition to creating tea flavors and blends, tea lovers have invented countless tea accessories, such as tea pots (whether ancient stoneware or digital ones), cozies, and infusers, including the award-winning, slim sleek tea stick for measuring and steeping loose tea.

One of the most colorful tea accessories of all time, however, is the Samovar, which was invented in Russia in the 18^th Century. Over the years, craftsmen have created increasingly exquisite vessels steeped in history and art. This creative spirit continues today with the invention of modern day samovars.

Never think that good ideas are all in the past. In fact, invention is in its infancy. If you have an innovative idea, perhaps you should investigate one of the many companies designed to bring ideas to life, such as the Idea Trade Network, Invent Help or Invent Bay. And your invention will be more likely to succeed if you investigate its potential while enjoying a cup of Bigelow Tea!