Bigelow Tea

Bigelow Tea (also known as R. C. Bigelow, Inc.) was founded by Ruth Campbell Bigelow in 1945, headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut. Known for introducing the first 'Constant Comment' tea, the brand now offers a wide range of black, green, herbal, and organic teas. The company remains family-owned and is one of the leading tea manufacturers in the U.S.

Bigelow Tea Company traces its origin to Ruth C. Bigelow’s development of Constant Comment in 1945. Bigelow was an interior designer who adapted an older colonial tea preparation using black tea, orange rind, and sweet spices. The blend was initially made as a distinctive flavored tea rather than as a conventional plain black tea. Its eventual name came from reactions at a private gathering: guests repeatedly commented on its aroma and taste, leading to the expression “constant comment” being adopted as the product name. The tea entered the New York retail market in 1945. Contemporary food writing characterized it as unusually concentrated and economical because a relatively small quantity could produce several cups. Early packaging and sales centered on the distinctive blend, which gave the fledgling company a product with a clear sensory identity. Constant Comment became the foundation for the company’s later range and remains one of its most recognized products. For many years, Bigelow’s growth was gradual. A major commercial turning point came in the 1970s, when the company began packing its tea bags in folding cardboard boxes instead of tins. This packaging change made the products more suitable for wider retail distribution and contributed to the company’s expansion. The business subsequently developed a portfolio covering black, green, and herbal teas, eventually marketing more than 50 varieties. Bigelow’s production network expanded beyond its Fairfield base. The company has additional plants in Boise, Idaho, and Louisville, Kentucky, while tea blending is identified with Fairfield, Connecticut. The company also operates the Charleston Tea Garden in South Carolina. That garden is notable as the only tea garden in the United States, but it does not produce the tea used in Bigelow’s commercial products; the garden is therefore a separate part of the company’s agricultural and visitor-facing identity rather than the source of its packaged tea supply. The company has remained family owned. Public reference material describes Bigelow as 100 percent family owned, distinguishing it from publicly listed packaged-food companies. Cindi Bigelow was identified as chief executive officer in 2016. In comments that year, she said the Constant Comment recipe had not changed since its creation and that only two family members knew the entire formula. This approach reflects the role of product continuity and family stewardship in the brand’s history. Constant Comment has also acquired cultural associations outside the company’s formal commercial history. The product is reportedly connected to Leonard Cohen’s lyric about tea and oranges in “Suzanne,” and it is mentioned in the 1977 children’s novella Mildred Murphy, How Does Your Garden Grow? Neither reference is documented here as an official Bigelow campaign, but both illustrate the product’s recognition in American popular and literary culture. Today, Bigelow is an active American tea manufacturer focused on packaged dried teas. Its business combines a historic signature blend, a broad assortment across major tea categories, multiple domestic facilities, and continued family ownership. Available reference material does not establish a current executive roster, public listing, or detailed international operating footprint beyond the company’s principal United States market.

• 2020

  Bigelow remains a family-owned tea manufacturer

  [1]Bigelow Tea Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Reference material describes the company as fully family owned, with more than 50 tea varieties and facilities in Connecticut, Idaho, and Kentucky.

• 2016

  Bigelow discusses formula continuity

  [1]Bigelow Tea Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Cindi Bigelow says the Constant Comment recipe remains unchanged and that only two family members know the complete formula.

• 1977

  Constant Comment appears in a literary reference

  [1]Bigelow Tea Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The tea is mentioned in Phyllis Green’s children’s novella Mildred Murphy, How Does Your Garden Grow?

• 1970

  Boxed tea-bag packaging supports expansion

  [1]Bigelow Tea Companyen.wikipedia.org

  During the 1970s, Bigelow shifts tea-bag packaging from tins to folding cardboard boxes, a change associated with faster sales growth and wider retail distribution.

• 1945

  Ruth C. Bigelow introduces Constant Comment

  [1]Bigelow Tea Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Ruth C. Bigelow develops and markets a black tea flavored with orange rind and sweet spices, establishing the product that becomes the foundation of the company.

• 1945

  Constant Comment receives early press coverage

  [1]Bigelow Tea Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Food writers Jane Holt and Clementine Paddleford describe the newly introduced tea and explain the origin of its name.

A family-owned American tea maker combining a long-running signature recipe with a broad everyday tea portfolio and domestic blending operations.

• Flavored black tea · 1945

  Constant Comment

  Bigelow’s signature product is a black tea blended with orange rind and sweet spices. Developed by Ruth C. Bigelow in 1945 from an older colonial-style recipe, it was named after guests’ repeated comments about its aroma and flavor. The company has presented the formula as unchanged since its introduction, and the product remains one of Bigelow’s most popular and recognizable offerings.

• Tea

  Black teas

  Bigelow markets a range of black teas, including its flavored Constant Comment blend and other black-tea varieties. Black tea forms one of the company’s principal product categories and is sold primarily as packaged dried tea and tea bags.

• Tea

  Green teas

  Green tea is one of Bigelow’s major portfolio categories. The company markets green teas alongside black and herbal varieties as part of its broad packaged-tea assortment.

• Herbal infusion

  Herbal teas

  Bigelow’s herbal range extends the company’s portfolio beyond traditionally caffeinated tea categories. These products are marketed as part of the company’s assortment of more than 50 tea varieties.

• 2016

  Preserve the original Constant Comment formulaStrategy

  Background

  Constant Comment remained a core product decades after its introduction, making recipe continuity an important part of the brand’s heritage.

  Action taken

  Company leadership stated that the recipe had remained unchanged since 1945 and that access to the complete formula was restricted to two family members.

  Aftermath

  The statement reinforced Bigelow’s positioning around family stewardship, product heritage, and continuity.

  Source

• 1970

  Move from tins to folding cardboard boxesStrategy

  Background

  Bigelow’s tea-bag business had grown gradually, and the company sought packaging better suited to broader retail distribution.

  Action taken

  During the 1970s, Bigelow began packing its tea bags in folding cardboard boxes rather than tins.

  Aftermath

  The packaging change coincided with a substantial acceleration in sales growth and helped support the company’s expansion.

  Source

1. 1Bigelow Tea Companyen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Bigelow Tea official websitebigelowtea.com