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Show Blender of Tea Like a Musician The emphasis everywhere is on "taking tea" and "seeing" seeing that the big swing is to spiced tea! You take tea and discover dis-cover oranges and sweet spices skillfully blended into it, too. This entire trend goes back only ten short years, when Ruth Bige-low, Bige-low, then a top flight New York decorator, started blending teas and breaking precedents. In a field predominated by men for centuries she suddenly longed for the highly individual teas of China which she was denied because be-cause of the Bamboo curtain. Being a tea taster by heart, she decided to do something toward duplicating the specialty blends. A tea taster, like a poet or a musician, is' born and not made. Such a gifted person knows in advance what a particular tea will contribute when combined with other different teas; recognizes recog-nizes varying characteristics and quality; has a delicate palate, and an exquisite sense of aroma. When she started blending teas for shadings and nuances, for "light tones"a nd "heavy tones" like the composer does. Mrs. Bigelow recalled that from Colonial days on, the special spe-cial treat in the teacup was the add slice of orange, some carefully care-fully selected spices. George Washington was an ardent tea drinker, taking it for breakfast and supper. How did Martha vary his tea? No doubt as others did in her day, by adding spices and orange to his cup. But all this had to be done after the tea was fully brewed. Fortunately, servants serv-ants were at hand to attend to such pleasant chores. But for the modern tea drinker, with no servant at beckand call, with not a minute to spare for extra preparation prep-aration of tea, Mrs. Bigelow has sought to duplicate this delightful delight-ful blend, having it ready to serve without requiring extra time consuming steps. It had to be a complete package, an up-to-date convenience blend, out of the leisurely past but ready for immediate easy serving in the busy homes of today. She must create a tea combination rich but not astringent, lively and yet having a delicacy of taste, with plenty of tang to appeal to both men and women. The flower shaded kitchen of the Bigelow's 18th century home with land, brook and woods for miles in Wilton, Conn., and her workshop. Using just collector's items in her home Mrs. Bigelow went to work, hardly realizing she was re-creating a colonial recipe with authentic tools of that day! There was for instance the one piece hand cut chestnut brown wood bowl, fashioned by an early Yankee settler, into which she poured her selection of mountain grown fine Ceylon tea. The blue and white authentic Canton china fruit dish held her ever replenished supply of fresh oranges. The aluring spices were ground in the little antique coffee cof-fee mill. Then the well worn mortar and pestle came into play followed by the careful mixing of ingredients with an old fashioned fash-ioned wood butter paddle spoon. Mrs. Bigelow blended and tasted again and again until the genuine genu-ine Chinese teapot and teacup revealed success, Only then was the new tea complete, with nothing to add to make it the perfect drink. |