Creating Abigail’s Blend

From the “Talking Tea with Bruce Richardson” Video Series – Episode 4

Tea Master Bruce Richardson was commissioned to create a signature tea for the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum and Abigails’s Tea Room. He used earthy Chinese black teas from the Yunan Province of China along with contemporary black teas from India and Kenya to create a unique blend called Abigail’s Blend, named for Abigail Adams. This tea is reminiscent of the flavors found in the Chinese black teas thrown overboard during the December 16, 1773 tea party rebellion, but better! It’s a versatile tea that can be drunk with or without milk, hot or cold. Commemorative tins of Abigail’s Blend are available for purchase in the museum gift shop.

Transcript

Speaking: Teamaster Bruce Richardson
Caption text provided by Google/Youtube “Automatic Captions”*

0:00:22
hi i’m bruce richardson tea master for the boston tea party ships museum. today i want to share with you the story of how i went about creating a signature blend for abigail’s tea room at the museum

0:00:35
you know that 80% of the teas thrown overboard in boston harbor in 1773 were black teas from china. so i began my composition with these beautiful rich earthy teas from china but these can be just a bit too strong for contemporary tea drinkers

0:00:53
so i tempered that earthiness with the bit of tea from the assam region of inda. and then to mellow the blend out i went to the nilgiri region of india at the south and added a bit of beautiful black teas from there to make a great smoothness to this blend. then as a nod to our british drinkers, I went to the continent of africa and added a bit of kenya black teas as well.

0:01:22
so this is a composition of china teas as well as contemporary teas from the british empire that go together to make a beautiful black tea that can be served either hot or iced.

0:01:40
you may have opportunity to have tea at abigail’s tea room and then visit our gift shops where you can take home a commemorative tin of abigail’s blend

0:01:51
so until we see you at abigail’s and at the boston tea party ships museum in boston, go forth and make good tea

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