Our opening speaker in our fourteenth season of talks on Kentucky Live! Southern Culture at Its Best was one of the world’s leading tea experts Bruce Richardson, who is a writer, photographer, tea blender and frequent speaker at tea events around the country. The theme of Bruce’s talk in our series was “The Tea Things of Jane Austen,” which took place at Barnes & Noble on the evening of September 8. Book signing ensued after his talk.
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Bruce Richardson, “The Tea Things of Jane Austen” event flyer
Our opening speaker in our fourteenth season of talks on Kentucky Live! Southern Culture at Its Best is one of the world’s leading tea experts. A native of Kentucky, Bruce Richardson is a writer, photographer, tea blender and frequent speaker at tea events around the country. As co-owner of Elmwood Inn Fine Teas in Danville, Kentucky his teas are sold throughout the country and online.
Bruce Richardson, Co-owner of Elmwood Inn Fine Teas and Benjamin Press
Bruce has been a contributing source for articles found in Slate magazine, MTV, CNN, The Smithsonian, National Geographic, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and the BBC. In 2011 he was named Tea Master for the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum whose mission is to help define tea’s role in that famous 1773 historical event.
The Boston Tea-Party, 1888. New York Public Library.
Prize-winning bushes protected by blue netting near Mt. Fuji, Japan
One of his most popular books is The Great Tea Rooms of Britain published by Benjamin Press which is now in its fifth edition. In it he takes you on a romantic journey to twenty-two of his favorite locations for afternoon tea in England, Scotland and Wales It’s filled with beautiful photographs by John Gentry and comes complete with travel suggestions and recipes.
The Great Tea Rooms of Britain by Bruce Richardson
The New Tea Companion: A Guide to Teas Throughout the World, 3rd edition, by Jane Pettigrew & Bruce Richardson
With Jane Pettigrew he has created a major reference source The New Tea Companion: A Guide to Teas Throughout the World, the third edition of which was also published by Benjamin Press in 2015. It’s used by tea professionals around the world and describes teas by country of origin along with tasting notes, steeping times and temperatures.
Tea Pickers in Assam, India by Bruce Richardson
Tea Factory in Sri Lanka, by Bruce Richardson
As befits a Kentucky based company, the Elmwood Inn Fine Teas company offers a “Kentucky blend tea” and a “Bourbon black tea.”
Elmwood Inn Fine teas Kentucky Blend
Elmwood Inn Fine Teas Bourbon Black Tea
The theme of Bruce’s talk in our series will be “The Tea Things of Jane Austen” which is one of his most popular. The talk is at 7 p.m. at Barnes & Noble (1680 Campbell Lane) on Thursday, September 8. Door prizes and a book signing are to follow, we hope you’ll join us!