#noble fleming

Obit of the Day: The Tea Master

When Noble Fleming was nineteen he wanted get out of "rainy old London" desperately. So when the top tea taster for Thomas Lipton invited him to join him as an apprentice in India, Fleming jumped at the chance. Thus began a career that would spend 45 years and thousands of sips of tea from bone white china cups.

Fleming, who was asked to move to the United States by Lipton after World War II, became the most influential palate in the industry. He and his assistants would travel to Sri Lanka, India, and East Africa to examine the crops on various tea estates. They would then return to Englewood Cliffs, NJ, home of Lipton in the U.S., and examine dried teas before sipping them. (Like his counterparts in the wine industry, Fleming would never drink the tea but simply spit it out.)

By the time Fleming retired Lipton tea dominated the market. Noble Fleming, who left a legacy of highly trained proteges, died at the age of 92.

(Image copyright Gene Maggio/New York Times)