Steven Smith, a tea company founder who, steeped in memories of sweet Red Rose brewed by his grandmother, helped transform the nation’s tea-drinking habits as much as any American since that party in Boston Harbor in 1773, died on Monday in Portland, Ore. He was 65.

The cause was liver cancer, his company, Steven Smith Teamaker, said.

What Starbucks did for coffee, craft brewers did for beer and artisanal vintners did for wine, Mr. Smith did for the Tao of tea, returning from his worldwide travels with novel varieties to blend.

“Merlin meets Marco Polo” was how the brand strategist Steve Sandstrom described him.

Mr. Smith had abandoned a fledgling ginger-beer business (after his first batch exploded in his closet) when he and partners founded the Stash and Tazo tea companies. Their products were a hit, based on a deceptively simple formula: “Pour hot water over dried leaves, flowers, roots, barks, and enjoy.”

Soon he delivered an arch New Age sales pitch that drew a cult following, gussied up the recipe by reconnoitering plantations in Asia and Africa for ambrosial blends and even persuaded the Food and Drug Administration to certify, as one of Tazo’s exotic ingredients, “the mumbled chantings of a certified tea shaman.”