10 Women in Tea History You Should Know About 

It’s Women’s History Month! As a woman owned business, we’re ecstatic to take this month to write about women’s roles in tea! The tea industry has a long and rich history. There have been many women throughout history who have played important roles in the cultivation, production, and consumption of tea. Keep reading to learn about just a few examples of women who played important roles in tea and women’s history. Without further ado, here are ten historical women who greatly impacted in the tea industry: 

Catherine of Braganza

Catherine of Braganza was a Portuguese princess who became the Queen Consort of England, Scotland, and Ireland after marrying King Charles II of England in 1662. She is known for introducing her love of tea to the English court. This helped to popularize tea and tea culture in England. 

As a devout Catholic in a Protestant country, Catherine initially faced hostility from some members of the English court. However, she won over many of her critics with her charm, intelligence, and love of tea. Catherine is said to have brought a chest of tea with her from Portugal and to have made tea drinking a fashionable trend among the English aristocracy. 

In addition to bringing her own tea from Portugal, she also received regular shipments of tea from her native country. This helped establish tea as a luxury commodity and status symbol among the English aristocracy. Along with tea, her imports included other fine goods like porcelain and sugar. 

Catherine’s love of tea helped to establish the custom of tea drinking in England. This became an important social ritual and symbol of refinement during the 18th and 19th centuries. The English tea tradition that Catherine helped to create continues to this day.

Madame de la Sabliere

Madame de la Sabliere was a French philosopher and salonist who operated a famous literary salon in her home in Paris in the late 17^th century. She’s all around an incredible woman in history, but she’s also credited with a unique tea related invention.  

Madame de la Sabliere had an incredible education, learning from some of the best scholars of the time. She was educated in math, physics, and astronomy and went on to contribute greatly to moral and religious philosophy. 

Madame de la Sabliere is often said to have popularized adding milk to her tea. This practice grew in popularity through the academics and artists that frequented her salon. 

It’s said that she started this practice as her tea cups were very thin porcelain and could crack with the high temperature of boiling tea. In an effort to keep the cup from cracking, she started adding milk to her cup first. Clearly, it worked! 

Mary Tuke

Mary Tuke was a Quaker philanthropist who lived in the 18th and early 19th centuries.  She made a name for herself in the tea room market. In doing so, she contributed to the popularization of tea in the United Kingdom.  

When faced with the challenge of raising her siblings by herself in 1723, the unmarried 30-year-old opened a grocery store in Walmgate, York. Mary’s shop carried all the popular luxury goods of the time. This included spices from the East Indies, tobacco from the Virginia colony, sugar from Barbados, and of course coffee, chocolate, and tea.  

The City of York denied Mary a license to trade because she was not a member of the “Society of Merchant Adventurers.” Since only men were allowed to join the society, she was ineligible. Nevertheless, she persisted. After eight years in business, she paid a fine to the Society. After that the Society stopped harassing her and threatening imprisonment. 

Sara Elisabeth Moraea 

Sara Elisabeth Moraea, the wife of Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus, is credited with introducing tea to Sweden in the mid-18th century. She reportedly received a gift of tea from a friend in the Dutch East Indies and began serving it to her friends and family. 

In 1740, Sara received a gift of tea from a friend who had recently returned from the Dutch East Indies, and she began serving the tea to her friends and family. The tea was a novelty in Sweden at the time, and it quickly gained popularity among Sara’s circle of acquaintances. 

Sara and Carl Linnaeus were both avid tea drinkers, and they wrote about the health benefits of tea in their writings. Carl Linnaeus also included tea in his taxonomic system. He classified it as Camellia sinensis, a plant species that is native to China and is used to produce tea. 

Sara’s introduction of tea to Sweden helped to establish the country as a market for tea. It also played a role in the development of Sweden’s tea culture. Today, Sweden is known for its love of tea, and it is one of the top consumers of tea per capita in the world. 

While Sara is not widely known outside of Sweden, her role in introducing tea to the country is an important part of tea history. She is recognized as an important figure in the development of Sweden’s tea culture. 

Penelope Barker

Penelope Barker was an activist in the American Revolution who organized the Edenton Tea party. This boycott of British goods happened just 10 months after the famous Boston Tea Party.  

Penelope wrote a statement proposing the boycott, which garnered the support of 50 other women. On October 25^th, 1774 the women gathered to sign the Edenton Tea Party resolution. The resolution stated the women signing would boycott all British made products until Britain stopped their efforts to keep America under their control. This is one of the first recorded women’s political demonstration in America. 

Barker sent the petition to London, where the women were criticized and mocked in the London newspapers. The writers attacked their morals and claimed they were stepping out of their place for not conforming to the gender roles of the time. However, they persisted, and now Penelope is remembered as one of the first women activists in America.

Anna Russell, Duchess of Bedford 

Anna Russell was a British noblewoman who is credited with popularizing the tradition of afternoon tea in the 19th century. She is said to have started the practice of having tea and light refreshments in the late afternoon to stave off hunger between meals. 

In the early 19th century, it was customary for wealthy Britons to eat a large breakfast, a light lunch, and a late dinner. However, the Duchess of Bedford found that she often became hungry in the late afternoon. So she began to request tea and small snacks be brought to her room to tide her over until dinner. 

This practice soon became a habit, and the Duchess began inviting friends to join her for tea and snacks in the afternoon. The custom of afternoon tea became increasingly popular among the upper classes. Eventually it even became a well-established tradition in British culture. 

The Duchess of Bedford was known for her elegant and sophisticated lifestyle, and was a popular figure in high society. Her contributions to the tradition of afternoon tea have been celebrated for generations. She is remembered as a key figure in the development of British tea culture. 

Lydia Pinkham

Lydia Pinkham was an American entrepreneur who became famous for her “vegetable compound.” This patent medicine was used to treat menstrual and menopausal symptoms. Her company also produced a line of herbal teas that were marketed to women. 

Pinkham began experimenting with herbal remedies in the mid-19th century. This lead to her eventually developed a formula that she claimed could alleviate menstrual cramps, hot flashes, and other symptoms of menopause. She began selling her remedy, which she called Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, from her home in Massachusetts, and it quickly became popular among women across the United States. 

Pinkham was an astute marketer, and she promoted her product using a variety of innovative tactics. She printed testimonials from satisfied customers in newspapers and magazines. She even sent out free samples to women who wrote to her for advice. Pinkham also used her own image and story to promote the product, presenting herself as a mother and housewife who had developed the remedy out of a desire to help other women. 

Despite facing criticism and skepticism from the medical establishment, Pinkham’s remedy continued to be popular throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, she is remembered as a pioneering entrepreneur who used her own experiences and expertise to create a product that improved the lives of countless women. 

Catherine Cranston

Catherine Cranston, also known as Kate Cranston, was a Scottish entrepreneur who owned a series of tea rooms in Glasgow in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her tea rooms were known for their elegant décor and high-quality tea and food. They were also popular gathering places for artists, intellectuals, and socialites. 

Cranston was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1849, and began working in the family tea business at a young age. In 1878, she took over the running of the family tea shop on Argyll Street, and over the next several decades she built it into a thriving enterprise. 

Cranston was known for her innovative approach to tea-room design. She commissioned a number of prominent artists and designers to create the distinctive interiors of her tea rooms. These included the famous Scottish architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who designed the interiors of several of Cranston’s tea rooms, including the famous Willow Tea Rooms. 

The Willow Tea Rooms, which opened in 1903, quickly became one of the most popular and well-known tea rooms in Glasgow. The tea room was noted for its striking Art Nouveau decor, which featured elegant lines, flowing curves, and intricate decorative motifs. The tea room was also known for its high-quality food and excellent service. It quickly became a gathering place for the city’s cultural elite. 

Cranston’s success in the tea room business made her one of the most prominent and influential women in Scotland at the time. She was widely admired for her business acumen and her commitment to quality and innovation. Today, Cranston’s tea rooms are still celebrated as some of the finest examples of Art Nouveau design in the world. Her legacy continues to inspire tea lovers and entrepreneurs around the world. 

Dr. Annique Theron

Dr. Theron is credited with discovering many of the unique benefits of Rooibos tisanes. Due to her discoveries, rooibos is now one of the most popular tisanes in  the world. 

In 1968, Dr Theron’s child was suffering from severe allergies when she noticed that the allergic reaction was soothed by a bottle of rooibos tisane. Previously, her daughter had experienced severe reactions to almost everything since birth, even including her breast milk.  

She then began to investigate rooibos’ benefits further. But many of her colleagues in South Africa disregarded her findings based on her gender. Dr Theron faced many challenges, but couldn’t ignore the positive changes she’d seen in her daughter’s health thanks to the rooibos. So she refused to give up. 

Using her scientific background, she continued to research rooibos despite the adversity she faced. Rooibos’s popularity has spread throughout the world as a result of her research. 

Jane Pettigrew

Jane Pettigrew is a British tea expert and writer who has written extensively about tea and its history. She has also been involved in the development of professional tea sommelier training programs and has worked to promote the tea industry around the world. 

She has written several books on tea, including “A Social History of Tea,” “Tea Classified,” and “Jane Pettigrew’s World of Tea.” 

Pettigrew has been involved in the tea industry for over 30 years. She has worked as a tea consultant, trainer, and writer. She is a certified tea master, and has traveled extensively around the world to study tea production, culture, and history. 

Pettigrew is known for her expertise in all aspects of tea, including its production, brewing, and tasting. She is also a passionate advocate for the preservation of tea culture and tradition. She has worked to promote the development of sustainable and ethical tea production practices. 

In addition to her work in the tea industry, Pettigrew is also a regular speaker and presenter on tea-related topics. She has appeared on numerous television and radio programs. She is considered one of the foremost authorities on tea in the world today. Her contributions to the tea industry are widely recognized and celebrated. 

These women are just a few of many

These women and many others have made important contributions to the tea industry throughout history. Their legacies continue to inspire and influence tea lovers around the world today.  

However, this history would be incomplete if we didn’t address the glaring lack of BIPOC representation here. When we were thinking about who to include in this list, we wanted to showcase 10 women who were historically significant in the tea industry. We were especially hoping to showcase BIPOC women in tea history. Unfortunately, there isn’t much documentation to go on. The tea industry has been heavily influenced by racism, white washing, and colonization. Looking back at women who influenced tea culture and the tea industry overall, there’s a fair amount written on white colonizer women, but very little documentation on influential BIPOC women thanks to white washing.

So, while all of the women above certainly had influence on tea history, this list isn’t anywhere near complete. There’s obviously a lack of BIPOC representation. While we can’t go back in time to document all of the BIPOC women who brought us tea, we’re dedicated to acknowledging this disparity and highlighting these women in whatever way possible. 

With that being said, we’ll be publishing further posts for women’s history month on the role women, especially BIPOC women, have played in tea, even if they haven’t become “famous” for it. The women above are only a fraction of the women in tea history. So, we’re not done writing about women’s influence on tea, historically and currently. So, follow us on here or on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, and (NEW) Twitter to read more throughout the month!