WOMEN have had a role in the promotion and history of that most delectable and refreshing beverage throughout its time in the Western world
TEA CAME TO ENGLAND BECAUSE A WOMAN SET THE FASHION.
Catherine of Braganza was a Portuguese and had a habit of drinking tea, and when her husband, Charles II became the king of England, she brought tea with her to England. Seeing her enjoying tea, the British soon began to import the beverage.
ONE OF THE FIRST TEA MERCHANTS WAS MARIA TEWKES of York. She was single and her firm was quite successful due to what must have been an extraordinary determination for the time, 1725.
A lady who loved her tea but loved her liberty more was PENELOPE BARKER of Edenton, North Carolina. In the autumn of 1774 she organized a group of fifty one socially prominent women to sign a pledge not to drink tea until "All acts which tend to enslave our Native Country shall be repealed..." and thus organized another kind of the "Tea Parties" , THE BOSTON TEA PARTY, which fired the American Revolution. There is still a large commemorative monument in Edenton that has an oversized teapot as part of it.
We must give credit to ANNA,the DUCHESS OF BEDFORD, who is considered the inventor of the AFTERNOON TEATIME. Her between meals hunger led to what really became an industry, as the afternoon tea became a ritual with the British around the world and trickled down to many cultures.
Running a little tea room became the financial salvation for many a widow or otherwise impecunious woman. It was a socially acceptable way to make a living and could be done in the home by using a parlor or other entertaining space for it.
So let's raise our cup and salute the women of tea and those of both sexes who enjoy it often.
HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY!!!