Searching for Mother Tea
While ‘Divine Farmer’ Shennong is often credited as the father of tea for his discovery of our favourite leaf, the spot for mother of tea remains vacant. Adeline Teoh proposes a few names ahead of Mother’s Day on 12 May.
It’s a shame that for much of tea’s history, women have been side-lined. Though tea has developed over several millennia, female names have rarely been associated with our beloved beverage until the last few centuries. Women, of course, have been crucial to the development of tea – from plucking to marketing – albeit anonymously. This means that while we call Shennong the ‘father of tea’, we do not have a maternal counterpart.
Here are a few mothers of tea who could vie for the title:
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
Mother to seven children and a generation of suffragists, Elizabeth led the US women’s rights movement for more than five decades around her portable tea table. Through tea events she mobilised thousands of women, which culminated in the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments (signed on said tea table) that paved the way for female suffrage. She was also the lead author for The Woman's Bible, which theologically challenged the notion of women’s subservience to men.
Yukako Sen Shinseiin (1850-1916)
Of the three main chanoyu schools in Japan, Urasenke is the largest and most famous. Daughter of Urasenke's 11th generation master Gengensai Seichu Soshitsu, Yukako took tea practice from a male-only domain linked to the samurai class and turned it into an education opportunity for girls. Thanks to social upheaval in late 19th-century Japan, she successfully petitioned to add chanoyu to the curriculum of the new girls' schools. Her son became Urasenke’s 13th generation tea master.
Yelizaveta Petrovna (1709-1762)
‘Elizabeth of Russia’ was instrumental in increasing trade with China, which included caravans and caravans of tea. This brought the price down so more Russians could afford it, drink it, fall in love with it. Historians also credit her with the introduction of the Persian samovar to Russia. A kettle and brewing device in one, samovars are a staple of many Russian homes to this day. While Yelizaveta never had children, she did adopt her nephew, Peter III, who married the woman we’ve come to know as Catherine the Great.
Suffragist, school teacher or samovar enthusiast – who do you think should be crowned mother of tea? (Or nominate someone else!)
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(Below: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony with Elizabeth's famous tea table where the US women's suffrage movement build momentum. Image source: Right Now.)
