It is said that when Catherine of Braganza arrived from Portugal to marry Charles II in 1662, she brought with her a casket of tea.
Since the Portuguese had been importing tea to Europe from the beginning of the seventeenth century, she had grown up drinking tea as the preferred everyday beverage.
Catherine’s fondness quickly made it fashionable in England, and first the ladies of the court and gradually those further removed from royal life developed a liking for the elegant drink.
When tea was consumed in such a grand setting, it was generally in the company of female friends within a bedchamber or closet (a small room for entertaining guests near the bedchamber).
The tea itself and the delicate pieces of porcelain for brewing and drinking it were displayed in the closet. Inventories for wealthy households during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries list tea equipage not in kitchens or dining rooms, but in these small intimate closets or boudoirs.