I'm sure you're right about the imbalance between males and females among tea fanatics.

But I think it isn't only tea. I see it in other pools whose deep ends I hang out in: computer programming and Western classical music. (Maybe it's true among coffee nerds, too - but I wouldn't know!)

I have been thinking about the gendered consumption of tea, but more specific...in that it seems (at least in my limited understanding) that many of the "serious" pu-erh drinkers are men, and the one forum where these pu-erh drinkers frequent (Badger & Blade) reads like a gentleman's club of sort. I remember Imen mentioning a while ago about how teas like pu-erh or heavily roasted oolong (like yancha) are more "macho" and "manly," while green tea is more delicate and feminine. Something about the yin and yang of these tea types, IIRC.

Almost every time I introduce the whole gong fu cha thing to a friend or family member, one of the first questions that comes up is "Is this usually done by women in China?"

That's interesting. I'd never given it much though, but I intuitively associate coffee moreso than tea with femininity. I supposed that's because growing up, my mom drank coffee and my dad drank tea.

I've noticed the same male tendency toward tea in the US. The few of my females friends that are big on tea are so primarily because I got them into it.

At least in the west I consider it a Male flautist scenario. Some of the best flute players I have ever heard were males, yet a vast majority of people starting out on the flute are female.

My view is if you are a male practicing something thats considered feminine he feels the need to excel, in a hope to redeem himself.

For various reasons (having more to do with nurture than nature, I imagine), I think men (*generally speaking*) tend to take nerdy hobbies to the extreme a little more than women. Also, a lot of us know tea friends from online, and I think you tend to get a lot of people who are computer / engineering type people on tea newsgroups and forums -- professions that are a bit skewed towards men as well. I do know a lot of women who are pretty nerdy about tea, though. On the flip side of this, I think more women than men tend to act interested when it comes up that I have an interest in tea.

In reference to Maitre_tea's comment, I think there are definitely some interesting stereotypes about which types of tea are masculine or feminine, and you definitely see certain teas falling a little more towards one side or another of the gender aisle. But I think you will also find quite a number of exceptions; men who are passionate about green tea or delicate, floral oolongs, or women who are into teas with rich, bold flavors. And while many people may have certain teas that they're more passionate about than others, most tea-lovers I know are able to appreciate good teas of various types. I wonder if gender sometimes plays a little bit of a role in brewing technique as well. Are men more likely than women to stuff the pot or brew with a heavier hand, or is that just a stereotype?

As far as why the brewer in tea shops in China is usually female, I had one woman who brewed tea at a factory offer an interesting explanation for this. She claimed that this was because men weren't patient enough, and more likely to move on too quickly when brewing tea for clients. I think a lot of it, though, boils down to tradition, men wanting to buy from a pretty woman, and from (male) customers enjoying having women in a traditional (i.e., subservient) role in serving them.

@Will - 

So even in something like tea, sex sells

Sex always sells!

I'm not entirely convinced by the argument that online communities show a skewed sample of male/female ratio, if only because this has been true in my encounters in China as well, where the tea networks that I was hanging out in were decidedly not based on any sort of online forums.

The male flautist scenario is quite similar, in a way, and can be applied to many other things as well. I do wonder if there are structural obstacles to women getting ahead in some of these fields, say, music. Tea, however, can be practiced at home and what not, so it would seem to apply less. But perhaps the demands of child-rearing takes a toll on the time available to make tea decently, whereas a father would probably just ignore the crying baby while pouring that fourth infusion....

At the risk of going a tiny bit off-topic, it just occurred to me that many of my best tea friends are gay, disproportionately many, I'd say.

In general I think men are competitive. They're more apt to steer toward the deep end of things and be vocal about it, whether it's cars, cigars, sports, etc and for tea, gongfu is where you end up. I'm not sure that women are less apt to drink or prepare tea, but I do think they will be less prone to bragging about their stash, teaware, etc and probably lurk on boards more than men. When you factor in the "butch-ness" it may also skew the perception/vocalization vs the actual participant pool.

@Lew: I think there's some truth to what you say, at least in the US. Because of the whole tea party thing, tea has been considered some what unpatriotic. I think gays in general are quicker to embrace things that may be considered counter establishment, esp if it's considered trendy, elegant, or otherwise interestingly different elsewhere in the world. I suppose if a groups is lump'd outside the norm, they may pay more attention to things that are also considered outside the norm.

Guilty. I favored Wuyi Yancha over lighter-roasted Oolongs because I didn't want to drink women's perfume. That's because the darker flavor was manly. And now I'm devoted to Puerh, which is here said to be a masculine tea. No, I don't want the girly tea, and I realize it and admit it. With my tea friends on Twitter and Facebook, there are plenty of women, though. A lot of women run tea stores or write tea books, and are just as tea-crazed as male tea business types.

no jason, this would be assholed consumption you are talking about, not gendered.