In February 1680, French aristocrat Marie de Rabutin Chantal, the Marquise de Sévigné, told her daughter in a gossipy letter that Madame de la Sablière set the trend for milk in tea. In a letter discussing the nutritional benefits of milk, she wrote, “Il est vrai que madame de la Sabliére prenait du thé avec son lait; elle me le disait l’autre jour: c’était son goût.…” (“It is true that madame de la Sablière takes tea with her milk; she told me the other day; it is her taste.…” (This is slightly different in meaning from the more commonly quoted translation, which says that the grand lady took milk with her tea.)
