The association between tea consumption and risk of ovarian cancer was examined in 61 057 women aged 40 to 76 years who were participants in the population-based Swedish Mammography Cohort. Participants completed a validated 67-item food frequency questionnaire at enrolment between 1987 and 1990, and were followed for cancer incidence through to December 2004. During an average follow-up of 15.1 years, 301 incident cases of invasive epithelial ovarian cancer were ascertained. Tea consumption was inversely associated with the risk of ovarian cancer after controlling for potential confounders. Compared with women who never or seldom (less than monthly) consumed tea, the multivariate hazard ratios for those who consumed less than 1 cup per day, 1 cup per day and 2 or more cups per day were 0.8, 0.76 and 0.54, respectively. Each additional cup of tea per day was associated with an 18% lower risk of ovarian cancer.