Thomas Twining (1675–1741) was a London merchant who opened Tom’s Coffee House in 1706 near Temple Bar and then in 1717 founded the “Golden Lyon” — England’s first tea retail shop specifically designed to sell fine teas directly to the public, including the women excluded from coffee houses — establishing the Twinings brand that has operated from the same Strand address for over 300 years without interruption.
In-Depth Explanation
Thomas Twining was born in 1675 and entered the tea trade at a time when tea was still an expensive luxury in England, largely controlled by the East India Company and sold through coffee houses and apothecaries.
Tom’s Coffee House (1706): Twining’s first venture was a coffee house near the Temple Bar on the Strand in London. Coffee houses were the dominant social institutions of the era, but they excluded women — which meant that half the potential tea-buying market was underserved.
The Golden Lyon (1717): In 1717, Twining opened a tea and coffee retailer next to his coffee house — the “Golden Lyon” — and critically, it was open to both men and women. This was one of the earliest establishments where women could purchase quality teas directly. The shop sold dry (packaged) teas that customers could take home, making it a forerunner of the modern tea shop.
The Strand address: The original premises at 216 Strand, London is still the home of a Twinings store and the Twinings museum — making it one of the oldest continuously operating retail addresses in Britain.
Building the business: Thomas’s descendants continued and expanded the business over the following generations. His son Daniel Twining and later Richard Twining (who lobbied successfully for tea tax reduction in the Commutation Act of 1784) built it into a major brand. Today Twinings is one of the world’s most recognized tea brands.
Tea tax and smuggling context: In Twining’s era, high import duties on tea drove enormous smuggling operations — possibly 50–75% of tea consumed in Britain arrived illegally. The legitimate tea trade operated under these constraints, and quality control varied enormously.
Related Terms
See Also
- Catherine of Braganza — the Portuguese queen who helped establish tea as an elite English fashion
- Arthur Brooke — later tea entrepreneur who made tea accessible to working-class consumers
- Sakubo – Study Japanese
Research
- Ellis, M., Coulton, R., & Mauger, M. (2015). Empire of Tea: The Asian Leaf that Conquered the World. Reaktion Books. Covers the London tea trade and Twining’s role.
- Rappaport, E. (2017). A Thirst for Empire: How Tea Shaped the Modern World. Princeton University Press.