The First Tea Shop

Courtsey: ALL ABOUT TEA by William H. Ukers

A  Newspaper Advertisement of 1680 Offering Tea at Thirty Shillings a Pound

An event significant of the progress tea was making in London occurred in the year 1717, when Thomas Twining transformed “Tom’s Coffee House” into the “Golden Lyon,” the first tea shop in England. Unlike the coffee houses, which had been patronized only by men, the Golden Lyon was frequented alike by both sexes. Edward Walford writes : “Great ladies flocked to Twining’s house in Devereaux Court in order to sip the enlivening beverage in small cups for which they paid their shillings.”