Jo Steer

However, a tea-loving businessman was about to offer ladies a foot in the door, so to speak.

Thomas Twining was not the first coffeehouse owner to sell tea in England, but he was arguably the most passionate.

Twining was the son of a weaver and had initially followed in his father's footsteps.

But later, while working as an apprentice for an East India Company merchant, he became interested in tea.

In 1706, Twining opened up a London coffee house, which also sold tea.

The competition between businesses was fierce, but Twining's love of tea gave him the edge over other coffee houses.

It also proved highly profitable.

Tea was a luxury good.

and Twining's gunpowder green tea sold for the equivalent of around 160 pounds per 100 grams of tea.

Twining quickly gained a reputation among elite circles.

London's upper-class ladies would queue outside his coffeehouse in their gilded carriages, while their footmen went inside to collect their tea orders.

an ambitious and innovative businessman, Twining used the profits to purchase three adjacent buildings.

Then in 1717, he opened the Golden Lion.

It was possibly the world's first ever shop selling both dry tea and coffee.

What's more, it was open to men and women.

Twining helped to normalize women shopping for tea and drinking it in public.

According to a later account, great ladies used to flock to Twining's house in Devereux Court in order to sip the enlivening beverage in very small china cups.

Catherine of Braganza had popularized tea, and later Thomas Twining had made it more available.

But it still maintained its exclusive price tag and was unaffordable for the majority of society.

It became a mark of status among the aristocracy to offer tea to visiting guests.