Tea & Books Saturday #1 - "Twinings: 250 Years of Tea and Coffee"

Having a weekly "tea goal" last year was so productive that this year, I've decided to turn my attention to tackling yet another goal: reading all those old tea books I've been collecting! While I've enjoyed going through a lot of these books as soon as I got them, there are many of them I've merely looked through, and it's time to further my tea education with some good old-fashioned reading of these tea histories, vintage tea cookbooks and other volumes. So I hope some of you will join me this year as I offer a brief review of what I've been reading each week. While I will no doubt come across new releases about tea throughout the year, I'm reserving these Saturday posts for reviews of older titles that may be new to you. I hope you'll join me!

Twinings: Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Tea and Coffee
By Stephen H. Twining, M.B.E.
Published in 1956 by R. Twining & Co. Ltd.

Upon visiting the Twinings shop at 216 The Strand in London several years ago, I was very much struck by the fact I was doing business with and at a firm that had been around for nearly 300 years! In fact, the company would go on to celebrate that amazing 300th birthday in 2006. I started seeking more information on Twinings and found this wonderful book on eBay, written (and to my surprise, signed) by Stephen Twining, and packed full of delightful information about the tea trade in general as well as the Twining family in particular.

Like other such businesses of the day, this one started by Thomas Twining in 1706 was at first known as "Tom's Coffee-house." The book details the life of the early coffeehouses and how important they were as public meeting places. Did you know the phrase T.I.P. ("to insure promptness") originated at a coffeehouse? Boxes were nailed to the walls, and patrons who required speedy service would put money in them. But while coffee is an important part of the history, it is most enlightening to read how the company founded and grew its tea trade, and how that trade evolved over the years.

The most fun thing I learned from this book concerned none other than President George Washington, who in 1796 was visited by Thomas Twining (this Thomas was a son of Richard Twining I, not the original founder). Twining tells of calling on "General Washington" and being greeted by Mrs. Washington: "She sat down on the sofa, and invited me to sit by her. I spoke of the pleasant days I had passed at Washington ... While engaged in this conversation, but with my thoughts turned to the expected arrival of the General, the door opened, and Mrs. Washington and myself rising, she said, 'The President,' and introduced me to him. Never did I feel more interest than at this moment, when I saw the tall, upright, venerable figure of this great man advancing towards me to take me by the hand. There was a seriousness in his manner which seemed to contribute to the impressive dignity of his person ... There are persons in whose appearance one looks in vain for the qualities they are known to possess, but the appearance of General Washington harmonized in a singular manner with the dignity and modesty of his public life." (Made me proud, that did!) Twining goes on to confess his one regret of the meeting: Washington invited Twining to take tea with him that evening, but because of another engagement Twining declined.

The author's hobbies included genealogy, and that shows in the book, with lots of family names and lists that will probably best be enjoyed by Twining family members. I found my eyes glazing over a bit there, but I did enjoy reading about the various royal warrants (sort of like a high-class Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval) the Twinings received. In the first year of Queen Victoria's reign, a royal warrant was granted to Richard Twining II as "Purveyor of Tea in Ordinary to Her Majesty." In other royal news, I learned that Twinings was called on in 1924 to make a miniature tea chest and coffee tin for Queen Mary's Doll's House. The book also includes "selected lists of customers" as well as illustrations of documents and newspaper clippings from the early days at Twinings. I'm not sure I'd recommend this book to every tea lover, but those with a special interest in tea and history would most likely find this an enjoyable read.