Teatime Tuesday: British Tea Companies

 Teatime Tuesday: British Tea Companies

Jigsaw puzzles and tea are two of my favorite things, although I came to both later in life. Hubby and I now own about fifty(!) jigsaw puzzles, and one of our recent purchases from White Mountain Puzzles is “Teatime.” As an inveterate researcher, I couldn’t help but investigate the various business displayed. Today I’ll be sharing about two of the British companies.

Twinings:
Founded in 1706, Twinings has the honor of holding the world’s oldest continuously used logo as well as being “London’s longest-standing ratepayer” (taxpayer for us Americans). The company has occupied the same building at 216 Strand since its founding.

The Twinings family originally hailed from Gloucestershire where they were weavers. However,

business took a bad turn during a recession, and the family went to London in 1684 to find work. When he was old enough their son Thomas was apprenticed to a weaver but changed careers (somewhat unusual for the time), and he went to work for a tea merchant. He then found employment with the East India Company and by all accounts did well for himself.

Coffee house were popular places for men to hold meeting, and in 1706, the savvy young Thomas purchased Tom’s Coffee House where he also sold tea which was gaining in popularity. He soon realized he was selling more dry tea than brewed tea and changed his business model to include selling the dry tea to other coffee houses and wealthy households. By 1717, he was so successful, he was able to purchase adjacent houses and expand his business. After Thomas passed away in 1741, he son Daniel took over and by 1749 was exporting tea to the American colonies. According to the Twinings website “when the Boston Tea Party dumped English tea into the harbor to protest against the British imposing taxation without representation, a local writer noted ‘…it was not Twinings tea the Boston rebels tossed into the sea.’”

Good to know.

Horniman's

The second brand pictured on the puzzle is Horniman’s which was founded in 1826 by Quaker John Horniman who lived in Newport, Isle of Wight. At this time, tea leaves were sold “loosely,” which allowed dishonest traders to add filler such as hedge clippings or dust (Wikipedia). John came up with a way to use mechanical devices to fill pre-sealed packages thus reducing his cost of production, but more importantly guaranteeing a high-quality product.

He was a marketing genius and heavily promoted his tea as “pure.” The illustration on his materials shows the harvesting and processing of the tea being done in a small, rural setting “under the watchful eye of Horniman’s Tea Company.” Additional verbiage touted, “imported free from the usual injurious mineral facing powder.”

According to the Horniman website, John also “emphasized how tea could improve the drinker’s life…

marketing centered on women from upper-class background…and the go-to tea for the household.” Customers could also receive coupons and discounts, and “if someone bought enough tea, they could get discounted or free clothing, jewelry, cutlery, and/or children’s toys.

His tactics worked. By 1891, Horniman’s was the largest tea trading business in the world.

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About Eye of the Beholder (Apron Strings Tea Tales)

Shunned for his appearance, a disfigured veteran encounters acceptance and love where he least expects it.

Left with physical and emotional scars after the Great War, Hank Drake has been shunned by polite society as the Ugly Duckling. Fine by him. He’d much rather be alone. Until he meets the kind proprietress of a tea stand at New York’s World’s Fair who isn’t repulsed by his appearance. Can he hope for acceptance…or even love?

Grace Sutton has no interest in marrying and is tired of her parent’s snide comments that she’s still single on the eve of her 40th birthday. After she loses her job thanks to budget cuts, she decides it’s time to follow her dream of feeding others. Armed with Mrs. Canfield’s cookbook, she opens a refreshment stand at the World’s Fair unaware how one man will turn her life upside down and upset the apple…er, tea cart.

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3Pz88KO

Sources:
https://twinings.co.uk/blogs/news/history-of-twinings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinings
https://www.horniman.ac.uk/story/hornimans-pure-tea/
https://postcardhistory.net/2025/04/the-history-of-hornimans-pure-tea/

Photo Credits:

Tea Puzzle: Courtesy White Mountain Puzzles

Thomas Twinings: By Unknown author - http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.asp. Public Domain.

John Horniman: Courtesy Sarah Montgomery http://www.quakersintheworld.org

Horniman's Advertisement: Courtesy https://www.horniman.ac.uk/story/hornimans-pure-tea/