Thomas Twining (merchant)

Tea, London. Twining, who learned the trade working for an East India merchant, bought Tom's Coffee House on the Strand in 1706 and specialised in tea when it was an expensive novelty, selling loose leaf to customers who tasted it on the premises. Expert blending and a reputation for unadulterated tea, at a time when much was mixed with leaves and dust, built a business that still trades from the same address.