There were a lot of tea shops that I wanted to visit in London (like Postcard Teas!) but I know better than to make a trip mainly about tea – my family likes tea but not that much. But since Twining’s flagship store at 216 Strand is the oldest tea shop in London, it was easy for me to make a case to visit and hopefully buy some exclusive teas to bring back.

My Visit to Twinings Flagship Store 216 Strand

Thomas Twinings, the founder of the brand, first opened a coffee shop at the Strand in 1706. The coffee shop (Tom’s Coffee House) did so well that in 1717, they expanded next door and opened a tea room – the first known tea room in Britain.

To be honest, my first impression of the store was “this is a lot smaller than I imagined”. If I wasn’t specifically looking for the store, I might just walk past it. But to women in the 18th century, this store would have been very important. As Jane Pettigrew and Bruce Richardson write in A Social History of Tea:

“Twinings shop at the Golden Lyon was one of the first into which ladies could enter without any impropriety to buy their tea. Prior to this, women had been obliged to send their husbands or male servants into the forbidden interior of a coffee house to purchase loose leaf tea for home consumption.”

Commemorative photo of me at the store!

The shop supplied tea to many important people, including earls, dukes, countesses, naval officers, and of course, a long list of grocers and coffee stores.

Inside, the shop is pretty narrow and lined on both sides with shelves. There are the usual teas, including the Cold Infuse Teas, as well as a few London-exclusives. My sister and I really liked the single tea bag section because they had pretty unusual flavours and we could mix and match teas; this is where we got lots of teas to hand out in Singapore (the teas were actually more popular than the toffee and fudge I brought back).

Everything here is prepacked and pre-blended, but this wasn’t always the case. Quoting Richard Twining from A Social History of Tea:

“‘In my grandfather’s time … it was the custom for Ladies and Gentlement to come to the shop, and to order their own Teas – the chests used to be spread out, and when my grandfather had mixed some of them together, in the presence of his customers, they used to taste the Tea: and the mixing was varied till it suited the palates of the purchases.” 

If you walk further in the shop, you’ll come across the more “premium” (more expensive) teas and the tea bar. I liked the tea bar – the staff there were friendly and they were very helpful and responsive to my questions. I asked about the golden heart tea and the staff immediately took one out to show me what it was like and offered to brew it for me. I’ve read online that they offer tea masterclasses, but even if you’re not going for that, I think just visiting and talking to the staff would be a good way to start exploring straight teas if you’re a beginner.

Tea Review: Golden Rose Hearts

I bought a few teas for myself and my family at the flagship store, including this one: Golden Rose Hearts. It’s a black tea flavoured with rose. As the official description puts it:

“This Yunnan black tea originates from the oldest tea producing region in the world. The tea leaves and a single rose petal are compressed to form a delicate heart shape, using the traditional Chinese technique known as Tuocha [1].”

The tea is really pretty! You can see one rose petal (which is actually part of the rose bud) on one side of every piece.

Since the tea is pressed, it takes some time to unfurl. But when it does, you get a dark brown tea liquor that smells of roses. It is absolutely lovely and I say this as someone who cannot take overly floral teas [2]. But here, the tea and rose is perfectly balanced – both in smell and taste. I really enjoyed how the rose notes were distinct but not overpowering.

I was wondering what the tea leaves would look like so I took a picture after brewing – it’s pretty small! So while it might take a little longer for the first brew [3], the tea infuses very quickly from the second brew onwards. The official recommendation is 3 to 4 minutes, I assume when you’re brewing in a Western teapot with a higher water to tea ratio, but it also recommends one rounded teaspoon per person but that would be way too much for this tea [4].

Notes & More Information

[1] I’ll have more information on tuocha in another post coming soon – I considered putting it in this post too, but I thought it might be too much at one go.

[2] When brewed, T2’s Lady Esmeralda’s Ultimate Dream Dictionary is what I would consider very floral in terms of taste. In the loose leaf form, I’d consider the tea to smell very floral as well. I’ve tried cold-brewing it because that tends to help with teas that are very strongly flavoured but even then, I couldn’t take more than half a cup. Like I said in the post, it’s really a daytime tea when I don’t want caffeine because the floral notes are just that strong.

[3] If you’re doing it kungfu style and like me, tend to judge by colour and smell. ‘Aggaration’ is an actual thing in Singapore.

[4] I think one heart would fit a teaspoon.

Twinings Flagship Store 216 Strand

Store Opening Hours:

Monday – Friday 9.30 – 19.30
Saturday – Sunday 11.00 – 18.00

Address:

216 Strand, London WC2R 1AP

Online page

Golden Heart Rose Product Page