Afternoon Tea - The Tea Guild Awards - 2010
About The Tea Guild
The Tea Guild is a prestigious and unique organisation that represents and encourages those outlets who are dedicated to both brewing and serving tea to the high standards desired by the United Kingdom Tea Council.
The United Kingdom Tea Council founded The Tea Guild in 1985, after we commissioned an independent survey which discovered that, out of the thousands of outlets serving tea, very few were, in fact, achieving these high standards. The Tea Guild was thus created to recognise and promote those establishments, both large and small, in city, town or village, who were doing so and thereby increase the business of its members through the implementation of a public relations programme and affiliation to the United Kingdom Tea Council and its high profile, wide resources and reputation.
Source: The Tea Guild
The Tea Guild Top London Afternoon Tea Award - 2010
The winner of the UK Tea Council’s Tea Guild award for London in 2010 went to Palm Court at The Langham, Fitzrovia, which won the tea world's highest accolade in The Tea Guild’s Top London Afternoon Tea 2010 award. This Tea Guild event, now in its 25th year, is considered the “Oscars” of the tea world, with world-famous London hotels and tearooms competing for the highly coveted honour.
In addition, the UK Tea Council presented 13 special Awards of Excellence to the following London hotels:
The Montague at the Hyatt Regency - The Churchill
Mayfair
The English Tea Room at Brown’s Hotel
Mayfair
The Rose Lounge at the Sofitel St James Hotel
St James
The Park Room and Library at Grosvenor House
Mayfair
The Park at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park
Knightsbridge
The Athenaeum
Mayfair
Winter Garden at The Landmark Hotel London
Camden Town
Promenade at The Dorchester
Mayfair
The Goring
Victoria
The Lanesborough
Belgravia
Palm Court Lounge at the Park Lane Hotel
Mayfair
The Ritz
Mayfair
The Milestone Hotel
Kensington
The event is now in its 25th year and each year the judges’ task of deciding the awards becomes more challenging. In London more and more people are enjoying the special experience of afternoon tea. Clientele include local business people, families, groups of friends and romantic couples.
Source: UK Tea Council
The Tea Guild National Afternoon Tea Award - 2010
The Black Swan Tearoom and Patisserie in the charming market town of Helmsley, Yorkshire is the winner of The Tea Guild’s UK Top Tea Place Award 2010.
The Black Swan Hotel, Helmsley is a beautiful 15th century property offers a unique combination of traditional charm and luxurious escapism, with its own award winning restaurant and tearoom providing the perfect backdrop for a romantic getaway and a chance to escape the everyday stresses and strains.
Scooping The Tea Guild’s Top Tea Place award is “a dream come true” for Alison Souter, Manager of The Black Swan Tearoom and Patisserie in the charming market town of Helmsley.
Alison, who previously had a career in banking, opened the tea room in December 2007 and since then it has flourished under her management. During this year’s anonymous judging process it was praised as “one of the best tea rooms ever visited” by one of the incognito inspectors.
The dedicated tea menu was awarded bonus points by The Tea Guild’s expert judges and from the choice of 20 blends, Alison would choose an oolong as her perfect cup. “We serve an oolong from the Phoenix Mountains in China that has wonderful peachy notes which just get better with each infusion,” she enthuses. Alison believes it’s perfect with her “favourite” carrot and orange cake, which she confesses is “an indulgence I can never refuse!”
Source: UK Tea Council
