AFTERNOON TEA EXPERT & FOOD HISTORIAN (AFTERNOON TEA)

Belinda Davenport, is an Afternoon Tea Expert & Tea Historian

Belinda Davenport earns the title Afternoon Tea Expert from almost 20 years of research, experience and by UK Tea Academy qualification at master’s level and can tell you as little or as much as you would like to know about what makes an afternoon tea great, or how Afternoon Tea has developed over the years.

Working to the UK Tea Council Tea Guild’s 17 standards for excellence for afternoon tea delivery, Davenports Tea Room achieved the last Top Tea Place in the UK from reputable, experienced judges such as Malcolm Ferris Lay, tea consultant to Buckingham Palace, who anonymously visited the tea room to assess the delivery.

After winning this coveted award in 2016, judge James Pogson, a previous chair of the UK Tea Council, described Belinda as an Ambassador for Tea, something she still takes to heart.

Analysing what makes the best afternoon tea over almost 20 years, resulted in Belinda contributing to The Hand Book of Tea Tourism, Routledge (2022), the only UK author from 60 Worldwide Tea Professionals contributing to the book.  Her published academic research paper ‘Service Quality in an English Tea Room: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words’, she studied 250 of Davenports Tea Room’s online reviews using Hansen’s Measurement of Meal Eating Experiences, a combination of DINESERV & SERVQUAL, to confirm a 14 year observational study.

Add to this, her love of researching Afternoon History, Belinda has qualified with the UK Tea Academy’s Afternoon Tea Masters level with course director Jane Pettigrew, a well known Tea Historian and author and also William Hansen’s The English Manner Afternoon Tea course.  Why…just to plug any gaps!

Her reading list is extensive and after much research has established solid proof that the Duchess of Bedford’s did NOT invent afternoon tea, which is a very interesting story in itself.  Belinda can easily be considered a Food & Drink Historian, specialising in Afternoon Tea

“My main interest is finding teas that suit individual’s palate, pairing them with the afternoon tea and brewing them according to personal taste.  I get great pleasure introducing teas to individuals, even those that don’t drink tea”.  So much so, she has featured in Country Living magazine (Coronation edition 2023), Cheshire Life feature (June 2023).  “In the past when customers have suggested that something is Traditional, I have extensively researched to find out if it is or how it has been altered over time, and also to enable me to deliver the Ultimate Afternoon Tea Experience.

Belinda is available for talks, press appearances and would be happy to be involved with TV programs having already featured on BBC Breakfast News, BBC One Show, BBC Put your Money Where Your Mouth is and C5 Digging Up Britain’s Past.

Belinda Davenport is the UK Representative on the European Speciality Tea Tourism forum and a founder member of the European Tea Culture Institute and a member of the International Tea Tourism Working Group 
She holds an MA in Tourism Management & is a qualified & experienced travel & tourism lecturer.

Besides, her personal experience running the tea room, Belinda represented the UK, twice personally hand-making 14,000 & 18,000 scones respectively for the famous Hankyu British Fair 2013 & 2014 

In 2023, Belinda was lead presenter on English Afternoon Tea at the Stockholm Gastronomy Conference.