WINCHCOMBE, England (UPI) -- A Japanese woman has won this year's award for operating the top tearoom in Britain, a country with a markedly different tea tradition from her own.

Juri Miyawaki and her parents operate the Olde Bakery Tea Shoppe in the quaint and ancient town of Winchcombe in the Cotswolds. Britain's Tea Guild selected her teashop as its Top Tea Place for 2008, Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

Miyawaki, 32, moved to Europe as a young girl when her father was transferred there. She studied cooking in France and opened her tearoom five years ago, trying to bring French cooking to the Cotswolds, with little success.

One day, she overheard a customer complain the cakes just did not taste right.

"That was an eye-opener," she said.

Miyawaki began studying books on British tea specialties and now serves classics such as Victoria sponge cake.

cool

That was

Yep, very cool.