Shang Tea
2450 Grand Boulevard Suite 106 • Kansas City, Missouri 64108
816-421-2588
When Zehua Shang moved to the United States from China 18 years ago, he found himself craving good tea but was having a hard time finding any. “I just love tea so much. It was the only drink with flavor in my childhood,” Shang says. “We grew up having no juice, no milk, and no bottled drinks. The only thing we could drink was water or tea.”
In 2005, he opened a home-based business, initially selling a few teas, teapots, and homemade jade jewelry. In 2007, Shang expanded his business by partnering with two of his teachers to own a tea farm in the Fujian mountains, and opening a tea house in downtown Kansas City. All teas sold in the shop are personally dried and sourced from farms in China owned by Shang’s close friends, such as Cai Chen Xiao 
and Fang Shou Long, pictured with him above. (Left to right: Xiao, Long, and Shang.) Two months of the year, he works on the farms to oversee the production of the 15 teas that will be sold in his shop. “Basically, I watch every batch of tea,” he notes. “We don’t buy teas from wholesalers. It comes from the farm managed by my friends and family members. While most tea shops can have anywhere from 60 to 80 teas, we have only 15, since we grow them.” In 2016, Shang and a friend planted a new five-acre tea farm in the Fujian province, which he says will be ready to harvest next year. According to Shang, the White Peony King is the most popular tea sold in the shop.
To accompany any of the teas in the teahouse, guests can choose from five food options—many of them delicacies from Shandong Province in China, where Shang spent his childhood. These include specialties like Chai Chicken Soup, Sprout Salad, and Moon Cakes. “We like simple; we like healthy; and we like quality,” he says.
Shang Tea is open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m.
