Tea shops · Kansas City, United States
Tea shops · Kansas City, United StatesShang Tea
A tea house and salon in Crown Center, founded in 2005, that specialises in white teas from Fujian and sells them from a 15 g sample.
Here the white-tea ladder can be climbed rung by rung, from Shou Mei to Gong Mei to Silver Needle, tasting each one by the pot before buying the bag.
Shang Tea was founded in 2005 and keeps its tea house on the first floor of Crown Center, toward the north end, at 2450 Grand Blvd, Suite 106. The shop opens Monday to Saturday from 10am to 6pm and Sunday from noon to 5pm. In the salon the teas are served by the cup and by the pot, with a small menu of dishes, and the retail counter sells loose teas, tea cakes, porcelain and glass teaware and moon cakes.
White tea from Fujian, made from the Da Bai and Da Hao cultivars, is the speciality. White Peony King starts at US$ 8 for a 15 g sample, Gong Mei is US$ 25 the ounce, Shou Mei is US$ 28 the 2 oz and Silver Needle King is US$ 40 the ounce. The red teas are made from the same white-tea cultivars: Bai Lin Kung Fu from US$ 8 the 15 g and Golden Needle King from US$ 10. An Oriental Beauty oolong, a special reserve green picked from an abandoned tea farm in the southern Fujian mountains and an aged yellow tea round out the list.
Tastings take place in the shop or just outside it: five teas over about an hour, at US$ 50 for one person or US$ 45 per person for two or more, booked at least a week ahead. Sizes run from the 15 g sample to 1, 2, 4 and 8 oz and a full pound. Web orders ship within the United States for a flat US$ 8.95, free over US$ 75, and orders placed before 2pm Central usually leave the same day.
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Where it is
Crown Center
2450 Grand Blvd, Suite 106, Kansas City, MO 64108
First floor of Crown Center, toward the north end.
Hours: Mon–Sat 10:00–18:00 · Sun 12:00–17:00
What to buy here
Pai Mu Tan
White Peony King
from US$ 8 · 15 g
The house's entry white tea, a Bai Mu Dan sold from a 15 g sample, and the natural first step on the white-tea shelf.
See our page on this tea →Black tea
Bai Lin Kung Fu Classic Red Tea
from US$ 8 · 15 g
A Fujian red tea made from a white-tea cultivar, which shows what the same leaf becomes when it is fully oxidised, at the same sample price as the White Peony.
Oriental Beauty
Oriental Beauty Wu-Long
from US$ 9 · 15 g
An Oriental Beauty, the honeyed oolong made from leaves bitten by leafhoppers, and the one oolong on a list built around white tea.
See our page on this tea →
The one worth the trip
Silver Needle King
from US$ 40 · 1 oz
Silver Needle King, buds only, at the top of a white-tea list that runs from Shou Mei upwards: the tea to order by the pot in the salon first, and then to take home by the ounce.
See our page on this tea →All prices
Open a tea to see who else sells it.
| Tea | Type | Price | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| White Peony King | White tea | from US$ 8 | 15 g |
| Bai Lin Kung Fu Classic Red Tea | Black tea | from US$ 8 | 15 g |
| Special Reserve Green Tea | Green tea | from US$ 8 | 15 g |
| Oriental Beauty Wu-Long | Oolong tea | from US$ 9 | 15 g |
| Golden Needle King Red Tea | Black tea | from US$ 10 | 15 g |
| Yunnan Arbor Tree Black Tea | Black tea | US$ 20 | 1 oz |
| Gong Mei Winter Leaf White Tea | White tea | from US$ 25 | 1 oz |
| Shou Mei White Tea | White tea | from US$ 28 | 2 oz |
| Yellow Tea | Yellow tea | US$ 30 | 2 oz |
| Silver Needle King | White tea | from US$ 40 | 1 oz |
Teas you can find here
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