Inside the global sourcing game behind Shang Tea and Hugo Tea Company, the KC businesses betting on farm ownership for better brews

It’s easy to take tea for granted. It can be found almost anywhere, from self-serve dispensers at your local gas station market to canned versions lining grocery store shelves. But to tea connoisseurs there’s a definite art to brewing tea and drinking it, and it starts with the leaves.

According to two high-end KC-based tea businesses, Shang Tea and Hugo Tea Company, procuring the best tea leaves possible requires hands-on work with camellia sinensis, the plant from which all true, non-herbal tea is derived: white, green, yellow, oolong, pu’er and black. The difference comes from how the leaves are processed. Native to East Asia, the camellia sinensis plant thrives in tropical and subtropical climates and has been carefully cultivated and harvested for its caffeine-rich leaves for nearly 3,000 years. That also means a long trip to the farm.

Both Shang Tea and Hugo Tea Company hold direct stakes in farms around Asia to ensure the quality of their farm-to-cup products.

Shang Tea, founded in 2005 by Zehua Shang, is on the first floor of Crown Center’s retail shops. Shang has interests in a farm in southeastern China’s mountainous Fujian Province, roughly 7,500 miles from the metro. He regularly visits the farm during the fall and spring harvests and has a team working the crop. 

Black and green teas are what most find familiar, but Shang specializes in the white variety, though he sells several shades of the tea plant’s dried leaves. The major difference, like most crops, lies in the conditions where the tea is grown, notably the soil and altitude above sea level.

In the case of Shang’s farm, the slightly acidic pH conditions, rich in humus and active microbial populations, create the correct aroma and freshness specifically for his signature white tea, he says. The tea plants aren’t delicate but do require regular, specialized tending to achieve the desired flavors.

Once harvested, tea leaves are dried immediately. It’s when the tea leaves have dried that the tea master’s techniques come into play. White tea, for example, is considered the least processed because it is air-dried under the sun. Green tea immediately goes through a roasting, steaming or frying process that retains its hue. Black tea, meanwhile, is fully oxidized, often rolled or mashed, releasing a different flavor profile, and then dried until brown. 

The tea masters all have their own methods of preparation, from fermentation and blending various types of teas to adding floral and herbal elements, such as jasmine.

Hugo Tea Company, founded in 2012, is a wholesaler whose teas can be found at a multitude of grocery stores, restaurants and cafes around the country. The North Kansas City company offers extensive varieties of high-end teas, all sourced from farms abroad, says Will Johnson, a Hugo Tea Company director.

Like Shang Tea, Hugo Tea Company grows tea in Fujian, China, as well as farms in other Chinese locales, such as Guangxi, Yunnan and Guangdong. However, the Hugo team also farms in other parts of Asia, such as Wazuka and Nagasaki, Japan, and Nepal.

Finding your way in a business steeped in thousands of years of history in foreign lands requires commitment and a knack at building relationships that are certainly financial but also transcend pure economics.

“Our commitment to close relationships with our partners across Asia is why we are able to source such wonderful teas,” says Johnson. “These aren’t just our partners; they’re our friends.”

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