A tea chain with seven locations across Ontario is opening its first Burnaby shop at Crystal Mall.
A Noms Magazine community member (alan) spotted Coming Soon wraps for ChaHalo on the outer side of the mall.
It’s taking over the unit that was briefly home to Pixwi Pizza, and the old Pixwi sign is still hanging above the windows.
The windows are now covered in ChaHalo’s terracotta artwork, with its tall printed cups, a drink topped with whipped cream, and a spread of loose tea leaves and teacups.
There’s no opening date yet, and the brand hasn’t announced this location.
This will be ChaHalo’s second spot in BC.
The first opened at Empire Centre in Richmond, in the old Whale Tea unit, and when we visited on its soft opening day in May 2025, the line spiralled out the door without any big promotion.
ChaHalo started as a small tea house in Xi’an in the winter of 2016, and opened its first store outside China in Toronto in the fall of 2023.
The drinks lean tea-forward rather than fruity, and they come in paper cups printed with old-style Chinese artwork.
In Richmond, we tried the signature black tea milk frappe, and the tea flavour was rich and smooth, close to what you’d get at Chayan.
But the Crystal Mall area is already one of Burnaby’s busiest bubble tea stretches.
ChaHalo will be up against chains like HeyTea, CoCo, Alfa Tea, Chatime, Sharetea, Presso Tea and CHICHA San Chen, along with Choo Tea and independents like Tae Tea, Money Tea and Cafe Eggstatic.
The newest arrival before this was Toppings InfiniTEA, a self-serve shop that opened in October.
Not every tea shop here has lasted, either, with Lattea closing in the spring.
For Burnaby drinkers who have been heading to Richmond for ChaHalo, the Crystal Mall shop should save a trip once it opens.
ChaHalo joins other recent Burnaby openings like Kinton Ramen at City of Lougheed, Greyhound Tavern near The Amazing Brentwood and Hei Hei Rice Roll inside Crystal Mall.
Address
Crystal Mall, 4500 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC (former Pixwi Pizza unit, outer side of the mall)
