Bad Peach Cafe will not be a boba shop, said owner Angela Chung. Instead, she plans to offer an array of tea beverages and globally-inspired sandwiches on the go, right next door to her first restaurant, Chi Lin Asian Eatery in Aurora’s Stanley Marketplace.
“I chose this name because Bad Peach is not your average tea cafe, it represents a lifestyle brand that is about being a boss at what you do and living your best life,” said Chung. “I want to share not only a curation of good drinks and food inspired by my Taiwanese-American background, but also create a memorable experience for my guests.”
The new cafe, opening October 11, has a sleek black, pink, and white color motif, and with exposed tiles around the area, it almost feels like an ice cream shop. However, on the menu you’ll find an array of Taiwanese-style teas including the Tiger Brulee Milk Tea with a snow cap, torched sugar and brown sugar jelly; Taiwanese Pineapple Cake tea with a butter cream bun cap and shortbread crumbles; and Life’s a Peach Cloud tea with real fruit and a whipped tea cloud. And yes, you can add homemade crystal boba to the drinks, as well as homemade aiyu jelly and grass jelly.
Bad Peach will also serve fruit teas using fresh fruit purees, and basic tea such as green jasmine, chrysanthemum, wintermelon, and peach oolong. On the food side, Chung has worked on creating a world of sandwiches. Think traditional Japanese egg salad, a BLT made with chashu, and the K-Chop Cheese, a nod to the New York City deli classic.
This isn’t Chung’s first restaurant, but it is the first she designed from the ground up. The young entrepreneur bought Chi Lin in 2021 from the original founders, Charlene and Robert Thai, who still run Lemongrass and the sushi spot Misaki at Stanley. Over the years Chung has transformed the colorful restaurant into the fun and casual pan-Asian eatery those visiting the market have come to expect.
But even Chi Lin wasn’t the first restaurant in her life. Chung was born in New York, but most of her childhood was spent in Colorado after her family moved here to open up United Chinese Restaurant + Sushi in Thornton. The concept started at a spot in Westminster, but later moved to Broomfield and subsequently they opened the current restaurant in Thornton. The Broomfield location was under the Chung family’s ownership until 2015, when they sold it. Through all this, Chung grew up working and hanging out in the establishments, learning from experience and the sort of service osmosis one gets when imbued inside a restaurant your whole life.
“I was born into it, and my parents have always been in restaurants, and I grew up being in restaurants,” she said, adding that often she would hang out after school, sometimes helping to serve drinks and open sodas. “I’ve always had a passion for it and I’ve always wanted to do my own thing too.”
But even though Chung loved the restaurant industry, she wasn’t sure that was where life would lead her. She went to CU Boulder to study business, knowing she would want to own her own establishment some day. But she also tapped into her creative side and studied photography.
“After college, I was like, I’m out of here. There was nothing for me here in terms of creatives, so I moved to LA and did freelance photography and videography,” she explained, adding that she stayed in California for eight years. “I learned a lot, but eventually I just decided to go back to restaurants and move back here [to Colorado] during COVID.”
That’s what led her to Chi Lin and the start of her solo restaurant career. Though some similarities can be found between her parent’s style and her own. At both United and her own place you can find robot servers rolling around. At Chi Lin there’s Bella, the kitty robot that makes cute faces and drives the food to tables, and arguably is the most popular employee of the eatery.
So far there are no plans to bring Bella next door to Bad Peach, but fans of the robot can always peek in and say “hi” while picking up tea and a sandwich to go.
Join Chung at Bad Peach for the grand opening on October 11 at 11 a.m. To celebrate you can catch a lion dance, ribbon cutting ceremony, and raffles. Visit the website for details and updates. 2501 Dallas St., Aurora, badpeachcafe.com
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