Dana Sullivan

First visit to this Trees location, but I’ve been to many of the other locations. The space is clean and comfortable - it’s moderately-sized for downtown and wasn’t crowded around noon on a weekday while I was there. The barista was friendly. I had a veggie breakfast wrap, a slice of strawberry cheesecake (January special), and a cup of Chinese sencha. The breakfast wrap is your standard scrambled eggs wrap with a Southwest touch of black beans and peppers, with a side of spicy salsa. It was good. The strawberry cheesecake had a strong natural strawberry flavour. The texture was nice and light, this one was a bit more mousse-like than most of their cheesecakes. They use high quality tea leaves. My good impression here is consistent with the experiences I’ve had at other locations. Their food is standard cafe fare but notable for being fresh and filling. The cheesecake slices are a good size, not too dense, and all of the flavours I’ve tried so far (which is most of them) are memorable.

I loved the vibe here. The style of decoration is a little old-fashioned (not outdated, just an older aesthetic) with beautiful, interesting artwork covering the walls, a nice fireplace, and plants in the windows. It felt like my grandparents’ living room. The barista was very nice too, which made it a welcoming atmosphere.
I got a tofu sandwich, a brownie, and an iced matcha latte. The sandwich had slices of tofu, slaw, spinach, and soft cheese (I think it was melted cheese, maybe it was a spread) on fig sourdough. I liked that it was something a little different and healthful, and it was delicious (especially the bread), but it had been made in advance and the dressing had really soaked into the bread. The edges of the brownie were a little dry, but the middle was so good - it was fudgy but not overly rich. The matcha latte was very clumpy and the flavour was so-so, though the weak flavour is probably not because they used low-quality matcha but because it wasn’t fully incorporated. I would not get this again.
My total was $21 which is comparable to what I’d pay for a similar meal at chain coffee shops like Blenz or Artigiano. While there are certainly better coffee shops for food, this one was better than the competition at the price point. The food had that wholesome homemade quality that the big chains lack. But ultimately the atmosphere here is so comfortable that I’d choose it over a lot of places with objectively better food, which for me is saying a Iot.

Very positive experience. The barista that took my order was so friendly and made sure to put me at a table where there would be room to store the big instrument I was carrying. They were pretty busy but the assigned seating system took the stress out of finding and choosing a place to sit. Nicely designed place, both in terms of aesthetic and the layout, which fits in lots of seating but isn’t cramped.
I got the Nordic salmon toast, a walnut chocolate chip cookie, and a rooibos tea. All great! Fresh toppings and tasty dill cream cheese on the toast. The cookie was really really good, soft, buttery, chewy, packed with big chunks of chocolate. The tea, although it was just a regular brewed tea, was particularly nice too. They removed the tea leaves before giving it to me and it was brewed perfectly strong with a deep flavour.
The prep time for the food was fast enough that I was in and out in about half an hour. Will probably make a lunch stop here again.

I felt like a lot of care goes into into the business here. The vibe is very homey - no fancy aesthetics, but it’s comfortable. The staff seem very nice.
Huge menu of sandwiches, salads, and breakfast-y things like oatmeal. There’s a display case in front that has some of the sandwiches and stuff in it, but anything on the written menu is fair game to order, which I did not realize until I saw people with sandwiches not from the case. Also there’s the usual coffee/tea drinks and a variety of baked goods, all of which looked delicious. I had an egg & avocado breakfast croissant, a key lime pie, and a flat white. I think the prices are really fair.
The sandwich was made on a cheese croissant and had an additional slice of cheese inside which made it very cheesy but very yummy. The crunch of the melted cheese on the outside was really good. The hard boiled egg inside was a little different from the usual scrambled or fried egg in breakfast sandwiches but I liked this better with the avocado. The only complaint I have is that there was a lot of grease on the bottom of the sandwich, enough to pool on the plate. I liked that they served it with a mini pickle. The key lime pie was a fun and unique take on the dessert - it was made up of layers of key lime custard and tea biscuits. I loved the texturing and the lime flavour was very pronounced. They did a great job on my flat white too. They served it in a disposable cup even though I ordered for here but I’ll assume that was an honest mistake.
Loved the vibe and the food was very well made, so I hope to be back.

Bright, spacious, and clean Chinese bakery. They have a huge selection of buns, cakes, cookies, and more. As with most Chinese bakeries, most of the pastries are individually wrapped and meant to be grabbed with tongs and loaded onto a tray while you shop. Plenty of hand sanitizer around. It was decently busy when I visited, but there's enough room in the store that it wasn't crowded. I tried 3 pastries (Sweet Corn Bun, Preserved Egg Pie, and a slice of Black Sesame Cake) and all were amazing. They all had richly flavoured fillings with a nice balance of sweet and savoury, the cake wasn't too sweet, and tasted super fresh. I like that they have some harder-to-find flavours in their selection of pastries in addition to the classics! They also have some drinks available! I got their HK Milk Tea and found the tea to have a nice complex flavour. Will definitely be coming back to try more.