Trees Organic Coffee : Granville Street location

After grabbing some $2.85 burgers, my friend and I walked across the street, literally, and ordered cheesecake. Well, actually, I wanted a sandwich and my friend mentioned that the coffee shop has some. But hey, there is always room for cheesecake right? Trees Organic Coffee claims to have "Vancouver's best cheesecake" and with surprisingly five locations, it must be good!

The cafe was 75% full on a Friday late afternoon around 4:00pm with a mixed clientele of hipsters, students and those grabbing coffee on the go. Trees Organic Coffee has plenty of cookies, cheesecake and a few baked goods such as biscotti, scones and croissant. Sandwiches are also available like my friend mentioned, however, pre-made. Plus, they looked very generic and for around $11.00, I rather go to a sandwich joint that sells freshly made ones.

PREMIUM CHEESECAKE, RASPBERRY WHITE CHOCOLATE ($7.50).

The cheesecake has a soft mousse taste and texture due to the use of white chocolate, rather than the typical creamy rich cheesecake flavour. In addition, despite the soft fluffiness and not really a typical cheesecake, the white chocolate taste is not very apparent (which can happen when baking) and the raspberries do not taste sour nor sweet.

However, there is a slight lemony citrus taste. The cheesecake pretty much just tastes.. like a light sour and kind of tasteless mousse. As for the crust, some more butter should have been used because the crust powders up and is not structured at all. Also, the cheesecake comes with a side of generic whipped cream.

PREMIUM SLICE CHEESECAKE, MAPLE WALNUT ($7.50). 

We were a bit concerned that the maple walnut would taste too sweet and fortunately, it did not. The cheesecake tastes creamy, slightly stiff and definitely properly made (to be fair, many cheaper or pricier places can properly make cheesecakes). However, there is almost no hint of maple.

Also, although there is a good amount of walnuts which provide a nice crunch, the cheesecake does not have much of a maple taste at all. I guess the maple syrup is added on the side to enhance the flavours? Fortunately though, the crust, the crust is less powdery compared to the raspberry white chocolate and is a bit more sturdy. 

CROISSANT ($2.50) WITH ALMONDS ($0.50).

The croissant has a few layers and a spread of almond custard. Although the frangipane does not taste sweet, sticky or nutty, there is not much of an almond taste (I rather have no almond taste than an overly sweet one).

RASPBERRY WHITE CHOCOLATE SCONE ($2.95).

The scone has a nice crisp exterior and tastes moist as well as soft, despite being a bit too dense. The white chocolate taste is very subtle and although the raspberries did not bleed through the dough, a couple more would have been nice.

POSITIVES

- Housemade baked goods

- Quite a few options of cheesecake

NEGATIVES

- Premium prices without the quality

- Average eats, nothing special

LITTLE THINGS

- Hy's cheesecake is 10x better

- Something so small such as having fresh whipped cream would make a difference

- Trees Organic Coffee may be more known for their coffee than cheesecake

- Going through some photos from the other four locations, it seems like Granville Street's location is probably the only inconsistent one. Even Gastown's sandwiches looked better than here

- Staff is a bit odd. After ringing up my friend, they both turned their back towards me and kept talking for around five minutes. When a couple of people lined up behind me, they still kept talking. If I knew this would happen, I would have just paid with my friend (btw their talk was not work related)

Food: 2.5/5

Service: N/A