Blog + News Year: 2011

How We Roast Our Own Organic Coffee Beans

Vancouver cafe Christmas xmas New Years Eve Granville Gastown At Trees Organic, we roast our own organic fair-trade coffee beans. How do we do it? Café owner Doron Levy roasts beans right in the café on Granville Street several times a week. He shows how it’s done.

Trees Organic uses a commercial-quality Probat coffee roaster to ensure that the best beans get the treatment they deserve. After all, we work hard to source organic coffee beans from around the world that meet our customer’s standards.

First, Doron puts fresh beans into the top of the roaster in a part called the hopper. He sets the temperature he wants and when the thermometer gage says it’s ready, he drops the beans in by turning a lever.

Once the coffee beans are in the roaster drum, baffles turn the beans so that the roasting will happen evenly. This is important to ensure a uniform taste for the batch. Think of it the same way as clothes tumble in a dryer.

Celebrate Trees Gastown and Richmond Cafes Anniversary

coffee cafe roasting house Vancouver Gastown Richmond party All fans of our coffeehouses and lovers of our award-winning cheesecake are invited to an anniversary party at Trees Organic cafes in Gastown (Vancouver) and Richmond. Our Gastown location is having its second anniversary and our Richmond café is turning lucky seven!

This Thursday, December 15, enjoy some holiday party atmosphere as our cafés will be serving up FREE slices of our classic New York cheesecake and holiday-featured Chocoloate Orange cheesecake all day long.

Yes, you read that right: Free Trees Organic cheesecake. All. Day. Long. Grab a slice and enjoy. But remember, the parties are only happening at our Gastown and Richmond locations.

Wait… Sorry? You love Trees cheesecake and coffee, but you haven’t visited our other café locations yet? Well, come on down. Don’t be shy. It’s a party.

Trees Organic Coffee and Roasting House anniversary locations:

Gastown Vancouver
321 Water Street
Vancouver, BC

Richmond Library & Cultural Centre
7700 Minoru Gate
Richmond, BC

Invite your friends to the party!

Hey, we’re friendly. The more the merrier. Tweet, Facebook, email and call your friends down to enjoy some cheesecake, coffee, treats and good times at Trees Organic cafes.

Celebrate Xmas with our Single Origin Ethiopian Sidamo Coffee

Ethiopian Sidamo Coffee beans Trees Organic Granville Gastown Yaletown Richmond This year we wanted to get you something special for Christmas. We’re excited, because we got our hands on some beautiful Sidamo coffee beans from Ethiopia, where coffee was first discovered by a 9^th-century Ethiopian goat herder.

The beans came in on Tuesday and we roasted our first five-kilo batch on Wednesday in our Granville Street Roasting House Thursday we had our first coffee cupping. We fell in love. It has medium body with some subtle brightness and chocolaty tones. It’s got great balance and nice length. Our Ethiopian Sidamo beans create a cup that is hard to put down.

What does single origin coffee mean?

Coffee is like wine, origin matters. These beans are from Sidamo in Southwest Ethiopia. Of the Arabica varietal.

How did we roast the Ethiopian Sidamo coffee beans?

This batch was roasted medium dark to make sure we don’t cover up some of the beautiful fruity notes or the chocolaty notes. The beauty of small batch roasting is that we can make a slightly different roast in our next batch a few days later. Variety is the spice of live. Roasting is an art.

Why are we highlighting Ethiopia Sidamo beans for the holidays?

Christmas is a time of giving and Ethiopia sure needs some help. It is one of the poorest countries in the world. When we buy fair trade organic coffee from Ethiopia, we support local growers and their families.

Where is Sidamo?

Yaletown Mini-Market at Trees Cafe

Yaletown mini market cafe coffeehouse gift ideas holiday Xmas You’re invited to the Yaletown Mini-Market at Trees Organic Coffee and Roasting House in Vancouver’s Yaletown neighborhood (1391 Richards Street, at the corner of Richards and Pacific) on special days through November and December.

Check out some unique holiday gift ideas and and support your local creative entrepreneurs, jewelry makers and other artisans.

Supporting Yaletown small businesspeople with creative products

Trees Organic’s Gift Cards and More for the Holidays

Trees Organic Roasting House gift card Christmas holiday present ideas Vancouver Richmond Already thinking about gifts for the holiday season? If you’ve got a Christmas, Chanukah, or New Year’s bash coming up (and that pretty much covers all of us, unless you’re not planning on entering 2012) and want to give back to your friends and family, we’ve got some coffee-bean scented holiday gift ideas:

Trees Organic Coffee House gift cards

Come and enjoy our coffee, award-winning cheesecake, hot apple cider, sandwiches, soups – anything you see in our café, with the convenience of a swipe card. Purchase or reload your card at any of our café locations in Vancouver and Richmond and easily check your balance at the till or online. Perfect for the coffee lover, tea drinker or café dweller in your family – and a lot more thoughtful than handing over wad of crumpled bills. Reload, reuse, rejoice!

Cheesecake for dessert!

The whole family has come over for the holidays and they’re hungry. Spoil them with Vancouver’s best cheesecake. Everybody loves cheesecake – even little Timmy, who can’t be bothered to finish his yams. We serve it up in seven flavors, including the Sin (Belgian chocolate and sour cherries), blueberry, mocha, key lime, the classic New York style, plus the flavor of the season: Chocolate Orange!

Gift bags of coffee beans!

On a winter morning the day after the big party, wake yourself up with some organic fair trade coffee beans from the best coffee-growing regions on the planet. We’ve got beans from Peru, Guatemala, Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Sumatra and more. Ask our café baristas to recommend the perfect beans for your special someone, whether they prefer something with full flavor, spice, smokiness or hints of flavor like chocolate.

Catered soups, sandwiches, desserts and more for your office New Year’s party!

How to Make French Press Coffee

French press is a popular and gourmet-style way to make coffee. Fans of the French press will swear by the boldness and flavor it brings out of coffee beans. While it’s seen by some coffee aficionados as a fancy cup of coffee, making it is actually a pretty straightforward process!

Here’s how you make French Press coffee:

Interview with a Trees Organic Cafe Barista

Vancouver cafe coffeehouse barista serving coffee Trees Organic barista Irene took a few moments out of her busy day so she could tell us what it’s like working in the heart of Vancouver’s café culture. Thanks, Irene!

Tell us a little about yourself.

Coffee. A World Of Flavor

Vancouver Granville coffee cafe coffee shop Arabica blends beans Trees Organic serves up coffee with beans from all around the world, from Latin America to the far reaches of Asia. The flavor you get in your cup depends on where it was grown and under what conditions. Just as wine comes in all kinds of vintages for you to compare, you can taste different kinds of coffee and enjoy a wide range of subtle differences.

Coffee Beans. A Matter of Taste

Some Positive Reviews from Trees’ Customers

Trees Organic Vancouver Richmond cafe coffeeshop cheesecake catering We love it when reviewers, bloggers, Tweeps, Yelpers and foodies of all stripes have nice things to say about our café. It seems people really like our lattes, cheesecake and more; from the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

Here’s a quick roundup of some of the things our customers have been saying about Trees Organic cafes in Vancouver and Richmond:

Review of Trees Organic Coffee & Roasting House from Yummyfinds.

They seem to like our cheesecake:

“Trees Organic Coffee & Roasting House is a nice relaxing café serving good quality coffee and some pretty yummy treats. After much consideration, Chris and I finally decided on which two cheesecakes to try – the Sin and the Blueberry. The Sin Cheesecake is made with Belgian chocolate and sour cherries. At first, I was a bit hesitant to try this one because I’m not a big fan of sour cherries. However, this cake is rightfully named for being “sinfully” delicious. The sweet and tart cherries gave the cheesecake a good level of moisture, making the cake just that much more fluffy. And the chocolate made the cake super smooth and silky. The consistency and sweetness of the cheesecake was just perfect! Mmmm, yummy!”

Vegan options at Trees Organic for the Vegan Spoon:

First, about the scones:

“While Trees doesn’t have any vegan cheesecake, it does sell a vegan scone. And a fine scone it is, too. It seems to have the flavour of both a cinnamon-sugar donut and a cinnamon roll. Packed with pumpkin seeds, raisins, and dried apricots, it’s made with whole-wheat flour, so it packs quite an iron-rich punch. It also has a perfect moistness and texture that would convince any scone aficionado that it wasn’t vegan.”

Our beverages also seemed to be a hit (well, you’d kind of hope so! We’re a café, after all):

“While we’re discussing lattes, we’d like to say that whatever blend Trees uses for its decaf lattes is quite nice.”

Among several reviews of great places to eat in Vancouver, phenomeNOMS writes:

“I only discovered Trees recently, as they have a small, but fresh, menu. Their specialty is cheesecake, and supposedly the best in Vancouver. But they also make homemade quiche, soup, and huge variety of unique sandwiches and baked goods.”

So far, so good. And our quiche and sandwiches have a lot of personality:

“The quiche comes in two types: Ham & Cheddar or Spinach & Feta. Simple maybe, but boring no. The crust is homemade and it comes with a small side salad that has dried cranberries, pumpkin & sunflower seeds. The sandwiches, which I have yet to try, are on fresh baguettes, warmed and with unique ingredients, such as Bocconcini, Tomato & Basil, or a vegetarian with Chevre, Basil, Capers and Roasted Pepper.”

Have you been to any Trees Organic cafes in Vancouver or Richmond? We’d love to hear your feedback to let us know how we’re doing (and how we can serve you better!). Leave a comment here, review us on your own blog, tweet us up or talk to one of our friendly servers. Let us know what you like!

Catering & Wholesale

We Deliver. Catering for Your Office or Event in Vancouver and Richmond

Vancouver Richmond catering desserts cafe coffeeshop “Wow! Who brought the organic coffee and these gourmet sandwiches? And the cheesecake! That hit the spot. So who was it? Come on, don’t be shy.”

OK, it was us.