Coffee Tree

Take a walk down Bloor Street between Jane and Windermere and your nose will guide you straight into Coffee Tree Roastery. When Susan Bate was struggling to hand out espresso samples on Bloor Street in 1988, it was hard to imagine that her café would still be serving coffee more than 25 years later. “At the time, people were drinking cups of Nescafé, not specialty drinks. We couldn’t give it away,” she laughs. But as the fresh aroma of roasted beans spilled out into the streets, curious passersby eventually trickled in, many asking why the coffee beans seen through the front window were green.

Much of the first few years of Susan’s operation were spent educating customers on the benefits of fresh roasted coffee. “I compare the experience of drinking fresh roasted coffee with eating fresh baked bread. If you’ve ever had a fresh baked croissant, it’s hard to go back,” she says.