Bonsai Botanika — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Had a disappointing experience at this cafe. The Matcha was a disaster, and definitely not worth the price. The Matcha Cheesecake used canned fruit instead of fresh and tasted more like matcha than cheese. Most of the things are way too sweet even though we older non-sweet and ask for advice before ordering… where is the hype coming from? And why it has more than 4 stars on Google??? How???

The environment was poorly maintained – it was either too cold or too hot, tables were sticky, and the seating was uncomfortably tight, making it difficult to move around.

The staff were unwelcoming, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere. The atmosphere might seem okay at first glance, but the dirty chair were off-putting.

If you’re going for the quality, it’s overpriced. If you have too much money and craving Matcha, no matter is cake, tea, or coffee, please this a lot of other options. If you are after a café vibe there are many better local cafes in Brisbane. Sadly, wouldn’t recommend this place.

又貴又甜環境又差完全中伏

• below are previous review in 2021/2022.

🚩 Ordered a matcha cake and coffee, however the coffee was sooooooooo sweet… I’m not a matcha fan, But there’s so many matcha options so I decided to try one. matcha cake comes with a very intense of matcha favor which is nice.

📸 Instagramming place, Great atmosphere Interior was beautiful, warm and cozy.

👅 recommend for Matcha lovers.

Follow @what_is_in_my_stomach on...

If you’re in Brisbane city... this cafe definitely a must-visit. It’s got a really cosy vibe, amazing interior and is opened late (6pm). It’s very popular amongst travellers from what I’ve noticed- this is my third time visiting.

I ordered a small cappuccino ($4.50), and it was great! For the tiny size I was shocked at the price when ordering, however the taste (and presentation) was worth it.

One point that made my visit less enjoyable was the ‘buzzer’ to collect my order. As I came in with a few bags planning to study, I told the server I would dine in upstairs (assuming she would bring my coffee up). She handed me a buzzer and told me to collect my coffee downstairs when it rang. There’s a few problems with this system: being alone I had no one to mind my belongings - meaning I had to carry them all down with me to get my coffee & having myself carry my hot coffee up the steep flight of stairs (with my bags) made me feel quite anxious and unsafe. I would have sat downstairs knowing this, but all seats were taken. To my surprise, after I finished my coffee I saw a staff member bring up another customers coffee, left me wondering why some customers got service and others didn’t.

If the coffee wasn’t as good as it was, this would have really bothered me. Despite the buzzer system (that I hope they reconsider), the cafe is beautiful and look forward to...

Service: other than serving you at the till and making your coffee, it was pretty much self service with a foodcourt buzzer and you remove your own waste to the return station like fastfood joints.

Atmosphere: Was a nice place to chill with nice deco, some tables needed wiping.

Drink: I only ordered a Chemix. $8. Asked the barista what they were brewing… responded saying it’s something from St Ali… I wanted to know the origin but granted they were kind of busy so I didn’t ask further. It did came in an appropriate filter coffee temperature. It was immediately drinkable and considering the time it took to reach my cup I am confident its not done with boiling water, which is good. However if the beans were from St Ali then it was probably roasted 3 months ago and the bag was opened for just as long. Textile was stale with no body. Flavour was very burnt like ash. Either the beans were actually dark-lean roast or water to bean ratio was off, or it was over extracted. Got the typical almond/plastic profile you get from an over extracted coffee that has oil already coated on the beans. It kind of reminds me of a gritty plunger but without the residue.

I can understand why its a buzzing place with other types of drinks and being in the heart of it all and the lack of business from me will not make a difference. However its safe to say this was my first time...