What’s going on behind the scenes at Single Origin roasters warehouse?
Coffee! You can sleep when you’re dead!
I can’t help but just crack myself up laughing when I saw this sign post at the Single Origin warehouse and I am sure there are a lot of caffeine addicts out there can relate to it. I love coffee, but probably not as much as The Pom. We both work in the same office and it is our golden rule that whoever is going to make the coffee will have to make one for the other person. It is a good deal because usually The Pom will finish his cup of coffee first and ready to make another while I am still half way through the first one and already start turning cold. I think between both of us, we probably drink around 10 – 15 “mugs” of coffee a day. It’s insane! And I am not proud of it. But we have just set another rule last week, trying to limit ourselves to only 3 mugs a day and that’s it. Then we will switch to tea at night. It is working so far and hopefully will keep it that way.
If you are in Sydney and you love coffee, or even if you don’t, but I am sure you have heard of Single Origin, the little cafe shop in Surry Hills that is always busy. Random fact – Do you know that I was actually the web designer who designed their current website back in 2006? And who’d have thought four years later, I get to team up with them again for a new project, how exciting! So last week, I was very lucky to be able to visit the Single Origin warehouse in Alexandria and get to find out more about one of the best coffees in Sydney.
The good ole Boris looking a bit tired these days
Do you remember ‘Boris’? He is a Toper coffee bean roaster and used to be the big star at the coffee shop in Surry Hills. I still remember whenever I walked past the cafe, Boris will always humming away, and the strong aroma of fresh roasted coffee beans are simply irresistible, luring everyone into the cafe for a cup of coffee before heading to work.
Sadly there is no more roasting at the coffee shop anymore and Boris is also a semi-retired roaster these days kept in the warehouse. They will only use Boris when they want to do a small run of roasting, usually a new bean for cupping for instance. Due to popular demands as the business grows, they simply need to have a bigger roaster to keep up with the volume of coffee beans they have to roast each day. Hence, let’s bring in the big tank!
The big Toper imported from Turkey which can roast 120kg of coffee beans at a time
As high as the ceiling, without mistaking it as a section of the tunnel for the ‘big bang’ theory, this humongous steam-punk Toper roaster is imported all the way from Turkey. It can roast 120kg of coffee beans at a time, and the cooling compartment that came with is too small and took a long time to cool the roasted coffee beans, so they had it custom made to become much wider, so the cooling process is much quicker and more efficient. I felt like I was inside a jar of coffee beans, I simply couldn’t smell anything but the aroma of coffee, it was so rich and intoxicating. But definitely not complaining.
The warehouse is a riot, it is hot and noisy inside, and coffee beans are literally everywhere! There are sacks of green beans piled up on the shelves ready to be roasted, and the roasted coffee beans are stored inside industrial bins, ready to be ground into different grades before packaging.
A whiteboard next to the roaster machine has all the Single Origin’s clients including Bills, Coffee Trail and Hilton hotel, and indicating when their orders will be roasted at certain dates as scheduled.
Right behind the warehouse is where all the packaging actions take place. I was surprised to see the coffee beans are actually packaged by hand, and not machine. The roasted coffee are sucked through a chute down into the grinding machine, then a SO’s crew will have a silver packet to catch all the ground coffee at the other end and then sealed it with a heat machine. It sounds simple but is not.
Clockwise L to R: boxes everywhere inside the stocktake room; a few varieties of tea they are selling; the awesome graffiti art upstairs which will eventually turning into a new office; a clever design using patterns on bean sacks from different countries
The lovely Emma, one of the founders of Single Origin was uber kind to show us around the warehouse including the new section next door which they just took over only a few months ago. The new section of the warehouse is the stock-take section. Single Origin recently has also extended their line of products to include tea and in-house brew.
Upstairs is still a temporary space where they keep all the broken espresso machines. I love when people are so passionate about at what they are doing and the crew at Single Origin are definitely one of those people. All the broken coffee machines they collected will be stripped, fixed and refurbished, nothing go to waste. They told us sometimes a cafe owner is not happy with the coffee machine they used with Single Origin coffee, they are more than happy to trade in with a better machine, then fix the old one and resell it to someone else who can appreciate it. Everything is very hands on in this coffee roasting kingdom.
Clockwise L to R: Single Origin signboard sitting on the bench inside the meeting room; look at all the unused coffee! Fresh green beans show different shades of green with different smell;
After touring the warehouse, we eventually settling down in the meeting room which is also used as the cupping room. They also cleverly used the design on the bean sacks from each different country as decoration to form a mural on the wall, I think it looks fantastic! Emma told me they actually just had a cupping session that morning, that explains why all the empty cups in the bin and the coffee grinder was caked with a mount of ground coffee. I was very tempted to tip the coffee into my camera bag and bring it home when no one watching!
Of course I didn’t…
A Table For Two (ATFT) is Billy Law's food blog that features best eats in Sydney and around the world with drool-worthy food photography to salivate your appetite. I also throw in a smidgen of my food and travel photography for good measure. Billy Law also happened to be a contestant on MasterChef Australia 2011. 
Oh Paradise!
.-= Maria´s last blog ..Simple noodle stir fry with poached salmon =-.
WOW! Coffee addict much?
I never heard of this place before (I know, shame!) but they seem to be doing a good thing here. Now I have to check it out; I can imagine the wonderful coffee aroma of this place.
I love the website too! It’s so quirky and awesome.
.-= Phuoc’n Delicious´s last blog ..Taking some time out =-.
I love Single Origin and it’s cafe in Surry Hills is always a port of call when in Sydney. And it’s a bummer that it is closed Saturdays.
I’d never made the steampunk connection with all the roasters and coffee gadgets but you are right. I may steal that idea!
You get to team up with them for a new project? Oh really… *leans in closer to catch all of the exciting details*
That place wold smell like heaven! <3
.-= Fiona´s last blog ..Little Flurries =-.
Oh coffee… yes please…. an interesting behind-the-scenes look. The latte art is amazing and I love the idea of a coffee machine hospital!
.-= Helen (grabyourfork)´s last blog ..How To Take Better Food Photos and the Rise of the Food Paparazzi =-.
Lol the woman in that poster looks SO awake!
I usually get my coffee from the Mechanical Engineering building at UNSW (best mocha I’ve ever had), but I may just pop in here for my pre-uni coffee next time!
.-= tangerine eats´s last blog ..Raspberry Sorbet, Toffee and Lime =-.
Ah, coffee heaven. I love coffee, and have made a mental note to visit this cafe. The Single Origin website is uber awesome btw – from the pencil sketchings to the flying plunger!
.-= foodwink´s last blog ..Baroque Bistro’s Secrets to Making Macarons =-.
Does anyone know what happened to Gavin at Single Origin? I hadn’t seen him around for a while now, and wondered if he was at the roasting facility in Alexandria – but I don’t see him in the pics. Has he moved on?
Awesome tour and I can imagine how amazing that place would smell. Too bad I’m not a coffee drinker (well except for Malaysian coffee!).
.-= Karen | Citrus and Candy´s last blog ..Apple ‘Donut’ cakes with honey and brown butter (beurre noisette) =-.
Mmmmm coffee. If I didn’t have my espresso machine at home I’d spend a fortune on take away’s. Single Origin is great and I often buy from them at Everleigh Mkt
.-= john@heneedsfood´s last blog ..HK BBQ Restaurant, Hong Kong (Part 1) =-.
Coffee in your camera bag? How many “shots” of coffee would that work out to?
Love the insider’s tour. Bet it would have been an interesting experience
.-= Simon @ the heart of food´s last blog ..A Class Above the Rest – ATFT Photography Workshop =-.
I bet you could get a coffee fix by just breathing the air in this place!
.-= Moya´s last blog ..Crazy/Wacky/Dump Cake =-.
I would be bouncing off the walls after this.
.-= Mark @ Cafe Campana´s last blog ..International Incident Party – Breakfast Calzone =-.
HaHa! That sign is funny. And that’s a lot of coffee beans! I for one cannot live without coffee. But I don’t think I could do 10-15 mugs a day. Ack! I’ll be a nervous wreck by then.
Whoa Billy, so YOU’RE the genius behind the SOR website and graphic art? Love your work!
.-= Jonno (Coffee Trails)´s last blog ..coffeetrails: …and the crew at #coffeemornings today – @DDsD @beaney @davidahood @merejames @fridley @Scott_Drummond @yuvalararat @radhikar et al #FF =-.
Thanks for the lovely tour, now after reading Helen’s coffee post and then yours I am feeling like a coffee, and I rarely touch the stuff!
.-= angie´s last blog ..Banh Xeo (Vietnamese Savoury Pancakes) – Mum in action =-.
hi, do you know if single origin offers barista classes? thanks!