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Single O Botany

Georgia Waters

Serious in intent ... Single Origin Botany.
Serious in intent ... Single Origin Botany.Fiona Morris

Contemporary$$

Eleven years after opening in Surry Hills, Single Origin Roasters have gone south for their second cafe - to a quiet industrial street in Botany, at the site of their coffee roastworks.

Compared to their Reservoir Street digs, which open onto the street and attract a lengthy queue that snakes up the street during peak times, the new coffee bar is low-key, but no less serious in its offerings.

The bar, inside a long, narrow space with the roastery visible at the far end, is stylishly fitted out with a similar look to the Surry Hills cafe, but with perhaps a little more polish. It's all copper, black paint and warm wood. Three coffee tampers on one wall serve as coat hooks, and the handles on the bathroom doors are fashioned from espresso machine hardware. Hadn't noticed it's all about the coffee yet?

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The Mothership breakfast.
The Mothership breakfast.Fiona Morris

Three styles of filter coffee are served at the brew bar, made with a choice of four single-origin beans, a selection that rotates monthly. White coffees use Single Origin's Reservoir blend, while black uses a single-origin bean of the week. 

A row of tiny tables with stools, designed for solo seating, sits along one wall opposite the brew bar, while small groups take a table on the deck, or sit at the large communal table at the back with its view through to the roastery.

Staff seem genuinely enthusiastic, delivering sparkling water on arrival, and keenly dispensing advice on the selection of a single-origin bean for a pour-over. Locals drop by with toddlers or in Lycra for a post-run skinny latte.

Speciality coffees are a big part of the offering.
Speciality coffees are a big part of the offering.Fiona Morris
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We order a 3/4 flat white, which is smooth and balanced, and a single-origin drip-filter from Kochere, Ethiopia, which is bright and lightly acidic with hints of strawberry.

The menu is small, available all day, and thoughtfully put-together. The Mothership Breakfast (the Mothership being the cafe's nickname) is a protein-heavy plate of chickpea, avocado and almond salad with spiced lamb merguez and slow-cooked eggs. It works beautifully, the earthiness of the chickpeas balanced by the creaminess of the avocado and eggs, the fennel-spiked lamb merguez tender and meaty, and tied together with a swirl of extra-virgin olive oil and crimson zaatar.

A bacon and egg roll (a dish of which Sydney never tires) is small and well-constructed - a toasted bun filled with thin, house-cured bacon, a soft-yolked fried egg and tomato chilli chutney with a pile of watercress.

Bircher muesli, with a whole poached pear and chopped walnuts, is studded with plump sultanas, pepitas and flaked coconut. It's fresh and light, rather than creamy, a good pick for the post-run crowd.

Banana bread - usually the least-tempting choice on any menu - is baked in tiny individual loaves to give it a crunchy exterior, lightly spiced with ginger and served with a round of caramel-coloured espresso-flavoured butter.

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The menu includes a few choices for later in the day, including a kale and buckwheat salad with poached salmon, and The Roast Works burger, grain-fed beef with iceberg lettuce, smoked chilli mayo and pineapple chutney.

Single O Botany has been gaining traction with customers since opening two months ago, says manager Cameron Stephens. While some have been making the trip from greater Sydney, the reaction from Botany locals has been humbling, he says. "I think this whole area of Botany is undergoing changes at the moment."

Watch this space.

THE LOW DOWN

The picks

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Mothership Breakfast, bacon and egg roll, banana bread with espresso butter

The coffee

Single Origin roasters, Reservoir blend and single-origin beans

The look

Industrial polish with a sense of humour

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The service

Welcoming and enthusiastic

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