Elite Event: Single Origin

If I could channel a kind of female narrative Ron Swanson momentarily, my review would go like this:
Brasserie Bread. There was a good amount of bread, which was made the old fashioned way. A way in which a person can enjoy the flavour without the government taxing your every bite. I enjoyed the simplicity of this wheat, grown like our ancestors grew it, in fields free from bureaucracy. This wheat is separatist, the bread however requires making a mixture in the end there is harmony.
Milk: Cows make milk and we have liberated it from them for centuries. Recently milk has gone off on tangents it shouldn’t have gone. Country Valley make milk the way my grandfather would have liked to have drunk it, straight from the teat. What’s cholesterol?
Chocolate is for women (like myself) who may have pre-​menstrual tendancies and also for romancing them. The most intelligent women I know (me included) enjoy it with red wine, because clear spirits are for rich white women on diets. This Zokoko chocolate was made with a lot of fat and fat makes everything taste good. We all win.
GreenTea. I’m not one to partake in tea. I will however say that it does help you digest after eating 5kg of breakfast foods. Put some urban bee hive honey in it. Those bees vomited that up all their life. The least you can do is re-​use it for your sweetening pleasure.
Pick one from your local bee hive area, and feel more wholesome about it. Of course, where you live tastes better to you.
It was a good time. Listening to the crafts-​people talk about their work was inspiring enough to seek out their wares in my local food n stuff store.
Five stars.

I’m sure I’m like many who upon seeing «Single origin» signs everywhere at cafes and delis, pretend to know what the term means but on the inside have no clue on the newest foodie term. My curiousity was piqued when Unilocal decided to hold an event dedicated to Single Origin produce.
I finally learned of the great lengths, effort and time that local quality producers put into sourcing an ingredient from a single place to showcase the flavours unique to the ingredient from that location.
We got up close and personal with the passionate owners and chefs at Brasserie Bread, Perfect South Tea, Zokoto Artisan Chocolate, Country Valley dairy and the Urban Beehive who shared their insights on their detailed processes from finding the perfect source, to presenting the ingredient in its final form, ready for consumers to taste the flavours unique to a particular region.
We also had the opportunity to sample the produce while the owners spoke about how to savour the flavours, taste the difference between massed produced food and quality produce, as well as having a go at making our own butter. Now that’s food for thought.
To top it all off, the icing on the cake was the goodie bag with a loaf of Brasserie Single Origin Sourdough from the Flinders Range to take home, along with some Unilocal freebies.
The next time I visit a café, I can stroll in with confidence armed with my new knowledge of the term «Single origin», no longer having to pretend to know what it means.
I thoroughly enjoyed the event. Thanks to Ben and the team for putting this together.
Without a doubt the best Unilocal event I’ve been to!!!

Urban Bee Keeping, for those who want a bit more «edge» in their biodiversity. A great way to get in touch with your food cycle and get all up in the face of those neighbours you hate. Sign me up! I hope they’re allergic…
Don’t worry I’ll use the knowledge gleaned from Unilocal’s Single Origin event for good as well as evil. It’s hard to be an evil bee keeper when you’re also a green tea drinker, thanks to Perfect South and it’s tough to be angry when you’re full of high quality chocolate from Zokoko. And it’s hard to be wakey when you have sampled Country Valley milk and cream and butter. Seriously from now on all my butter must be cultured.
Brasserie’s Single Origin and Sprouted breads were obviously amazing too (especially with cultured butter and urban honey) and I was pleased to hear I hadn’t been taken for a ride with this whole sprouted grain thing. It actually is good for you. Plenty of concentrated vitamins.
All in all an amazing event as always hoisted by Unilocal and Brasserie Bread.

Wow, the enthusiasm of the presenters for their produce was delicious. Each had a vision and kept true to that to become producers of high quality, high integrity goods.
Honey, dairy, tea, chocolate & bread … hard to pick a fave.
The presentations were informative & prompted me to research more on both the raw ingredients as well as finished products.
Was great to catch up with Unilocaler pals old and new. A great afternoon.
The award for Best Questions goes to Benjamin B. He had some beauties!

Good event. Great food. Very informative. Partial to both gladesville honey from urban beehive and sprouted grain bread from brasserie. Teas and chocolates also lovely, just not in mood. Genuinely dislike dairy but had to consume (reason below), but I would totally easy both butter and cheese again.
As winter has taken fun out of temp funemployment, I could spend next few days recovering if this ‘miracle’ digestive aid being tested on my gut proved to be a failure. That makes this a 7 star review, especially for the bread and butter.
Also, I learned a bunch of stuff, some of which will be beneficial when I grow up, buy land and start that urban farm. Maison de Good Sh– may now include an apiary.

Single Origin — those two words brings up a lot of different thought bubbles full of different things that you may think it means, however in this instance the meaning is simple. It’s just from the one place.
That’s bread, dairy, honey, cocoa beans & tea leaves. What a whopper right? Who knew there were busy little bees buzzing around the city scape in Sydney CBD with hives on roof tops of buildings and in various gardens? I sure didn’t!
My first stop to taste was the honey. I wanted to start sweet and end sweet! So honey it was, my inner Winnie the Pooh approved. Chatting to Doug about various honey flavours and actually tasting the distinct differences in his honey was really amazing. The first CBD honey settled and spread over my tongue and it had a very distinct taste to it. Next the Glenfield honey, it was a different consistency to the first and the taste was more sweet and finally the Parramatta honey. As this hit my tongue you could smell and taste the flowers in it. It was sweeter and left a smooth taste afterwards.
Next stop was the bread in this wondrous bakery. I am so glad that it was held here because I had been meaning to find this place on the map ever since I ate their bread at another Unilocal event a year ago. And their sourdough is something that makes my heart sing and I would have done a happy lap just to show my joy. However I confined myself to sharing the joy that is the warm loaves of sourdough with my partner in crime. And the tastes of the loaves were very different, yet you could actually taste the wheat in the bread that all comes from the one wheat farm. They also have a learn how to make your own bread courses here, for kids and adults. I see a lot of revisits!
We then zipped over to the chocolate because my partner has a bigger sweet tooth than I ever will and we got to taste the nib of cocoa before they become chocolate and then the end product. And I do have to say that they’ve won me over. No preservative chocolate that tastes like it was stolen off Odin’s dessert table? All over that! YUM!
The teas. the teaaaaaaaaaaas! Oh my inner green tea demon was squealing. Why? Well if you’re a tea enthusiast then you know, you KNOW, the lack of good tea in Australia is high. You could search for years and not find a good brew. I know I rant and rave on here a bit about cafes charging you $ 4.50 for a tea bag and hot water. But now I know where to order my own tea and take it along to café’s, that’s online at Perfect South. Because this tea? I’ve only ever tasted tea as good as this outside of Australia — or when my friends smuggle me back green tea from Japan. There is no bitter aftertaste. There is no gulping it down in one go to avoid the taste. This is the stuff you want to sip and savour. It’s green tea that’s sweet, yet not too sweet that you forget it’s green tea. It’s what tea is meant to be! So a HUGE THANK YOU — from this teetotaler for including such a scrumptious tea table :) Oh gosh, nearly forgot about the Tea Festival. I’ll see you there right? Right!!!
And finally my butter making sitting with the lovely dairy farmer from Picton that owns and operates Country Valley. Tasting his milk and cream compared to store bought alternatives was such an eye opener. His stuff is full in flavour and consistency. It melts on your tongue and makes you wonder if this is what milk used to be like before all the crap they pumped into the cows, soil and milk itself. And I think it is. John mentioned that it’s permeate free & he is going down a more ecologically friendly path with this farming more and more where he can so the flavour of the products are sharper, more fuller and judging from how much I enjoyed it I’d say he’s onto a winner. He mentioned that any lactose intolerant people should probably step away from the milk, but this lactose intolerant person advised that it was worth the pain! And it was. I honestly hope more stores start stocking his stuff because once we move we may have to keep driving back out to Camden just for some milk at this rate.
Thank you Unilocal & Ben for such a fun night of tasting and learning about local produce and actually tasting the difference in everything. I just never thought about the intricate details that go into things like this to get a particular taste. I know that I’ll be driving around a lot more to secure my weekly bread, honey & milk!

To be honest I wasn’t entirely sure what this event was when I was invited… being from Canada I had never heard the term single origin and certainly didn’t know why it would be important. I did know that I like food and meeting new people though so I jumped at the chance to meet the other Unilocal elites and I am glad I did.
It was interesting to hear the speakers and I thought the amount of time allotted for them was good. I was glad that the Q&A periods were short as I was excited for the sampling part. I thought that sampling the various «cheap» milk and creams vs. the Country Valley products and their butter making and sampling was great, albeit a bit tough on the old arms.
The bread was amazing, I must have had like 6 pieces throughout the night and by the way I try to avoid gluten but threw the rules to the side for this and it was worth any tummy pains I had later on. We all even got to take home a loaf of the delicious Single Origin Sourdough from Brasserie Bread and full disclosure, he even let me take home a single origin sprouted wheat one too… for someone who normally has gluten free bread, I fell hard for these loaves.
The chocolate was delicious and I loved the story of how she set up her company.
I see that most people gave the event a 5. I am not sure what a 5 star event would be like yet but I am not just gonna throw down a 5 for the first event I attend. I feel a 5 will be earned with like a full dinner and drink type event or like if Richard Branson presents :)

One of the things I love about the Sydney Unilocal events is that apart from being a great social event, it is also very educational. The event started with presentations by the different food and tea makers followed by some tasting opportunities.
We first had Matt from Brasserie Bread showing us a video of Single Origin bread and how they started it 5 years ago where they now source wheat from the premium grain team from the Southern Flinders range. He talked about how premium wheat starts from the soil and that’s where the nutrients are. The process is also complemented with sustainable farming and the farmers doing their own milling so that there is no contamination of the premium grains. When they first started making the single origin, Matt commented that there was a taste of minerals in the bread and attributed that to tasting the nutrients that came from the soil. He said that’s what single origin bread is all about, being able to taste the source of the bread, where the wheat came from. Brasserie bread currently do Sourdough and sprouted wheat as single origin.
The next presenter was Doug the bee keeper who said that he manages 100 bee hives on roofs all over Sydney. He said that when they bottle their honey, they are labeled with which suburb they came from. The taste in the honey varies from hive to hive and changes every harvest depending on the flowers the bees collect the nectar from. Bees have a range of around 8 km and those flowers around the hive may differ with each season. He also said that there has been a 40% bee population loss in the US and that a bee produces ¼ teaspoon of honey in its lifetime; hence when you use honey you should lick the knife clean as a lot of hard work had gone into that. His tips with regards to honey is to buy honey from local bee keepers, avoid using pesticides on plants and grow flowers in your gardens.
Michelle from Zokoko chocolate was next and she talked about how her passion for chocolates began in South America when she saw cacao pods on the ground. She said she sourced her beans from Solomon Islands and Bolivia and that unlike the big companies, she only makes a 250kg batch of chocolate every few days.
Then there was Renee from Perfect South who spoke to us about Tea and how her business came about due to her difficulty trying to find good tea. She said that her tea is from North East Victoria and her tea is first harvest tea. First harvest tea is tea leaves that are harvested in Spring and it is important as the leaves have the most flavour then. There are usually 4 harvests in a year. Her tips for drinking green tea is to never use boiling water. The water should be somewhere between 60 to 80 degrees and to brew the tea for no more than 3 minutes.
The last presenter was John from Country Valley in Picton. His family has a long history of farming and said that during the recession when he didn’t have enough money for fertilisers and phosphorus, he stopped fertilising his land and instead of the land becoming less fertile, the opposite happened. He now uses just compost and chicken manure as fertilisers. He also said that unlike cows on a summer diet, milk from cows on a winter diet does not go well with coffee.
Once the presentations were over, we were all able to try the bread, honey, milk, butter, chocolate and tea from the different presenters. I tried the bread first, which was fresh just out of the oven and it was delicious! Matt said that the way to enjoy the sourdough is to start with the crust and chew it using the back of your teeth to get the saliva going to really taste the flavours in the bread. It was really tasty! We also tried the sprouted wheat, which I felt had a more intense flavour.
Next we tried the honey and had a chance to taste the honey from different areas, from the CBD, to the Rocks and then from Parramatta. They all had their own distinct taste and there’s a slight variation in colour too. The chocolates were next and they were delicious! I love all kinds of chocolates and this was no exception. Then it was the tea and I tried the green tea with roasted rice and matcha powder. It was lovely! Finally there was the milk and cream test where we got to taste the difference between shop milk and Country Valley milk and also between shop cream with that of country valley. We also had a chance to make our own butter using milk, cream and a marble in a container. It was hard work shaking the container continuously until the sound from the marble changed.
Like all previous Unilocal events, this was a great event and highly educational. I don’t think I can look at bread, honey, milk, chocolate and tea without thinking about what I have learnt today. Oh and one of the great things to end the event was that Brasserie bread gave us each a loaf of their single origin sourdough to take home! Thanks Ben and everyone involved for putting this all together.

«State of Origin» is the phrase of the week throughout most of Australia however for the Unilocal community we have ended our week with the phrase «Single Origin».
Single Origin is a term that’s very much suited to a wide range of produce and not simply Coffee, which is more widely known about. Ben provided the Unilocal Community with a lesson literally in Food 101.
Brasserie Breads provided the stage for lessons in the Origin of bread, honey, chocolate, tea and milk through both visual and teaching.
First up was a video describing the ridiculously complex process that goes into making a loaf of bread from the selection of where the grains will be grown all the way to the production. Michael described the intricate selection process that went into their selection of the finest source. After the video Matt went into greater detail about Brasserie Bread and their continuous efforts to provide the best bread. The passion from this guys is phenomenal and the final product is without a doubt the finest Artesian Bread I have tasted. The bread is offered in Single Origin sour dough and wheat. Both are amazingly delicious and could easily sit and eat them all day long.
Next up was Doug or as I like to call him the Bee Man. Doug described the battles the modern bee faces through out the world. Australia is lucky it hasn’t faced this issue yet but it’s been knocking on the door. Doug is offering Urban beehives through out Sydney which offer region specific honey. Hard to imagine but on the tops of various Sydney dwellings are beehives creating honey. Regions including Parramatta, Mascot, Gladesville, CBD, Rocks among more. Given the opportunity to sample the honey it’s amazing to see the contrast in flavours from region to region in regards to taste, texture and colour. Learned that honey is based on the specific seasons and flowers in those areas.
Step up Renee to detail how she created Perfect South. Perfect South offers Tea that is Australian grown using Japanese methods. The tea we buy in grocery stores is representative of China or Japan yes but those countries are large, with Perfect South they want a product that can be detailed more specific. They can account for where it’s produced and its age. Renee gave some insightful tips of the perfect brewing of Green tea. 80 degrees and brew for 3 – 5 minutes before removing the tea bag. The tea is offered in 3 flavours ranging from classic green to a more popcorn rice flavour. All three are excellent and the company only specialises in a total of 11 and perfects those. My favourite tea was Matcha Genmaicha which offered single origin shincha leaves and brown rice flavour and also a mix of green tea to it.
Michelle represented Zokoko Chocolate and described the journey of chocolate from the cacao beans all the way to the finished article. They have created something beautiful in their chocolate from the 68% Venezuelan bar to the 78% Solomon Island. The Venezuelan chocolate tasted a little bit fruity and the Solomon Island chocolate was rich and luxurious. The Chocolate is packaged beautifully and an ideal gift for any chocolate lover. They offer the original sourced nibs of the cacao too. This chocolate is something that needs to be tasted to be believed.
John the dairy farmer was last up to discuss the process involved in creating a more organic milk compared to the mass produced dollar milk we get in grocery stores. John is a sixth generation farmer in the Picton region and described how the milk has improved in texture and flavour based on diet and weather. We learned the importance of supporting local farmers rather then simply opting for mass produced grocery milk. After the lesson John let us compare his milk and cream compared to grocery style stuff. It was an instant difference. The cream was so much more fluffy and much tastier. John even helped us create our own butter and butter milk.
The venue is exquisite and provided the perfect playground for learning important food lessons that I will take into account from now on when buying the everyday essentials such as bread, milk, honey, chocolate and tea.
Thanks Unilocal and Ben for organising and awesome event.

What an interesting informative afternoon. I love learning! The presenters had so many interesting facts to share. Bees and the problems the industry is having world wide… few people realise. Thank goodness Australia has not had the same problems yet.
Cows and their diet from season to season changes the milk. Wow… what we have learnt from cow urine and cow turds!
Chocolate…love the dark friend. What makes a good chocolate taste… well we found out.
Sour bread. original flavours! The video was very interesting.
Thank you Unilocal!!!

Did you know that one loaf of Brasserie Bread takes 2.5hrs from start to finish and because of this they are open ²⁴⁄₇ to cater for the almost 15,000−16,000 loaves sold each day?
Did you one bee produces ¼ teaspoon of honey in their lifetime and that there are bee hives in the Domain and you can actually buy the honey they produce?
Did you know that there is Australian grown Japanese tea located in North Eastern Victoria?
Did you know one of the best ways to monitor the quality of milk that’s going to come out of a cow is by their turd?
Did you know there is no where in Australia where you can go to study how to make chocolate from scratch?
And finally the commonality between all these products — Did you know that it’s normal for the taste of each items to change season to season because no season is ever the same?
I didn’t know any of that until about 3hrs ago. What an informative afternoon supporting great local producers. We got to sample all the products but I must say my favourite part was shaking that bottle of milk and cream to create my own butter and buttermilk which I scoffed down with some sourdough in no time. So so so delicious. The cream was so thick and well… creamy tasting. The butter was so flavoursome it was even like borderline cheese to me. Yummo!!!
To top off the evening a loaf of sourdough to take home each. Too spoilt today!
Thanks Ben and all the vendors for coming out and telling us about your products. Let’s all try support these local produce businesses and get some great quality food into our bellies. Healthy insides for healthy outsides. nom nom nom.

Both Edwin and Connor have already written epic reviews of this event, so I’ll keep mine short.
This was my favourite Elite event to date. We got to learn so much about single origin food production from knowledgeable people in a beautiful environment.
The bread was simply divine, I am salivating just remembering the experience of shoving the warm, part soft, part crunchy bread into my mouth. It was a near religious experience!
We also got to try the delicious chocolate, honey, tea, milk, cream and butter made by these artisans.
Thanks Ben for organizing, Brassiere Bread for hosting, and Perfect South, Zokoko, Country Valley and The Urban Beehive for letting us try your awesome products and teaching us the value of buying single origin!