Manager at Red Rabbit Cafe, Haobo (Hubs) Tong, is a second-generation immigrant from Tianjin, China. Tong's family has created and operated a restaurant brand since 1998, where his father instilled in him from an early age the idea of chasing after good tastes and flavours and achieving them through dedicated craftsmanship.
This skill, coupled with his mother's extensive knowledge and experience as a corporate management executive, landed Tong where he is today, managing a cafe where passion and hard work can be seen through the high-quality, unique and delicious flavours of coffees made.
Tong was first introduced to coffee through a hospitality management diploma. After obtaining a fundamental understanding of coffee, his passion took over. For the past 12 years, it has driven him forward through self-learning, talking with suppliers and other coffee enthusiasts, and on-the-job training to get to where he is today.
"I am still learning and improving on my skill set."
The most rewarding aspect of his work comes from the craftsmanship of coffee and the socialising and working with people daily.
"I enjoy the journey to build or fit into a team and create the dynamic to achieve a smooth and seamless workflow that can be compared with a classical French kitchen or, more poetically, a well-organised symphony."
Tong said he also enjoys interacting with customers, adding that each is people from different walks of life, with different professions, lifestyles, and interests.
Getting to know them has broadened my field of knowledge and interests, widened my perspective by different views and opinions which has contributed to shaping my values and views on life.
"Getting to know them has broadened my field of knowledge and interests, widened my perspective by different views and opinions which has contributed to shaping my values and views on life."
Red Rabbit offers single-origin coffee, sourcing only the top three to five percent of the world's green beans production. From here, they tailor roasting profiles to enhance each unique origin, drawing out the inherent complexities of each coffee. During the brewing process, the team are trained to pay special attention to the many variables that affect the qualitative and quantitative targets.
Surrounded by passionate professionals, premium equipment and suppliers, Red Rabbit strives for perfection and self-improvement. The result is a balanced, sweet, and complex coffee that reflects the story and expertise of the hands that cultivated it at its origin.
Tong continued that it was gratifying to see customers' surprise when they realised how good Red Rabbit's coffee tastes, leaving the cafe satisfied. He added that working on kick-ass machines and equipment and tasting great coffee was excellent.
To make great coffee, which Tong prefaced by stating that it was a subjective matter, it should be balanced in acidity and sweetness, with the ability to carry the distinctive flavour and aroma developed in its growing, harvesting, and roasting stages.
Tong explained that coffee should be easily accessible for people to enjoy, not cheap but affordable at a fair price point to support the livelihood of millions of coffee growers and professionals so that they can continue providing this delicious product to the world.
His go-to order is an Espresso and a pour-over brew. Outside the world of coffee, he likes to spend time with his family and dog Odin, catch up with friends over coffee and talk about coffee and any current life events or philosophies.
"I enjoy cooking, especially barbeque, practising cocktail making, and relaxing. I love a good movie in the evenings or playing video games. I am a big fan of motorsport and basketball."
