How one café found the 'the right guy' to be their head barista and chief roaster

PETALING JAYA, June 13 — From the farmer to the barista, from the roasting machine to the final cuppa, there’s a lot that goes into your favourite coffee.

This appreciation of the many hands that go into crafting a flat white or a pour-over brew is particularly prominent at the new Red Beanbag at Menara Mudajaya in Mutiara Damansara, PJ.

The café’s owners, the affable and assiduous husband-and-wife team of Lee Yew Kheong and Hai Lin Lee, have made good use of the new location. The new Red Beanbag is more spacious and suffused with natural light; a children’s playroom is another key draw.

But the first thing customers — both regulars and fresh faces — will notice when they enter the premises is the more expansive coffee bar. And opposite that, a whole room devoted to roasting coffee, with a brand new coffee roaster gleaming proudly.

The coffee bar at The Red Beanbag is led by 23-year-old head barista Henry Ng. Besides managing his team of baristas, Ng is also the chief roaster for The Red Beanbag, no small feat for someone so young.

Lee enthuses, "That kid! Without him, we probably wouldn’t have gotten started here.”

Manpower — the sourcing and the management thereof — is an ever-present spectre in the F&B industry, says Lee, where staff attrition is a challenge everyone faces.

He adds, "To grow we need the right people on board. Over the years, we have now learned when we have got the right person.”

The Red Beanbag’s new location is brighter, more spacious and suffused with natural light.

The right person in this instance is "that kid” though the self-confessed coffee geek looks wise beyond his years. Ng started working at Wizards, another café founded by The Red Beanbag team some years ago, when he was only 19.

He continued to work there for the next four to five years, choosing to stay on board after the original owners sold it a couple years ago. The decision to move to The Red Beanbag happened organically, Ng shares.

"It wasn’t planned,” he recalls, "but as they had bigger plans for The Red Beanbag, it felt like the right timing for me. I had started learning how to roast coffee beans on my own in 2019 and now I could finally showcase what I learned on a bigger scale.”

Ng had bought a small roasting machine from China-based Santoker; it was a countertop roaster weighing 40 kilograms and could only roast a maximum of 300 grams per batch. Undeterred, he kept at it and one year later, he started selling the coffee beans he roasted.

He says, "I paid for all this on my own and learned during my free time. The idea was so that I could bring something to the table when the opportunity provided itself.”

That time came when he joined the crew at The Red Beanbag, then still at its original Publika location. It was exciting for the novice roaster to test his roasting skills at a more commercial level.

Ng shares, "I learned more by shifting from just roasting at home to moving my small roasting machine to The Red Beanbag. We didn’t have much space in the Publika café but we made it work somehow, even in a tight space.”

Naturally, when they shifted to their new home in Menara Mudajaya, Ng knew it was time to level up — to dedicate a specific space for their roasting operations as well as increase the volume of their output.

From the roasting machine to the final cuppa.

He says, "We are still using the same manufacturer for our roasting machine — Santoker — but with a larger machine, we can now roast a maximum of eight kilograms of coffee beans per batch. That’s more than 26 times what we could produce before!”

One reason that they have opted for a China-based coffee roaster manufacturer over European ones is support.

Ng explains, "For maintenance and service, I only need to WeChat video call with the factory guys in China when I have problems. They will then send me pictures of parts to replace and I can order these from Taobao — it’s more efficient than dealing with European roasters.”

For now, The Red Beanbag will roast coffee beans to sustain the needs of their café. Ng shares, "In the future, we have plans to tap the retail market and then after that, the wholesale market to other cafés.”

Given the plethora of coffee roasters these days, from larger players to boutique micro-roasteries, The Red Beanbag will have to find their own niche - or perhaps define it for themselves.

Ng says, "The flavour profile of our Red Beanbag coffee is balanced and easy to drink. It’s suitable for families. Regulars can even brew coffee from Red Beanbag roasted beans at home before going to work.”

For their green beans (i.e. raw coffee beans), Lee says that they are open to all suppliers. He adds, "We are sourcing everywhere. Right now, we are starting with SK Leng of Constant Gardener Coffee , a Penang trader of green beans.”

It’s interesting that Lee would mention Leng, who has become a mentor to Ng. I tell him that the young head barista reminded me of the older coffee veteran, in that they share an unapologetic geekiness about coffee.

Lee nods, grinning, before adding, "That’s how we knew we found the right guy.”

Ng and his team of baristas.

The Red Beanbag

G-2, Menara Mudajaya, 12A, Jln PJU 7/3, Mutiara Damansara, PJ

Open daily 8.30am-5pm

Tel: 03-77318834

Web: theredbeanbag.com

FB: facebook.com/theredbeanbag/

IG: instagram.com/theredbeanbag/

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