“Is this really all right? If the professor in charge of your major said your coffee was weak, Young Master, it could cause problems when you advance through the Academy and eventually try to graduate.”
“Boss, from what I know, Professor Jeffrey is an enormous coffee enthusiast. I heard he will not even spare a glance for coffee he considers bad.”
After Jeffrey left, Isaac and Yulia spoke to me in rather grave voices. Isaac in particular had anxiety written all over his face, looking exactly like a parent worrying about his child.
Of course, as I had already said, I had no interest in graduating.
Therefore, I had no particular reason to curry favor with Jeffrey.
Still, separate from that, I was interested in the fact that Jeffrey was a highly popular professor within the Academy.
‘If someone like him becomes a regular at our shop, the effect throughout the Academy could be enormous.’
As I had said before, one had to row while the tide was in.
If Jeffrey’s reputation were added to Yulia’s, perhaps merely reaching three-digit sales would no longer be enough. We might even change the leading digit.
‘More importantly, if my connection with Jeffrey eventually reaches the Duke of Arnia, it could prove useful for a very long time.’
After all, the business I was running was located in the Duchy of Arnia.
This could be the beginning of a connection that might allow me to establish a good relationship with the owner of this land. There was no way that could be a bad thing. Looking further ahead, it could bring nothing but benefits.
“Don’t worry too much. I have a way to win the professor over.”
I looked back and forth between Isaac and Yulia as I spoke.
The two, who had been wearing worried expressions, immediately brightened. The way they looked at me made it seem as though they were asking when I had managed to come up with such a plan.
Really. What did they take me for?
“Did you think I was merely out having fun whenever I left the shop in your hands?”
“As expected of you, Young Master!”
“Just as expected, Boss!”
Was it because I had given them both generous purses as bonuses yesterday?
Their reactions were unusually enthusiastic today.
“Watch carefully. I’m going to turn the professor into one of our regulars.”
***
I had my own method for winning Jeffrey over.
And to put that method into practice, I needed a moka pot.
Fortunately, the time Lily had promised to finish the equipment arrived, and the moka pots finally came into my hands. Now I intended to create a coffee suited specifically for espresso using the Edwell Blend as the foundation.
‘This should be easier than when I first started researching coffee here. I’m not starting from absolutely nothing like I was back then, and I’ve accumulated plenty of data through my research.’
On the third day of research, after conducting numerous experiments based on that data, I decided to keep the existing blend ratio.
The balance of flavors I had already established seemed to remain the best even when extracted through the moka pot.
‘But a moka pot has lower extraction pressure than a coffee machine, and the extraction time is shorter. A darker roast should probably suit it better than a light-medium roast with a weaker flavor....’
So starting on the fourth day, I began making adjustments to the roasting.
When I raised the roast level of S1, which had particularly strong balance and body, the heavier flavor was certainly quite good compared to the original Edwell Blend.
‘It isn’t bad, but I’m still not satisfied.’
I was reluctant to make further changes to the blending and roasting, so I turned my attention elsewhere.
It was time to examine the factors that determined the flavor of espresso.
For the amount of water, I had Lily construct the moka pot based on one I had used before, allowing it to make four cups at once. With Lily’s magical engineering added to the design, the pressure had been raised to nearly twice that of a conventional moka pot.
Therefore, the variables I could adjust immediately were the grind size and the amount of coffee.
The more coffee I used and the finer I ground it, the stronger the resulting coffee became. If I did the opposite, it naturally became weaker.
‘If I were still using a manual grinder, there would definitely have been a limit to how finely I could grind the beans. Having the fully automatic grinder made beforehand was an excellent decision.’
Well, I had only ended up with a fully automatic grinder because the semi-automatic one had somehow turned into one....
Still, the fact that it saved me time when adjusting the amount and grind size was an enormous advantage for me now.
‘Nice work, Lily.’
Feeling grateful to Lily yet again, I continued my research with an emphasis on tasting.
Even minute adjustments to the amount and fineness of the coffee beans produced a wide variety of changes in flavor.
Several more days passed.
At last, I completed the ideal specifications for an Edwell Blend suited to espresso.
News of Jeffrey came two days after that.
“Y-Young Master! H-he’s here!”
“What is here?”
“Professor Jeffrey is here! Look over there! He is advancing straight toward our shop as we speak!”
Isaac shouted with unnecessary excitement.
No matter how urgent the situation was, his manner of speaking seemed to resemble mine more and more with each passing day....
I stopped what I was doing and turned toward the window.
Jeffrey was approaching at a leisurely pace with his hands clasped behind his back.
“Maxim Edwell. Have you finished your preparations?”
Jeffrey entered the shop shortly afterward and addressed me.
I readily smiled and nodded.
“If you mean my preparations to receive a gift from you, Professor, I finished those several days ago. I was just wondering what sort of gift I should ask for, so you have arrived at the perfect time.”
“Hahaha! You’re overflowing with confidence. Very well. I look forward to it.”
I had confidently celebrated my victory before it had even happened.
Of course, that was because I was just that certain of myself.
***
Modern cafés sometimes served two or more types of coffee beans.
Likewise, I intended to operate our shop with two coffees from now on, under the names Edwell Blend A and Edwell Blend B.
The former, A, was the original blend for hand-drip coffee.
The latter, B, was the espresso blend I had recently completed.
HISSSS—!
Steam hissed from the moka pot as the Edwell Blend B inside it heated.
Jeffrey, seated at a table, watched with obvious curiosity.
“I’ve never seen that equipment before.”
“And the coffee will taste unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before as well.”
After finishing my research, I had some spare time, so I went to the smithy and had a small cup called a demitasse made.
It was the kind of tiny cup commonly used to serve espresso in the modern world.
For reference, because the cup was so small and espresso cooled quickly, I had preheated it until it was hot.
“So this is the strong coffee you were talking about?”
When I served coffee in a cup only slightly larger than a tiny dipping dish, Jeffrey looked puzzled.
It was understandable that he could not easily comprehend it.
This was coffee made with an extraction method that did not even exist as a concept in this world.
“Ahem! You’re joking, surely? This is all the coffee there is?”
“This is a newly developed coffee called espresso. That is the proper serving size.”
“Hmm....”
Jeffrey gently lifted the cup of espresso.
He repeatedly examined the tiny cup as though unable to believe what he was seeing, then suddenly looked at me.
“Has business been poor lately? Or is it perhaps going too well?”
“Pardon?”
“What I mean is, are you serving me such a small amount because you’ve run short of coffee beans?”
“Haha, not at all. By my standards, this coffee was designed to let you experience the deep, pure flavor inherent to coffee in a far more concentrated form.”
He seemed quite shocked by the small quantity compared to all the drip coffee he had drunk until now.
That was only natural, considering a serving of espresso was around thirty milliliters.
“The way you put it makes this coffee sound like some unprecedented luxury. May I interpret it that way?”
“Yes, well....”
I nodded almost without thinking.
To be perfectly frank, I would not go quite that far, but I decided to let him believe it.
He was free to interpret it however he wished.
I could not definitively call it the finest coffee in existence, but it was certainly a kind of coffee that had never existed here before.
“Please drink it before it cools.”
“Hmm. Very well.”
There was so little that Jeffrey emptied the cup in two sips.
People tasting espresso for the first time sometimes found it so bitter that they involuntarily spat it out, but fortunately Jeffrey did not go that far.
“How is it?”
“It was an extremely strong coffee.”
“I see....”
I had expected someone as knowledgeable about coffee as Jeffrey to perceive the deeper qualities of espresso, so I could not help feeling disappointed when his assessment turned out to be so ordinary.
‘Was espresso too much even for Jeffrey?’
Just as I was thinking that, he spoke again.
“Could you give me another cup? Perhaps because the serving was so small, I still haven’t managed to grasp the deep and pure flavor of coffee you mentioned.”
“Certainly.”
I served him another espresso.
This time, Jeffrey savored it much more carefully.
“Once again, the intensity is remarkable. I think I understand now why you were so confident that you could make strong coffee. But it is also exceptionally bitter. This is the bitterest coffee I’ve ever tasted.”
“......”
“However....”
He smacked his lips thoughtfully before continuing with care.
“Strangely enough, I find that bitterness rather pleasant. The first time, I thought I was imagining it, but after drinking it again, I’m certain I wasn’t. Perhaps it is because I came here just after dinner, but that distinctly savory bitterness feels almost as though it washes the grease from inside my body.”
“Is that so?”
“Thinking back on the flavor I just experienced, I suspect that brown, cream-like substance floating on top of the coffee may have something to do with it....”
“That is called crema.”
“...Crema?”
His assessment was clearly different from before.
He had only tasted it twice, yet he had already identified the flavor of the crema.
“It is the golden layer of foam that you saw resting on top of the espresso earlier. It allows you to experience the coffee’s aroma in a richer and more intense form.”
“It was quite sweet, and remarkably smooth as well. I would almost prefer it if that crema were considerably thicker.”
Jeffrey smiled in satisfaction.
More crema did not necessarily mean higher-quality espresso, but seeing how pleased Jeffrey was made me regret that I could not produce a thicker layer.
‘He didn’t smile like that when he came here last time.’
If I had been using a proper coffee machine, I probably could have produced the thick crema Jeffrey wanted.
However, with the equipment currently available to me, the crema I had just served was the limit.
There were many extraction conditions that could affect the state of crema, but for now, the greatest limiting factor was the moka pot’s insufficient pressure.
Of course, I had asked Lily to make it capable of producing the highest possible pressure, but even that was the maximum achievable with the current technology.
Disappointing though it was, I had no choice but to be satisfied with this for now.
‘Once Lily grows more skilled, I can commission a coffee machine from her. Then it’ll be an easy problem to solve....’
Jeffrey glanced around.
Judging by the way he had been smacking his lips for a while, the serving size really must have felt insufficient.
“Could I have another espresso?”
“Yes, of course.”
There was still some left in the moka pot since it could make four servings, but I could hardly serve a professor coffee that had gone cold.
Instead, I brewed four fresh servings of espresso and brought all of them out at once.
“Haha. Are you doing this because you expect me to ask for more again?”
“No. I brought them out in advance because once the coffee cools, the layer of crema you enjoyed will become thinner or disappear.”
This time, I added a spoonful of sugar to the first cup.
There were people who insisted that sugar should never be added if one wanted to experience the coffee’s natural flavor, but even in Italy, which could be called the home of espresso, that was regarded as a matter of personal preference.
And I felt the same way.
Some people actually preferred it that way.
“Oh! Now this is quite a treat!”
Just like Jeffrey, sitting right in front of me.
“I’m glad it suits your taste.”
“The coffee itself is certainly intense, but the sweetness is clean rather than cloying. And the bitterness lingering at the end seems to leave an even deeper impression than when I first drank it....”
“Would you like another one prepared the same way?”
“Excellent. Please do.”
Jeffrey quickly emptied the remaining three cups one after another.
Espresso servings were small to begin with, but he seemed to like the taste with sugar so much that he enthusiastically drained every cup in a single swallow.
Watching him made me feel pleased as well.
His expression was completely different from the one he had worn during his first visit.
I had not even known until today that Jeffrey was capable of smiling so brightly.
“Could I perhaps have one more?”
“A-another one?”
“The serving size of espresso is simply so small.”
This seemed like far too much caffeine....
My concern made me try to discourage him from having any more, but the professor was so stubborn that I could not persuade him.
‘Whatever. I give up.’
It seemed he was planning to stay awake for several nights.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Demitasse cups were piled high across the table.
There had once been a famous espresso bar in Seoul where it became fashionable for customers to stack their emptied cups into towers.
People would drink several cups and post photographs of the stacks on social media....
In any case, watching Jeffrey reminded me of that trend.
“It has been a very long time since drinking coffee put me in such a fine mood. Your words were no empty boast. You truly were confident that you could make coffee suited to my tastes.”
“Didn’t I tell you earlier, Professor? I said I was already wondering what gift I should ask you for.”
“Haha. Yes, you did. So, have you finished deciding?”
I slowly nodded.
Jeffrey then spoke to me in a noticeably warmer tone than before.
“I said I would give you a small gift, but if you wish, I could give you something greater. That is how satisfied I was with your coffee today. So there is no need to be reserved. Go ahead and tell me what you want.”
“Yes, then....”
He said he could give me a greater gift, but in truth, there were neither many nor particularly grand things Jeffrey could give me.
After all, he was a professor.
If he gave a student an excessive gift, there was a considerable chance it would violate Academy regulations.
‘So my options aren’t that broad. And among them, if I choose the greatest gift Jeffrey can reasonably give me without going too far....’
The best option would be for him to help me form a connection with his younger brother, the Duke of Arnia.
However, relationships between people had to be approached carefully. If my intentions and objectives were too obvious, they could instead provoke resentment.
Connections had to be cultivated with caution.
Therefore, I decided to choose a gift that would not be excessive, could serve as the foundation for such a relationship, and would immediately benefit my café business.
“You hold an academic gathering every Monday, don’t you?”
“An academic gathering? You mean ‘Jisamo’?”
“Yes. From what I understand, you and several other professors gather together for it. I heard nearly all the professors attend except those from the combat-related departments.”
“And? Why bring that up all of a sudden when we were discussing your gift?”
“Because that is the gift I want from you, Professor. From now on, I’d like you to hold your academic gathering at our shop every Monday.”