‘Coffee blending’ was, as the name suggested, the process of mixing two or more coffees with different characteristics to create a new flavor profile.
Almost every company in the franchise industry used blends, and even independent cafés that sold straight coffee often served blended coffee as well.
To reduce costs and compensate for shortcomings in flavor.
And those were exactly the reasons I intended to use it now.
“You are saying that if you mix several cheap coffees together, you can make them taste like expensive coffee?”
“Of course I cannot make them exactly the same. But I should be able to improve the overall quality.”
“...Wow! And that happens just by mixing them together?”
Isaac’s words made a hollow laugh escape me.
Damn it. If it were that easy, would I be going through all this trouble?
“Anyway, Isaac, go take care of your work.”
I decided to postpone finishing the kitchen construction for as long as possible.
For the time being, I would need to use it while researching coffee.
The Krontea varieties, considered high-end coffee, would be C1 and C2.
The considerably cheaper Seiron varieties would be S1, S2, and S3.
I labeled the coffees so I could distinguish them easily, then immediately began cupping them. It was a cup test meant to taste each coffee individually and identify its characteristics.
—I have heard that coffee from Krontea tastes best when dark roasted. It is also the roast level most nobles prefer.
I remembered the advice the general store owner had given me when I went to buy coffee-making equipment.
First, I needed to learn what kind of coffee the nobles preferred, so I roasted the beans dark for the cupping.
C1 and C2 were both well balanced.
Their acidity was pronounced enough to taste quite sour, but their strong sweetness complemented it and balanced the flavor. Above all, they possessed excellent overall balance, with a subtle berry-like fruitiness spreading through the cup.
Between the two similar varieties, C1 was better.
As expected from the higher price, both its flavor and body were considerably superior.
‘But the difference in quality is nowhere near as large as the difference in price. Coffee prices really are heavily inflated here.’
These were expensive coffees that even the nobility considered luxurious.
Coffee like this was far too costly for blending, and since it already tasted excellent on its own, it was better suited to being enjoyed as straight coffee.
So I excluded the Krontea beans from the blending ingredients.
Even using a small amount would send the cost soaring, making the final price absurdly high for the students who would become our primary customers.
The Seiron beans, on the other hand, were priced appropriately for blending.
Compared to Krontea, however, their quality was undeniably lower.
S1 was the most expensive of the three. It could not compare with Krontea, but its balance and body were respectable. However, it possessed almost none of the acidity that could be considered one of Krontea coffee’s greatest strengths.
S2 had good sweetness, while S3 had excellent cherry-like flavor and acidity.
Unfortunately, both coffees shared the same problem: an overpowering bitterness that ruined the few strengths they possessed.
‘Still, these are not nearly as terrible as I expected.’
There was undoubtedly a difference in quality between Krontea and Seiron.
Fortunately, however, that difference was nowhere near as enormous as the difference in price.
Of course, the Seiron coffees had very obvious flaws.
But each variety also possessed equally clear strengths.
If I used S1’s balance and body as the foundation, then reduced the bitterness in S2 and S3 while using them to supplement the sweetness, flavor, and acidity....
‘...This could definitely work.’
I called it the ‘Edwell Blend.’
My research into creating a coffee of my own had begun.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Coffee was a matter of personal preference.
Naturally, it was impossible to satisfy everyone.
However, if I used Krontea, the coffee regarded as premium, as my benchmark while still lowering the price, I should be able to attract the largest possible number of customers.
That was also why I had spent money buying the Krontea varieties in the first place.
I needed a benchmark.
My first priority was tasting them repeatedly until I clearly understood their strengths.
‘Balance and acidity. Those will be my standards from now on.’
There was a limit to how much blending could compensate for the inherent flavor of the beans themselves.
Even if I had no choice but to sacrifice some of their distinctive character, I needed to bring the balance and acidity as close to my benchmark as possible.
‘It would be nice if there were even some reference materials about coffee. There are no statistics here, so I have no choice but to test everything myself.’
The results of my efforts would become my data.
And that data would become my own statistics.
With that belief alone, I immersed myself in the research.
Pre-blending would have saved time, but I could not produce the flavor I wanted. The overall balance was not terrible, but controlling the bitterness proved extremely difficult.
That left me no choice but to use post-blending, despite the inconvenience of roasting each coffee separately.
I would first determine the roast level at which each of the three varieties tasted best, then blend them afterward.
The different roast levels made the beans uneven in color, but improving the flavor quality mattered far more for now.
As I continued my research with that in mind—
“Young Master? Should we not be going home soon?”
“Already?”
“What do you mean, already? The sun set ages ago.”
“...Ah?”
I looked out the window.
Just as Isaac said, it was already deep into the night.
Perhaps I had become intoxicated by the coffee while researching it, because I had completely lost track of time.
The first Edwell Blend was finally completed ten days later.
***
Compared to the amount of time I had spent determining the proper roast levels, finding the blending ratio finished sooner than expected.
There was still more research to be done, but I had succeeded in drastically reducing both the coffee’s flaws and its cost.
The result was surprisingly decent.
One might call it the first completed version of the Edwell Blend.
The ratio of S1, S2, and S3 was 40:30:30.
S1, which possessed the most stable quality, formed the foundation. S2 added sweetness, while S3 introduced a bright fruity acidity that gave the blend greater impact.
Personally, I was fairly satisfied with the flavor.
Still, there was a limit to tasting it by myself over and over, so today I intended to hold a small tasting session.
Though there was only one person available to taste it.
“Isaac, you look terrible today.”
“I-It is nothing.”
“It does not look like nothing. You seem nervous, almost as though disaster is about to strike, and you look like you have a lot on your mind.”
“I am simply a little worried. I have not had coffee very often, so I am not sure whether my opinion will actually be of any help to you, Young Master....”
As I brewed the coffee, I kept studying Isaac’s face.
He claimed that nothing was wrong, but there was a strange sense of unease about him that was different from usual.
‘Hmm. There is definitely something going on.’
Was it something personal?
If so, prying into it would be rude.
If it was something I needed to know, he would probably tell me himself.
“Here. Try these.”
For comparison, I brewed two cups and handed them to him.
One was the Edwell Blend.
The other was straight coffee made solely from a Krontea variety.
“As I said before, I have not had coffee often enough to give you a detailed assessment. But personally, I found the first coffee much more delicious than the second.”
This was not the modern world, and Isaac was not a professional.
I had never expected an ordinary person here to offer some elaborate description of a coffee’s flavor in the first place.
Coffee was still a culture enjoyed by only a small minority.
That was why I smiled with satisfaction.
The first cup had been my Edwell Blend.
Hearing that he preferred it was enough.
It suggested that even commoners who rarely had the opportunity to drink coffee might react positively to it, just as Isaac had.
I brewed another cup.
Then Isaac and I spent a little while having coffee together.
He passed the time fidgeting pointlessly with his cup before cautiously glancing at me and opening his mouth.
“Um, Young Master.”
“If you have something to say, just say it. Stop watching my expression like that.”
“...A letter arrived for me this morning.”
“A letter? From where?”
“From the Edwell territory.”
Isaac pulled an envelope from inside his clothes and handed it to me.
Apparently, this was why he had looked so troubled.
To summarize the letter as briefly as possible, it said this.
—I have sent Howard to the Fence. Howard will decide Maxim’s punishment on my behalf, so Isaac, take care not to let Maxim notice. If that fool somehow realizes what is happening and attempts to flee, you may break his legs.
The sender was none other than Count Edwell.
My father had discovered everything I was doing.
He knew that I had taken a leave of absence from the academy and that I was trying to open a shop.
“How did Father find out?”
“He must have assigned people besides me to watch you. Secretly.”
“He is thorough. Then again, a count’s household should have an intelligence network of that level. With a wastrel son liable to do anything at any moment, there was no chance he would leave only you to watch me.”
“You are calmer than I expected. I thought you would immediately cause a scene.”
“Why would I?”
“...?”
“Think about it. Who do you think delivered this letter to you?”
“Naturally, one of the people the Count planted inside the Fence....”
“Then where do you think that person is now? They must be watching us from somewhere. If I tried to escape, they would immediately appear and stop me. So there is no point in making a scene and trying to leave.”
There was no chance Father had planted only one or two people.
Judging by how thoroughly the letter described my every movement, he must have placed at least ten informants around the Fence.
“Then why are they merely watching? Could they not simply seize you immediately, Young Master?”
“Unless they are someone like you, personally entrusted with a sword by Father and carrying out his orders, they cannot lay hands on a direct descendant of the family. That sword at your waist was given to you by Father, correct?”
“Yes, it was, but....”
A family head did not personally bestow a sword upon just anyone.
Count Edwell must have trusted Isaac considerably.
“And despite that, Father ordered you to keep me here. What do you think that means? This is what I think. Father already knows that you have sided with me. Perhaps he gave you those orders to test your loyalty.”
“Gasp!”
“So the person who should be panicking right now is not me, Isaac. It is you.”
“Gaaaaasp!”
Isaac’s already pale face turned completely white.
“Why did you show this to me?”
“......”
“Father explicitly ordered you to make sure I did not notice.”
“H-He did.”
“Then why did you reveal the letter to me? Whatever the circumstances, you must have known that simply showing it to me was essentially disobeying Father’s orders.”
“Th-That is....”
Isaac took a deep breath before forcing himself to continue.
“...To be honest, I do not really know why I did it either.”
I liked Isaac’s honest answer.
In fact, I preferred it because he had not tried to dress it up with words like loyalty to me or trust.
Even if we were now in the same boat, how long had it really been?
It would have been ridiculous to start talking about deep loyalty or trust already.
‘Did he say we practically grew up together as friends?’
Perhaps it was simply affection born from familiarity.
There had certainly been moments when he thrust a sword toward me without hesitation, but whenever he did, I had always sensed reluctance behind it.
“A knight cannot afford to be that softhearted. People who let personal feelings sway them on a battlefield tend to die early.”
“What can I do now that it cannot be undone? I suppose I will simply have to curse you from the afterlife, Young Master.”
“What? How would that be my fault? You were the one who made the choice.”
“If you had lived properly from the beginning, none of this would have happened. You were the one who spent your life as a wastrel.”
I let out a quiet laugh.
Judging by Isaac’s expression, which had become considerably lighter than before, some of his tension had eased as well.
“If I want to avoid that terrible curse, I suppose I will have to find some way for us to survive.”
In that case, it was time to find a solution.
What was done was done.
Judging from the letter, the reason Father intended to punish me was simple.
He had given his pleasure-addicted wastrel son an opportunity to reflect on his past mistakes, yet had concluded that I showed absolutely no sign of repentance.
And he had every reason to think so.
I had, in fact, disobeyed his orders.
He had sent me tuition money and told me to return to school quietly, yet I had taken that money and used it for something entirely different.
I had even ignored his command to return to the academy and taken a leave of absence on my own.
‘But what else was I supposed to do? If I returned, I was going to be expelled anyway.’
I would have to persuade Howard using the graduation assessment system, just as I had persuaded Isaac.
If Father had come personally, I might have been cut down before I even had a chance to speak.
In that sense, the fact that someone else was coming in his place was extremely fortunate.
“What kind of person is Howard?”
“Why are you asking me? You know Lord Howard far better than I do, Young Master.”
“M-Me?”
Isaac’s reaction made me uneasy.
For a moment, I had the strong feeling that someone other than Father coming here might not actually be fortunate at all.
“He is the officer in charge of the territory’s finances. I have seen you argue with him countless times whenever you wasted money on entertainment....”
Sure enough.
Of all possible people, Father had sent someone nearly as troublesome as himself.
“Why would he send someone as important as the financial officer all the way here?”
“How would I know what the Count is thinking?”
“Damn it. How long until he arrives?”
“The letter arrived ahead of him through a fast messenger, but judging by the contents and the likely difference in travel time, I expect Lord Howard to reach the Fence within two days.”
“Two days. Two days....”
“Lord Howard will probably assume once again that you are wasting the territory’s funds. Your academy tuition was also money from the territory, and he is more sensitive about money than anyone I know, so I doubt he will be easy to persuade.”
“Wait. He is sensitive about money?”
“To exaggerate slightly, he is obsessed with it. When you lost money gambling in the past, I once heard him quietly muttering that you were a parasite who did nothing but consume money.”
“Oh?”
Had there been a character like that in House Edwell?
If anything, I liked the fact that his personality was so clear.
If he truly cared that much about money, this crisis might actually be easier to overcome than I had thought.
“Then if I show him that I am not a parasite who consumes money but a blessing who brings it in, we might have a chance?”
“Hmm. Perhaps?”
My mind began turning quickly.
I could not generate actual profit immediately, but I needed to show him that the business had the potential to make money.
If I could at least plant the expectation in Howard’s mind that I might possess that kind of ability....
“This could actually become an opportunity if we handle it well.”
“An opportunity?”
“He is the financial officer. In other words, he controls the money, does he not?”
“D-Do not tell me! You are planning to extort money from Lord Howard?!”
“I am not going to extort him. I am going to get him to invest.”
“Invest? From that notoriously difficult Lord Howard?”
“You said he is obsessed with money. I just need to show him some hope that the coffee business could be profitable. If our shop is overflowing with people, would that not at least pique his curiosity?”
I would use a different side of the so-called parasite to open the conversation.
He needed to be willing to talk with me before I could persuade him of anything.
“...Ah! You mean we should move the official tasting event forward!”
“Exactly. We will give away coffee for free and draw a crowd.”
Originally, I had intended to hold the official tasting event sometime next week.
Since we had limited funds, I had thought it would be better to wait until the Edwell Blend had been refined further.
But I had changed my mind.
It seemed the tasting event would have to take place two days from now.
On the very day the financial officer arrived.
“If we are going to hold a tasting event anyway, we might as well make it a big one.”