Chapter 10: Barista Emily (2)

The library was quiet, with all the people gone. Rachel headed to the place where the only sound was the turning of book pages.

Of course, she couldn’t just go empty-handed, so she brewed some drip coffee and took it with her.

“If you don’t like the taste, you can just throw it away.”

“You’re here.”

Emily received the coffee Rachel brought. The coffee aroma was much stronger than before.

It was good.

It was so good that her eyes naturally closed when she smelled it.

She closed her eyes and took a sip, just like before.

A heavy body. If it was light and easy to drink in the morning, now it tasted like fatigue was relieved.

At first, she thought it was luck. Even she, who brews coffee every day, has days when she brews it well.

But such luck must be based on basic skills.

Even if luck is with someone who has no skills, they cannot brew this kind of coffee.

And just now, by drinking the second cup of coffee, she was convinced.

‘My eyes weren’t wrong.’

Emily said, suppressing her rising smile.

“I don’t think I need to hold someone who’s off work for too long. I said it was a proposal earlier, right?”

“Yes. You did.”

“From now on, please teach me coffee.”

“?”

Rachel doubted her ears for a moment.

‘Did I hear that wrong?’

Otherwise, there’s no way a noble’s daughter, the heiress of the second most powerful family in the empire, would ask her to teach her coffee.

“I think I misheard, so could you please say it again?”

“You didn’t hear wrong. Teach me coffee brewing. The condition is money. Or is there anything else you want?”

“Wait, wait a minute. I’m good at brewing coffee, but… there must be someone in the duchy who’s better at it than me.”

Emily shook her head.

“They are basically cooks. Even if they make coffee, it’s not this good.”

Rachel swallowed.

‘I’m better at coffee than a cook? Does that make sense? I have a barista license, but I’ve only had it for 4 years?’

Honestly, she couldn’t believe it.

But Emily, who is serious about coffee, is saying that, so it can’t be a lie.

Rachel immediately nodded.

“I’ve never taught anyone. So I may be inexperienced, but if that skill is okay with you.”

“Have you thought about the compensation?”

After thinking for a moment, she said what she wanted.

Anyway, she doesn’t need money.

She gets paid a lot, and she has enough just by investing with a large sum of money. Anyway, she knows the future, so she can make a big profit right away.

She needs to make a wise choice. The other person is a duchy. It’s a place overflowing with good things besides money.

“Money is fine. Instead, can I know some information about Yona?”

“Yona?”

One of her eyes twitches.

“Yes. About what symptoms Yona’s disease has. I’m interested in medicine, so I’ve read a lot of books in that field. I want to help even a little, so I’m asking this.”

In the middle, her gaze sharpened, so she quickly added.

In this life, my goal is not to become rich.

It’s to survive with all limbs intact in that bloodbath where many people die due to civil war and the demon king’s invasion.

The first task is Yona’s survival.

She heard how she was sick in the novel, but it was only superficial.

She can’t cure the disease with just that.

Emily thought for a moment and accepted.

‘Anyway, everyone knows that Yona is sick, so it doesn’t matter. But it’s surprising that it’s not money.’

She knows very well that people like money the most.

This is an opportunity to make a lot of money if she does well. But she’s worried about the safety of Yona, who has nothing to do with her?

‘Is she fascinated by Yona? Well, Yona is cute.’

“Miss. Then when would you like to have the class?”

“I don’t mind weekdays, but weekends are better. But if you do it on weekends, I can give you a weekend allowance.”

“Then I’ll do it on weekends.”

Rachel also preferred weekends, so she decided on weekends.

Emily, who had finished her coffee, left the library.

Rachel locked the door only after she disappeared from her sight.

“Whew. That was close.”

I wiped the sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand.

Even though Emily likes coffee and likes to make it, I didn’t know she would ask me to teach her directly.

“I didn’t know she liked coffee that much.”

It’s a shame for a noble to ask a commoner for teaching.

“By the way, what should I do?”

I’ve never taught anyone.

Especially if that field is coffee.

I took a pen and wrote down the things that came to mind in a notebook to organize the situation.

“First of all, the only thing I can make now is drip coffee.”

I don’t have an espresso machine, so I can only make hand drip coffee.

“Then should I first tell Emily to make it?”

Teaching is the act of spreading new knowledge and correcting the other person’s wrong way.

Anyway, it would be good to do both.

“I can just do the wrong thing, but new knowledge.”

Come to think of it, it doesn’t seem that difficult.

I can just tell her the recipe like it’s written on a blog, or give her small tips when making coffee.

So I slowly prepared for the class on Saturday.

Repetitive routines make the flow of time faster.

My daily life was all about opening, cleaning, managing books, and closing as a librarian.

Of course, time passed quickly.

The only special thing that happened during the week was playing with Yona on Wednesday evening.

We played Red Light, Green Light at that time too, and she seemed a little bored.

I’ll think about this later. Now I have to focus on this.

“She said to meet here at 10 o’clock.”

Anyway, Saturday and Sunday are library holidays. I told her to do it here because it’s spacious and close to my house.

“Hmm. All right.”

I tied my hair as neatly as possible and tidied up my clothes.

Clatter. Clatter.

I spread a white tablecloth on the wide desk. I took out filters, coffee beans, a grinder, a dripper, etc. on it.

It looks a bit poor, but I can’t help it.

Anyway, she can only learn drip coffee.

I waited for a while.

Just one minute before 10 o’clock, the library door opened and Emily appeared.

Always dignified and confident.

“Welcome. Miss. Good morning.”

“Good morning. Hmm. How are you going to conduct the class?”

I started the introduction to her standing next to me.

“First of all, before we start the class, there is a part that we need to be clear about.”

“What is it?”

“Since the class itself is about grasping concepts that Miss doesn’t know and correcting wrong habits, there may be a tone of teaching, and there may be light physical contact…”

“Pfft. Aren’t you treating me too much like a villain? Of course, I came here considering those things.”

“Ah, I understand.”

I felt embarrassed for a moment and immediately went to the main point.

“First, please brew coffee, Miss. I’ll give you feedback after seeing the process and taste.”

“Okay.”

Emily started brewing coffee slowly with hot water. I watched the process with an eagle eye.

The process of drip coffee is really nothing.

Grind the coffee beans, put them in a filter, and extract.

But depending on this simple process, the taste of coffee varies greatly.

It’s not for nothing that there is a job called a barista.

I check the grinding degree of the coffee beans, extraction time, water temperature, amount of water, and drip method.

The coffee that was brewed in no time.

“It’s done.”

“Thank you for your efforts.”

I smelled it first.

‘It definitely doesn’t look like she learned it professionally. Since she wanted to learn from me, a librarian, she must have wanted to learn from other cooks as well.’

The scent is too bitter.

It’s obvious even if I don’t drink this.

But I couldn’t not drink it when I saw those twinkling eyes.

Slurp.

‘Ugh.’

It was terribly bitter as expected. It was the worst because of the excessive sourness.

“How is it?”

“It’s, it’s drinkable.”

“Hmm. Is that so?”

I put down the coffee I drank a sip of.

Now it’s time to start the full-scale feedback and class.

“First of all, as Miss knows, the coffee that Miss brewed has excessive bitterness and sourness.”

“Yes. I’m clearly brewing it the same way as the cooks, so why is the taste different?”

“First of all, it’s the water temperature.”

“Water temperature?”

Emily’s eyes widened.

The question of whether just the water temperature changes the taste of coffee was evident.

“It’s good to use water at 90°C~96°C. Second, it’s the size of these coffee beans.”

I scooped up some of the leftover residue she had ground from the grinder with a spoon.

“Touch it. How is it?”

“Hmm, it’s fine?”

“That’s the problem. I call this over-grinding, but if the coffee beans are ground too finely, the extraction time of the coffee increases, and the bitterness and sourness become stronger.”

“Really?”