THE LITTLE COFFEE SHOP OF TERRORS by Hazel Graves

Author:Hazel Graves
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2024-08-08T00:00:00+00:00

Take Some Time to Smell the Coffee

The following day at Riffraff was as strained as Meemaw’s overcooked pasta. Things didn’t improve when Adele reminded Ben that the coffee-tasting event was that evening, and that there was no cancelling it because they’d sold out on EventBrite.

‘I’m busy,’ he said, keeping his distance, presumably in case Adele fell into his arms again. That hadn’t been her fault! She had excellent balance.

‘It’s not till seven,’ Adele pointed out over the whir of the grinder. ‘You’re usually back from your Freemason’s gathering or wherever you disappear to by then.’

‘They’re asking me to perform some extra sacrifices this week.’

‘Hilarious. Well, I suppose I can host it. I know plenty about coffee by now. Look, I’m even making cold brew!’ She poured the ground beans into a nut-milk bag and started filling a Takeya tub with water. ‘And Donny can help with the tasting notes and stuff. It can’t be too different from wine. Besides, a food critic from 718 Plates is coming.’

Ben’s eyes widened in alarm, and not because he’d witnessed a customer pull a squeezy bottle of honey from their bag. Adele hadn’t known he was so sensitive to criticism.

‘They’ll love your work. How could they not?’

Ben stammered out a few ums and ahs as he awkwardly protested. The man had received no media training.

‘It’s a bad idea, Adele. Horrible. Shithouse. You don’t understand.’

The customer was still squeezing honey into their coffee.

‘Oh, you’re too hard on yourself.’ Adele hoisted the batch of cold brew into the fridge to steep. ‘It’ll be great!’

Ben let out the most ragged breath Adele had ever heard. And she’d tried going for a run in Denver, a city built a hypoxic mile above sea level. ‘I’ll cut my thing short.’

And so he did, hurrying in the door with a solid hour before the event participants were due to show up.

‘So what do we call this event?’ chirped Adele, excited, as Ben stomped back up from the basement with several bags of beans slung over his shoulder. ‘Taste testing? Coffee prix fixe? Flight . . . of coffee fancies?’

‘It’s called a cupping.’ Ben threw down the bags and locked the basement door, as always. After cutting open the bags, he grabbed a few beans from each, frowning.

‘I still reckon this is a shitty idea. That critic . . .’

‘But people have bought tickets!’ exclaimed Adele, feeling that old musical theatre thrill that came with a sold-out show. ‘We might actually make money.’

‘I dunno if my recent roasts are going to stand up to scrutiny. There’ve been a few quakers recently.’

‘Quakers? As in the religious group?

‘As in wonky beans.’ He picked one such bean out and showed it to her. It looked like . . . a bean. ‘Ones that were picked too early and don’t have the sugars they need to caramelise during the roasting process. A couple are all right. More than that, and your roast tastes ashy and dry.’

‘Like chewing on a corpse.’ Adele folded her arms, amused.

‘Absolutely not like that,’ snapped Ben, surprisingly testily.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.