“Uh… Hmph!” Donna tried her best to maintain her image as someone who ‘knows her stuff,’ her voice striving to remain steady. “Yeah! I heard your place is really something! So I brought my friend here to check it out!”
Latia’s gaze fell on Aier with interest, especially when she saw those soft golden locks and those impossibly clear green eyes. Her red lips curled up slightly. “Such a cute little sister. So, Little Donna, what would you like to try today?”
Latia deliberately glanced at Donna with a hint of mischief.
Donna felt a little guilty being put on the spot. A phrase she’d heard from somewhere flashed through her mind, and she immediately straightened her back, declaring resolutely, “I’ll have a black coffee!”
“Oh? Are you sure?” Latia raised an eyebrow, smiling slyly like a cat. “That’s pretty bold of you.”
“O-of course!” Donna replied, forcing herself to sound confident.
“And you? Cute little one.” Her gaze swept over Aier.
At this moment, Aier’s hands were pressed tightly together on her knees, looking reserved and well-behaved.
After all, she had no experience in this kind of noble establishment, and following the principle of ‘the less trouble, the better,’ she said, “Could I have the same, please? Thank you.”
“Hehe, alright then. Please wait just a few minutes, little ladies.” Latia’s eyes sparkled with amusement as she turned to work her tools, which looked more like alchemical apparatus than anything for brewing coffee.
For the next few minutes, Aier and Donna watched Latia like a performance, as she repeatedly lifted the delicate little silver pot off the flame, stirred it, cooled it down, then reheated it… The rich aroma of roasted beans in the air grew stronger and stronger.
What a complicated ritual… It feels like the time it takes to make one cup here could make ten Americanos at those chain stores in my previous life…
Finally, two cups of deep brown liquid were placed in front of them on their little saucers.
No latte art, no milk foam—just two minimalist cups of coffee.
Donna had been waiting impatiently. As if to prove she really was ‘in the know,’ she grabbed her cup the very instant Latia set it down.
She puffed her cheeks and blew on it twice, then tipped her head back and drank a big gulp as if it were juice!
“Pft—cough, cough! Cough! Cough! Cough—ugh…”
A fit of violent coughing and gagging instantly shattered the quiet of the shop.
Donna’s face scrunched up like a steamed bun, tears sprang to her orange eyes, and her tiny nose turned red from rubbing. She clapped a hand over her mouth, chest heaving, clearly questioning her life choices from the bitterness.
Latia calmly wiped the spotless bar with a snow-white cloth, her movements graceful and unhurried, as if she’d seen it all before.
“Slow down, no one’s going to snatch it from you.” Aier said with a wry smile.
“No… cough…” Donna finally caught her breath, but her face was still twisted, her voice on the verge of tears, orange eyes watery with tears of misery, looking especially pitiful. “It’s… it’s terrible! So bitter! So sour! And… and hot! What is this weird stuff?!”
She protested, completely forgetting her earlier act as a coffee expert.
She stuck out her pink tongue, licking her lips hard to try and get rid of that nightmare taste.
Aier silently watched all this. She carefully picked up her own cup, first bringing it close to sniff. The strong aroma of charred bitterness and fruity acidity hit her all at once.
Whoa, that burnt bitterness goes straight to your head…
Is this really drinkable? Even instant coffee from my previous life smelled better than this, right?
She copied the movements she’d seen in her past life, holding the little cup with the saucer.
Her posture was a thousand times more elegant than Donna’s, and she took a small sip.
A powerful bitterness crashed into her taste buds like a battering ram, followed by a sharp acidity that almost made her shiver, astringency welling up from deep in her throat.
But Aier had drunk plenty of bitter brewed coffee in her previous life, so her tolerance was far better than Donna’s.
She didn’t lose her composure—only her beautiful green eyes involuntarily squinted a little, slender brows knitting tightly, a stubborn hint of discomfort showing on her pale little face, but in the end, she swallowed it.
“I figured as much.” Aier put down her cup, glancing calmly at Donna, who was still rubbing her tongue. “If you’re not used to coffee, it’s hard to appreciate this… pure intensity, right? Especially jumping straight into black coffee.”
“Hehe.” Latia finally laughed out loud, like a child whose prank had succeeded. She took out a small bowl of sparkling sugar cubes and a silver tong from under the bar, pushing them toward the two golden-haired girls.
“There’s really no need for so many rules when it comes to coffee. At the end of the day, it’s just a drink. However you like it, whatever makes you happy, that’s the way to drink it. Like these sugar cubes—if you feel like licking one, go ahead. If it’s too much, break some off and toss it in. Why bother about all those rules?” She looked at the embarrassed Donna with a teasing, doting smile.
“Eh?! You can add sugar?!” Donna’s eyes lit up instantly, as if she’d grabbed a life-saving straw. But then she glared angrily at Latia, “Why didn’t you say so earlier! You were just laughing at me!”
Her golden, slightly wavy hair quivered with indignation.
“Hehe,” Latia crossed her arms and leaned against the rack behind the bar, her red lips curving into a mischievous smile. “I just wanted to see how our Family of Teluowei Si’s little Princess would ‘professionally’ taste black coffee.”
Aier: “……”
You guys really know how to mess with people…
Feeling thoroughly tricked and with her pride in pieces, Donna immediately channeled all her humiliation into a craving for sugar.
She grabbed the sugar tongs and started piling in cubes like mad!
One, two, three… the tiny cup could barely hold them. The sugar cubes formed a little, teetering white mountain atop the dark coffee.
Aier’s eyelid twitched as she watched.
What’s the lethal dose of sugar… Is there even any coffee flavor left in that? It’s probably just sugar water now…
She quietly picked up the tongs herself, carefully dropping four cubes into her cup.
Her slender, fair fingers gripped the delicate little silver spoon, slowly stirring along the rim, movements quiet and meticulous, trying to dissolve the sugar evenly.
It was a sharp contrast to Donna’s wild “clang clang clang” storm-style stirring beside her.
Donna couldn’t even wait for the sugar to dissolve. She grabbed her cup and took another big gulp!
Her face, from brow to mouth, underwent a seismic shift in that instant!
“Ugh—!!!” This time, her cry was even more tragic and twisted than before!
Sticky sweetness from the still-undissolved sugar grains clung to her throat, mixed with the still-lingering sour bitterness of the diluted coffee—a hellish combination!
“Gulp…” She swallowed with difficulty, her whole face scrunched up, then collapsed on the bar like a popped balloon.
Her golden hair clung messily to her sweat-and-tear-dampened forehead, chest heaving violently.
Her orange eyes brimmed with tears of protest, staring fixedly at the “biochemical weapon” in front of her, her expression so aggrieved it looked like water could drip from it, her chest rising and falling again in frustration.
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