Now that they had made up their minds, the two of them didn't waste any time and immediately got down to intensive preparations.
Businessmen value profit. Since the major shareholder didn't like Lu Xunguang's indifference to the business of the Ping'an Bank, if he wanted to return to the Lu family in style this time, he would surely have to show some real skills.
Li Ying had already come up with a strategy. Seeing that Lu Xunguang seemed to follow her every word now, she smiled confidently.
The autumn imperial examinations were approaching. Students had studied hard for decades, waiting for this moment to achieve success. Each of them wished they could hang themselves by the hair from a beam or pierce their thigh with an awl. This refreshing coffee came just in time!
Moreover, with the little civet cat Maomao as a companion, they only needed to open a cat café, and they could attract both poor scholars and the wealthy young ladies and gentlemen who didn't know the hardships of life.
Li Ying perked up. She quickly cooked a pot of "seafood and meat feast" with chicken, duck, fish, and crab for Maomao. She carefully picked out all the bones and shells, added some fragrant meat broth, and then flatteringly placed it in front of the gluttonous little cat.
Maomao was burned by the food and kept sticking out its cute little pink tongue. It gobbled up the food cleanly. Then it licked its paws contentedly, stretched lazily, and meowed twice in a long drawl, indicating that it would take on the task of recruiting "cat employees".
Meanwhile, Lu Xunguang had already, as she had instructed, ground the roasted coffee beans into powder as coarse as granulated sugar and carefully filled it into a very fine sieve.
He let the boiling water cool for a while, then gently poured the first stream of water in a circular motion into the center of the coffee powder. After a 30 - second bloom, he poured the second stream of water in a small - circular motion.
Lu Xunguang's hands were extremely steady, and he controlled the water flow very evenly. The thickest layer of coffee powder was fully extracted, so it was not likely to be too sour or too bitter. The water naturally spread to the thinner powder layers around. The hand - brewed coffee that filtered out not only retained more oil but also had a cleaner and brighter taste.
If you tasted it carefully, you could even detect a hint of sweet floral and fruity aroma.
"If you just want it to be refreshing, hand - brewed coffee like this can be sold. If you're not used to the bitterness, you can add half coconut milk or whipped milk foam and make a simple latte art."
Li Ying demonstrated the process of hand - brewing coffee once and then casually drew a few common latte art patterns.
Hand - brewed coffee was different from espresso. Although she had chosen a metal filter to retain the oil in the coffee to a great extent, it was still impossible to create distinct patterns. Only a faint heart shape could be vaguely seen.
She explained the key points of latte art to Lu Xunguang and left him to practice alone. Then she rushed out to find the carpenter Li to help prepare some cat - teasing sticks and cat trees for the cat café.
Li Ying went to the town to choose a storefront and then quickly arranged for people to decorate it. When she rushed back to the fishing village again, there were already more than a dozen lattes of different sizes on the table in front of Lu Xunguang.
Fortunately, he had a foundation in martial arts. Whether it was grinding coffee beans or whipping milk foam, he did it very meticulously. Moreover, Lu Xunguang was extremely insightful. In just a couple of hours, he actually figured out the skills of latte art.
He gently held a white porcelain cup with one slender hand and calmly shook the other hand slightly. Like a dragonfly skimming the water, the milk foam bloomed in the fragrant coffee like the first snow. Finally, he gently lifted his wrist and pulled out a small sharp corner.
It was exactly the "layered heart" she had demonstrated before she left.
"A Ying, how is it? Can it barely meet your standards?"
Lu Xunguang looked at her respectfully, looking very much like a student eager to learn.
Li Ying looked at the clear pattern in the cup and took a small sip. This coconut latte had a smooth and rich taste, which was exactly to her liking.
He actually had quite a talent for coffee.
Li Ying smiled and said, "For hand - brewed coffee, the degree of roasting of the beans, the fineness of the grinding, and the water temperature and flow during brewing will all have a great impact on the flavor. Brother Lu is so smart that you will surely be able to explore your own unique techniques."
The two of them went their separate ways. Lu Xunguang devoted himself to researching the best ratio of coffee powder to water every day and tried out novel latte art patterns. He even made every villager in the fishing village who came to taste the coffee have dark circles under their eyes.
Li Ying was in charge of closely supervising the decoration of the coffee shop. She washed the little companions brought back by Maomao one by one, trimmed their nails, and let them bask in the sun until their fur was soft and fluffy.
The fishing village was in a complete uproar for a while, and the pitiful meows never stopped.
To avoid scaring these cute little creatures, when the cat café opened, they didn't make a big fuss. They only invited Yan Lianzhi to cut the ribbon.
Lu Xunguang specially changed into the black suit that Li Ying had ordered in a hurry. She introduced that it was the clothing of a Western foreign country. Although it looked strange, it really made his tall and straight figure look even more elegant.
The employees were all handsome young men and smart young women. They were all dressed in dark - brown uniforms, and the girls wore brown tutu skirts. Each of them had a bright smile on their faces. Whenever a customer came in, they would warmly greet them, "Welcome, young master and young lady, back home!"
Maomao had a delicate little bow tied around its neck and strutted around the coffee shop proudly.
There were salt - free fish cans specially prepared for the cats in the shop. If you bought two cups of coffee, you could get a can to feed and play with the cats.
The cats had been instructed by Maomao. Each of them obediently retracted their claws and just lay in the girls' arms with their soft paws. From time to time, they would rub their round cat heads and little ears against the customers. Their cute appearance was really heart - warming.
As for the students who were studying hard, if they had no time to "pet the cats", they could also buy hand - brewed coffee from the "take - out window" and go back to study late at night. Each cup was 10% off, and if you bought five cups, you would get one free.
Good tea was expensive. How could poor scholars afford to drink tea every day? If they were really exhausted from studying, most of them could only splash cold water on their faces.
Now, hearing that this "coffee" could make people energetic and last until the third watch, they all rushed to it eagerly.
The cat café was full every day for the first three days of its opening. The servant in the kitchen who was grinding the beans wished he could turn into the eight - armed Nezha. The stone mill was almost smoking.
Lian Ji never expected that Lu Xunguang would no longer hide himself carefully but instead show up openly and become a "barista"!
What was even more hateful was that this so - called coffee was actually quite popular!
Since she had been deprived of the power to manage the family, she only had a dowry tea shop in the town to barely keep going.
Now, most of the business of this tea shop had been snatched away. If this situation continued, I'm afraid the major shareholder would notice this "resurrected" son soon!
Lian Ji secretly cried out that something was wrong. She whispered a few instructions to the servants beside her. Before long, some rumors began to spread in the town.
"He's just a dock laborer earning hard - earned money. How could he have such amazing skills? It's all thanks to Boss Li's guidance!"
"He's just a good - for - nothing who depends on a woman. Swaggering around in the town really shames us men!"
"What 'Welcome, young master and young lady, back home'? It's so obsequious and disgusting. It's really immoral and despicable!"