CHAPTER 735: CHAPTER 444: HANABI’S PROBLEM, POACHING_2

"Hanabi-chan, can you tell me why? Why do you want it."

"I... don’t know."

Uesugi Sakura placed the mineral water aside, turned, and grabbed her soft little hand:

"Let’s have kids a few years later."

"A few years later?"

"Hanabi-chan, you’re still too young, just eighteen..."

"Hmm... hmm... being with you, Sakura-kun, I’m already very happy, I shouldn’t ask for more..." Hanamaru Hanabi lowered her face slightly.

Seeing that there were few people in the park, Uesugi Sakura lay down directly, resting his head on her lap with a smile facing her small face.

Hanamaru Hanabi was startled by his action.

"Sakura-kun."

Smelling the fragrance coming from her due to exercise, Uesugi Sakura looked at her cute face and said, "Hanabi, being with you makes every day happy, so smile, we still have tomorrow."

Seeing his smile and hearing his words, Hanamaru Hanabi couldn’t help but smile slightly.

At one o’clock in the afternoon, at mimi coffee shop, the sky was clear and bright.

Uesugi Sakura parked his bike, headed to the second floor, and at the corner, he happened to see Hanamaru Hanabi, who seemed to just have come upstairs and had not yet opened the coffee shop door.

She also noticed Uesugi Sakura approaching from downstairs.

"Sakura-kun, how about having a little baby with Hanabi?"

Hanamaru Hanabi wore her unchanged cute smile.

From her tone, Uesugi Sakura could tell she was being cheeky. Staring into her eyes, he said:

"You’re too young..."

"Young? Mom had Hanabi at eighteen too, also got pregnant while in college."

"That’s... different," Uesugi Sakura tried to say.

"Different? Nothing’s different," Hanamaru Hanabi placed her right hand on her belly, "Sakura-kun, Hanabi’s here already desperately wants to conceive your baby."

"..."

"Why doesn’t Sakura-kun want a baby? They’re so cute."

"This..."

"Hehe, Hanabi knows."

With a playful note, Hanamaru Hanabi skipped into the coffee shop after saying this.

Uesugi Sakura listened to the tinkling bell that followed, and then let out a sigh of relief in his heart.

Having a daughter is okay.

Having a son, wouldn’t he share Hanabi’s love with him?

No way, such a thing could never happen.

Why would a brat get to share Hanabi’s love with me!?

Uesugi Sakura then walked into the coffee shop.

At the counter, Kobashi Rikai greeted him with a smile:

"Good afternoon, Uesugi-kun."

"Good afternoon."

Uesugi Sakura glanced around the shop; Todaka hadn’t arrived yet.

The guy had been working here for a week now, claiming he wanted to get closer to Kobashi, yet there hadn’t been much progress.

"I thought Uesugi-kun wouldn’t come since you had a scheduled day off today," Kobashi Rikai said as she handed a pre-made cup of coffee to him, "Try this one today, Uesugi-kun?"

Familiar with the motion, Uesugi Sakura picked up the cup, took a light sip, paused for a few seconds, then said:

"Not bad, carries a distinctive flavor."

Kobashi Rikai’s pupils widened, "Uesugi-kun, you approve?"

"It has its own character, a significant improvement. It’s effective."

Ding-a-ling~

The bell jingled as a customer entered.

Uesugi Sakura put down the cup and saw a guy in a casual denim jacket walk in, with a camera around his neck and wearing casual long pants.

It seemed to be his first time here, as he looked around the shop’s decor with curiosity.

"Welcome."

The middle-aged man walked to the counter and looked intently at Uesugi Sakura’s face, then extended a finger, smiling as he said:

"One espresso."

Kobashi Rikai, standing beside Uesugi Sakura, visibly hesitated when she noticed this man.

The middle-aged man smiled and nodded at her, then turned his gaze back to Uesugi Sakura.

"Espresso, hmm, anything else?" Uesugi Sakura said.

"No, nothing else."

The man pulled over a stool, sitting in front of the bar, watching Uesugi Sakura take the grinder and drip filter handed by Kobashi Rikai, "Oh, you’re going for a traditional drip method?"

While operating, Uesugi Sakura replied in a calm tone:

"When there aren’t many customers, we use this method."

"Nowadays, coffee shops generally use coffee machines. Baristas using traditional drip methods in this area are as precious as green trees in a desert."

The man didn’t say much, just watched Uesugi Sakura’s coffee-making steps.

When it came time to brew, Uesugi Sakura looked up and asked, "What flavor do you prefer?"

"A bit more bitter," the man still smiled.

Uesugi Sakura understood and adjusted the hot water machine’s temperature down by about 5 degrees.

In less than five minutes, a cup of espresso stood before the man.

"Enjoy."

The man gently picked up the cup, swirling it slightly, allowing the thick, rich portion to settle at the bottom and the lighter, thinner end to float on top. Once the temperature was right, he brought it to his mouth, taking a sip to let the coffee coat his entire tongue and mouth.

Immediately, the aroma of coffee filled his senses.

"Not bad, not bad, not bad."

The man said three times, putting down the cup with a big smile, crossed his hands on the bar, and smiled at Uesugi Sakura:

"I’ll get straight to the point, I’m the head barista at Winston, and I’d like to invite you to work at our coffee shop."

Uesugi Sakura didn’t speak.

The man, with his stubble-covered face, smiled again, pointing at the coffee in front of him and said:

"I can taste that the style of your coffee wasn’t learned in Japan. Even though the temperature and bitterness of this espresso are very close to the traditional bitterness of Japanese coffee, it inherently gives a light roast flavor typical of Northern Europe."

Kobashi Rikai, listening from the back, asked quietly, "Is there a difference?"

The man smiled slightly, explaining, "Japan typically employs a slow-fire roasting technique, taking over twenty minutes from green beans to a finished roast, far exceeding the fifteen-minute average in Europe and America. Slow roasting keeps coffee textures steady, fully allowing the Maillard reaction to create a substantial amount of ’Melanoidin’ during roasting...

"Which gives Japanese coffee a rich, mellow texture, sweetly fragrant and slightly bitter.

"Northern Europeans prefer original flavors, liking clean, refreshing, bright, and delicate aromas, and don’t favor earthy, smoky, roasted, or strong alcoholic and yeasty flavors. That’s a fundamental stylistic difference, and after drinking many coffees made by Japanese baristas, non-local flavors are easily detectable.

"Northern European light roast coffee has a unique roasting method, sometimes called ’Blazing Light Roast’, involving quick roasting in a short period, producing a taste that’s seventy percent juice-like, thirty percent coffee, refreshing upon entry, with an instantly blooming fragrance.

"Traditional Italian coffee, however, is ’blended coffee’, focusing heavily on the roasting flavor (referring to the taste imparted by roasting, such as cocoa, caramel, smoky, etc.) rather than original flavors.

"This is exactly the opposite of Northern European style, so Northern Europeans find it hard to drink espresso."

"Although this gentleman is trying to align with Italian coffee, long-standing habits still make his coffee show a difference in basic skills and intended style."

Hearing this, Uesugi Sakura understood that this guy intentionally chose Italian coffee.

The middle-aged man looked at the half-finished cup of coffee before him again, saying:

"But undeniably, this coffee has a unique barista flavor, it won’t make even Italians feel uncomfortable while drinking, and it’s easy for Northern Europeans to accept, a flavor that’s just... uniquely its own, wonderful, dare I say exquisite!"

The man finished, eyes returning to look at Uesugi Sakura:

"Sir, are you interested in joining us at Winstons? Our team holds a top position in Tokyo, with top connections, and participates annually in world barista competitions, offering a salary that surely won’t be lower than what you currently make, potentially several times higher."

Winston?

Uesugi Sakura wasn’t interested in this guy’s self-praise, pulling Kobashi Rikai aside to inquire:

"Is this guy famous?"

"Mm."

Kobashi Rikai nodded, as she had learned about many famous coffee baristas in Tokyo online for her coffee studies. The stubbled man before them held a position akin to Makoto Shinkai in animation.