The sound of the train was the only noise Tristan could hear while he stared outside the dark sky, trying to distract his thoughts from mild agitation.

At the same time, however, he felt a little excited about his first job. Already imaging himself behind the counter with one of the barista he saw weeks ago.

Later on, Tristan reached his stop, conveniently located close to Eton Centris. He began to walk to the cafe, clenching his side bag strap as his heart pumped from increased excitement and nervousness.

In the distance, he could already see the lights inside the cafe illuminating its outside, a sharp contrast to the dark, closed shops next to it.

As he got closer, he noticed the spiky-haired barista working behind the counter. But a peculiar detail caught his eyes that made him feel awe.

Tristan took a deep breath to calm his nerves. “Here goes nothing.” He mumbled to himself before pushing the cafe doors open. The familiar bell chime that rang in his ears alerted the barista as he spun around, his expression brightened when he recognized Tristan.

“Hey! You got the job! Congrats!” he clapped his hands together, which made Tristan fluster a little. “T-Thank you.”

“Do you want coffee? Looks like you need some wake-me-up!” The barista chuckled. Tristan faintly waved his hand. “I already drank at home, but thanks for the offer.”

“Oh! Almost forgot!” The barista snapped his fingers. “Name’s Fidel! Welcome to Kofienrest Cafe! Glad to have another student to teach!” he waved his hand wildly around, reminding Tristan of an excited child.

His cheerful attitude made Tristan's nerves ease as he started to feel comfortable around already.

“Lets get you your apron. Follow me!”

They entered the same entryway during Tristan’s last visit, but this time, Fidel opened an unmarked door that was next to the office. It was a small room with two large shelves on each side. Filled with unfamiliar items, a locker, some cabinets, boxes, and extra chairs and tables in the corner.

“This is the storage room! And it also doubles as our locker room!”

Fidel reaches for keys in his pocket, unlocked the lower left locker, grabbed a light brown apron and a name tag, then handed them to Tristan.

“This is your locker! There are five sets of apron and two name tags inside.” Fidel pinched his shirt collar, then tilted his head to point at it. “We will provide you with white polo shirts next week, and once your shift is over, you can put your shirt and apron on there.” He pointed at a hidden laundry basket next to the shelves.

Tristan mesmerized the apron. He rubbed his thumbs and felt the comfort of the fabric’s excellent quality. Then he looked at the name tag, it read ‘Hello! My Name Is Tristan’ with the cafe logo on the left.

“Woah…” He whispered, but loud enough that Fidel chuckled at his reaction.

Once he was done, Tristan removed his bag with one hand, shoved it inside his locker, then wore the neck strap of the apron. He positioned his hands behind his back to tie the waist straps together, but while doing so, Tristan quickly realized something.

He glanced at Fidel, who hummed and raised his brows as a silent cheer. Tristan smiled awkwardly. it made him more nervous to try tying the apron. But after a solid minute, Tristan could feel sweat form on his forehead as he still struggled to tie the strings together properly.

“Do you need help?”

Tristan felt embarrassed by Fidel’s genuine, concerned tone. Realizing that he will be stuck in the storage room longer if he hasn’t tied his apron, he swallowed his pride and looked at him. “Yes, please…”

Fidel chuckled playfully. “Don’t worry, just do it like you’re tying your shoe! Here!” He reached his arms behind him and untied his apron. “Let me show you!”

He turned around, then showed Tristan how to tie an apron in a slow, careful fashion, guiding him at each step. Once Fidel had finished, Tristan felt like an idiot for not realizing how easy it was.

With a newfound knowledge, Tristan followed his technique. He still struggled, but after a few attempts, Tristan finally tied his apron, feeling somewhat accomplished about it. “T-Thank you.”

Fidel chuckled. “No problem!”

Tristan pinned the name tag on the upper left of the apron, completing the look. He felt some sense of satisfaction, almost looking like a well-mannered barista.

“Nice! Glad the apron is a fit! C’mon, let me show you around the cafe!” Fidel gestured with his hand, then exited the storage room. Tristan followed.

“Well…” Fidel clasped his hands as he let out a faint chuckle. “Might as well start here! As you can guess, this is the kitchen! But we only wash dishes here, no cooking, so that’s no fun.” He playfully shrugged his shoulders.

He walked next to the dishwasher and motioned his hand at it like a TV presenter with an amused expression. “Only use the dishwasher when there are too many dishes to clean! Saves up time and money from the water bills!” He smacked the dishwasher and let out a bark of laughter.

Then he pointed at two upright chiller in the corner, “That’s where we put extra pastries and milk. Keep the temperate low on the pastry chiller so customers won’t eat super cold food!”

Afterwards, they left the kitchen and headed inside the counter. The moment he saw the machines, cabinets, and other unfamiliar items.

It fascinated Tristan.

Fidel turned around and clasped his hands, a bright smile radiating off his face. “Alright! Your first responsibility is to turn on all the machines. Espresso machines, coffee grinders, batch brewers, kettles, and dishwasher. You name it!” He pointed at each machine as he explained.

“After you’re done, fill the coffee hoppers on the coffee grinder.” Fidel pointed at a tall, semi-opaque hopper at the top of said machine.

Fidel leaned down and opened a cabinet. “This is where we stock our extra coffee beans.” Then he opened yet another wider cabinet. “This is our glorified dish rack. Make sure you dry them up before storing them!”

And he opened a small drawer. “And these are the accessories for the espresso machines! Make sure they’re clean and dry before you place them back!”

Tristan peeked inside the drawer, recognizing all the tools from his research. He felt a weird sense of emotion seeing them in person.

Fidel crouched down and pointed to a bunch of bottles of different labels and colors below the counter. “This is where we stock our liquids, like syrup and liquor. Yes, liquor.” Then he pointed to a short but wide chiller. “There is where we stock fresh milk. Just keep it closed! Don’t wanna get cold feet.” He laughed at his own joke.

He stood up and pointed to a food display in the left corner of the counter. “That’s where we display our food. Arrange the pastries neatly, though! Good presentation entices customers to buy food!”

Then Fidel clasped his hands as he almost forgot to say something. “I’m usually in charge of fresh milk and pastry delivery. But in case I wasn’t available, just sign the delivery form, let the delivery guys roll the dollies of milk and pastries inside the cafe, then place them on their respective chillers.”

Tristan hummed and nod his head, mentally memorizing everything Fidel taught him. It was a lot, but also memorable in his mind.

Fidel pointed at the computer machine on the counter, “Are you familiar with using a Point Of Sale machine?”

“No, but I’m excited to use one?” Tristan squeaked out, which made Fidel chuckle a bit. “That’s not an issue. In fact, it’s actually quick to learn! Here! let me show you.”

Tristan leaned closer as Fidel showed him every function and buttons in the screen. Next, he instructed him how to input an order inside the machine. “Just remember, always announce how many bills you received. Then, when giving their change, slide each bill and coins to make sure they know they received their correct change. It’s annoying, but it’s part of the job!”

Before Tristan could respond, Fidel’s expression brightened up and snapped his fingers. “Oh! Almost forgot!”

He grabbed a small remote below the counter, pointed it at the ceiling, then pressed a button.

Soft chill piano music played around the cafe, catching Tristan slight off guard.

“Pretty cool, right?” Fidel said with such a playful smirk that it made Tristan let out a soft laugh.

Fidel placed the remote back, then clasped his hands. “Alright, now it’s time to teach you the espresso basics!”

The moment those words escape Fidel's mouth, a pang of excitement and nervousness shot through Tristan's nerves.

Fidel opened the accessory drawer, took some items out and placed them on the counter each, then closed it.

Hr grabbed a familiar-looking item and showed it closer to Tristan. “This is a Portafilter! This spoon-looking device has a basket right here-“ He motioned his finger around the rim of the basket. “-that holds the coffee grounds during extraction of the espresso shot. Make sure you wipe the basket with clean cloth to remove any coffee grounds!”

He flipped the Portafilter upside down. “Portafilters has a spout below the basket, that’s where the extracted coffee flows down a cup. There are three types of spouts, single, double, and bottomless, meaning it doesn’t have any spout.”

“We typically use double spout Portafilters for work, but for demonstration’s sake, I’ll use the single spout.”

Fidel placed the Portafilter in the coffee grinder, then pressed a large button. Suddenly, the machine made a loud grinding noise as ground coffee beans fell in the basket.

He waited until all the coffee grounds fell down into the basket before he lifted it carefully and showed it closer to Tristan. "Level the coffee grounds with a tap, then removed some grounds around the rim using your finger.” he said as he demonstrated.

Fidel reached for another item on the counter. “This is a Distributor! It’s a circular tool that you put in the basket, then twist it around to, well, distribute the coffee grounds evenly.” He shrugged with a smirk.

He placed the Portafilter on a mat attached to the edge of the counter. “Place the Portafilter in this slot to hold it in place.”

Fidel reached for another item. “This is a Tamper! It has a thick, short handle and a thick, stainless steel flat part at the bottom. It’s used to tamp the coffee grounds into a fine puck.”

“But be careful with tamping though! Bad tamping can lead to Channeling, which is an uneven distribution of water through the entire coffee bed, resulting in terrible coffee. We don’t want to serve that to our customers.” He waved the tamper around as he explained.

“Make sure you tamp properly, turn your hip like this.” He pointed his hip towards the counter. “Bend your arms like this.” He bent his arm at a ninety-degree angle. “Then tamp straight! Don’t tamp too light or heavy though! Just the right amount of force.”

“Then pull the Tamper out nice and gentle.” He showed the tamped coffee towards Tristan and tilted the Portafilter around. “Now that is a nice coffee puck!”

They moved next to the large espresso machine, staring close to one excited Tristan further. “Now the fun part! Insert the Portafilter right here on what’s called a group head. Twist it in place.” He twisted the Portafilter to the right. “And it’s locked in place!”

Fidel grabbed a mug and placed it below the Portafilter spout, then pointed at the buttons in the machine. “Don’t get alarmed by the amount of buttons! These two buttons are the important one. This one is for a single shot, and the other is for a double shot.”

He pressed the single shot button, and the machine began to make noises. “Watch as the machine extracts that sweet, sweet coffee!” Fidel ended his demonstration with a cheer.

Tristan had already watched countless videos on how to make espresso, but getting a one-on-one close-up demonstration, especially from Fidel’s enthusiastic approach, was a million times more exciting.

The coffee extract poured down from the spout to the cup slowly, followed by the crema. Tristan took a quick glance at Fidel and felt awe seeing him wave his head around and hummed happily like a child while also looking at the coffee, oblivious to Tristan's stares.

Once the last drip of the crema dropped, Fidel grabbed the mug and showed it to Tristan. “And that’s how you make an espresso!” he ended with a wide smile.

“Wow.” Tristan whispered. He could feel his mouth salivating at how inviting the espresso looked. Fidel grabbed a small spoon, mixed the coffee and crema together, then handed it to Tristan. “Here, try it!”

Tristan took the mug in his hands. The warmth from it somehow felt inviting. He swirled the cup around, taking his time to mesmerize the coffee.

Then he took a sip.

His eyes widened as the luscious taste of espresso exploded in his taste buds. His reaction greatly amused Fidel as he let out a proud chuckle. “Taste great, right?”

Tristan had an endearing look while staring at the cup of espresso, taking his time to still savor the flavor. “Yeah, it’s been quite a while since I last drank espresso. But wow, I miss its delicious taste. Thank you.”

“I know! Right? This is why I love being a barista so much!”

Fidel twisted the Portafilter to the left and pulled it down to remove it. He turned the Portafilter upside-down and smacked it lightly on a small, black plastic basket. “This is called a Knock Box. It’s basically a trash bin for used coffee pucks.”

He placed the Portafilter on the counter, then he looked at Tristan with a teasing smirk and clasped his hands together. “Now it’s your turn to try!”

Tristan unconsciously held the mug tighter as nervousness slowly spread around his nerves. He gulped the rest of the coffee to calm himself down before.