coffee bean experimentations

Meridian set the empty watering can in the shed and brushed the soil off of his clothes. He had come up to water the ambrosia he was tending too, and things seemed to be going well. The sprouts had begun to exponentially shoot up, though there was no budding or flowering yet. Another ten or so days to wait to water them, it seems. He begins to head out of the Embassy, passing by the desk where Primrose typically resides.

“Meridian! I have a task for you,” the cherubun calls out just as Meridian reaches for the door. He swivels around, a grin on his face.

“Of course! What can I do for you, Primrose?” Meridian approaches the desk, leaning on it.

“We just had a harvest of those… coffee beans… that Beanny insists we grow up here,” Primrose starts.

“Oh, there’s coffee ambrosia?”

“No. There is decidedly not any ambrosia with the same features as that… drink. But Beanny insisted, and they are one of our own, so…”

“I didn’t know anything else could grow in the Heavenly soil?” Meridian inquires. He thinks about alchemical components, grown in the Embassy. How wonderful would that be…

“Well, we do not allow anything else to be grown here. Except the coffee beans, regrettably.” Primrose says, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Regardless, a batch of beans has been harvested, and I could use your assistance getting them to Beanny’s coffeeshop. They’re packaged in cloth, and a wheelbarrow is provided near the exit of the Embassy.”

“I will take this mission,” Meridian says seriously. “And I will see it through to absolute completion. No bean will be lost on this journey, and I will ensure your companion is well supplied for their escapades.”

“Excellent, excellent,” Primrose says, waving off the dramatics without too much thought. “Have you been to Beanny’s coffeeshop before? Do you need directions? If not, you can take the package and head off.”

“I have only been once before, but my heart remembers the path the journey will follow,” Meridian says, moving to heft the bundle to the side of Primrose’s desk.

“Wonderful. Good luck, Meridian,” Primrose says, turning back to his deskwork. “Thank you for the favor.”

Meridian nods and begins the heavy trek to the exit of the Embassy, holding far too many coffee beans in wrapped packaging in his hands. Luckily, he eventually makes it down to where the wheelbarrow is and is able to dump all of the weight into that.

Traveling with a wheelbarrow through the streets of Burrowgatory is a little awkward, but Meridian believes he manages to avoid running over anyone fairly well. The entire journey, he has his chest puffed out proudly. There’s no other way to do a quest, of course. And the idea of coffee beans treated in the same soil as the ambrosia is of endless interest to him. He had thought the possibility out of the question, and was dedicated to solely seeing what alchemical properties the ambrosia itself had. But if the properties could be imbued into any sort of growing plant… the possibilities were endless and tantalizing. He would have to pick Beanny’s brain about the effects that these beans can elicit in those who consume them. What if the caffeinated effects were three or four times as potent? Heavenly soil increasing potency… what a fascinating concept.

Despite his head being in the clouds (near literally), he gets to the coffee shop in a reasonable amount of time. Instead of doing anything reasonable, like parking the wheelbarrow, he enters the coffeeshop with it in front of him. A few chairs scrape against the floor as their residents shuffle out of the way of the madman with a wheelbarrow. Meridian parks it by the door and strides further into the coffeeshop.

“Beanny! I have completed my quest and brought you the required beans,” Meridian booms. He does not notice any of the dirty looks that the people in the coffeeshop may or may not be giving him.

It’s of no real matter though, because the recipient of these beans and the owner of the store bursts from the backroom, a grin spreading across their face. “Excellent! Exactly what I ordered!”

They charge past customers to stick a full hand into the packaging of the beans, pull out a handful of coffee beans, and throw a few into their own mouth. They chew carefully, evaluating the flavor profile.

Or perhaps… Meridian thinks, evaluating the alchemical properties by eating them… He’s done that more than a few times, so he’s no stranger to getting up close and personal with reagents. He watches intently, wit a bit of admiration.

Beanny continues their munching, and then finally gives a single, definite nod. “Perfect. These are even better than the last bunch.” With two hands, Beanny hefts the bag onto their back. “Really, you must tell Prim he could have a future in the coffee business if he really put his heart into it.”

“If I may ask,” Meridian says, unwilling to let the possibilities escape his knowledge. “What exactly is changed by growing Burrowgatory flora with Heavenly soil? I’m an alchemist by trade, and I was just wondering if coffee beans were the extent of what the soil could effect, and even if so, what effect does it have?”

Beanny’s eyes alight with the questions, and they shoulder the bag with one hand. They grab Meridian’s hand and begin to pull him into the backroom. “Oh, excellent questions. Wonderful questions, really. I must show you, if you are curious. Here, come, come.”

Meridian follows excitedly into the backroom. He marvels at all of the equipment here, thought it does seem a bit closer to chemistry equipment than alchemical. That’s no bother though, those fields are remarkably close in Meridian’s mind.

Beanny sets the bag of beans down, turning to Meridian with wide eyes. “So! To answer some of your questions… I am almost entirely certain that all flora could benefit or be shaped in some way by the soil up in the Heavenly Embassy. It’s imbued with some of Melangel’s essence, the same way all cherubuns are. This can effect things in truly an infinite amount of ways, and not even close to a fraction of these effects have been studied in depth.”

Meridian’s eyes alight at that possibility. Beanny holds a finger out, as if to caution him not to get his hopes up.

“However! I do not believe Primrose, current guardian of the gardens, will even allow such experimentation en masse. It was an intense battle to acquire growing space for just the coffee beans, and I am a dear friend to him and a cherubun as well.”

“Ah, that is understandable…” Meridian says with a bleak nod. “There is only so much space to grow things, and ambrosia is very important to the Embassy.”

“Yes, exactly. So vast experimentations are out of the question. But!” They say, plunging their hand into the bean bag once again and retrieving a single bean. “I have been doing an experimentation of my own. Variations on a theme, changing the variables of my small plot of coffee beans.”

His face lights back up staring at the small bean in the palm of their hand, and then back over to the chemistry equipment on the table in front of them. Beanny grins wider, almost manic now.

“Would you like to see just how much I’ve managed to manipulate the Heavenly energy of the soil to devise an exemplar coffee bean?”

Meridian could do nothing but nod excitedly.

And so, despite leaving the wheelbarrow in the middle of the coffeeshop and never being asked to share his name, Meridian sits back there in the backroom for a few hours, being run through exactly the scientific method that had gotten Beanny some of their favorite concoctions.