"So, coffee, eh?" says Darcy blinking back a tear. "Well, let's try some. I've never had it before. I hear it can make you pretty hyper."
"It can if it is the cheap, poorly roasted stuff but this coffee is premium quality dark roast," I tell her while sniffing some of the whole beans I have poured into my hand. "I'm still surprised that you didn't sample some while we were on Terra chasing after Bloom."
"Like we had time to sample any of the local delights," laughs Darcy. "So no, I have never had real coffee. The coffee bush won't even grow on New Witch Haven. It turns out to be a blessing in disguise because when the first settlers tried to import just coffee beans, not only did it cost them an arm and a leg, but also, the native version of a rat would get into it no matter how well protected and stored and once having fed on coffee beans would go berserk. After a number of people died a horrendous death from being swarmed by coffee-crazed rats, real coffee became a banned substance on New Witch Haven. A few years later, the settlers found that an ersatz coffee could be made from a blend of toasted and ground nuts and herbs which were native to the planet and did not send the rats berserk. They still called it coffee but, by the time the second or third generation was born on New Witch Haven, there was no one left alive who remembered real coffee." She pauses for a moment then grinning says, " It might be funny to see some of those pixies revved up on it though."
"Sorry, Darcy, but that won't do it," I tell her.
"Why not?" asks Darcy, disappointed.
"Their metabolism breaks down caffein before it can enter their bloodstream to give them any sort of buzz," I explain. "Also, coffee cherries and beans are of little nutritional value and taste horrid to them. On a Faerie dominated planet such as Alfea, coffee is simply not a crop worth cultivating or worth importing so that's why you don't find it here either. What revs their motors is anything with a high natural sugar and yeast content," I laugh remembering a comical but near tragic incident with Muta.
I am puzzling over the two contraptions. One is a grinder I can tell by looking at the blades through the clear cover and by pressing a button on the side which caused them to spin rapidly. The second, I assumed, is for brewing coffee but was something I had never seen before.
"You first unscrew the two parts," says Darcy, obviously having some knowledge of the device. "There is a funnel-like thing you take out of the bottom part before you fill it with water. About three-quarters full should do it."
I follow Darcy's instructions but when I look confused about what to do next Darcy continues, "Put the funnel back into the bottom. The ground coffee goes into the basket part of the funnel which has a sieve in the bottom to preventing the grains from falling into to water that will come up the spout part. When the top part is screwed back on, another sieve will prevent the grains from getting into the top part. When you put the mocha pot on a heat source to boil, the pressure of the steam created in the bottom chamber forces hot water through the coffee grains brewing the coffee and then forcing the brewed coffee up into the collection chamber at the top."
"Pretty neat," I tell her. "Coffee made without any grains in it."
"How did you brew coffee then?" inquires Darcy looking at me strangely as if how to use a mocha pot should be common knowledge to everyone.
"I would just throw some finely ground coffee into a copper or brass pot called a ibriq and boil it," I explain to her. "That's what the Arabs at port did and, although other contraptions existed, this was the best way. So I used to drink it in little cups as thick and gritty as mud but it was hot, dark and strong and I savoured every drop."
"Hmmm," muses Darcy, "sounds like the way I like my men."
"Darcy!" I exclaim. "Honestly, you've got your mind in a rut, girl."