Coffee Taste Testing Contest [Red]

Ahh, I always loved this café. “Gabe was enjoying a little R&R time at a coffee shop that he frequently goes to. They had a wide assortment of flavored coffee, and was doing some sort of taste testing trial today. It was supposed to start soon, through voting through how t tasted, select amount of people could decide what the signature collection will be for this year. “Are we still waiting for someone? I thought we were ready to start no?” Gabe wondered who the last visitor was, getting a little antsy

"Huh, guess this is the place...?" Red would question to herself as she looked up at the name that hung above the café. She didn't know what she was expecting, but looking inside it just looked... Different to how she imagined, she wasn't sure why. Regardless! She was here now, and if this really was the place then she should hurry up and get inside, she was already running a little late. After entering, she was sure this had to be the right place. She had never been before, but when she heard about a coffee tasting contest she had to come participate. She loved coffee, it was amazing, both in taste and ability to keep her up for ridiculous hours whenever she needed to. "Sorry I'm late." She'd say as she sat down at one of the tables with an empty seat still, not even realizing until she looked up that the other person was someone she recognized. "G-Gabriel? Hah! Fancy meeting you here, how've you been?"

Hmm? Red? " Gabe would address the woman with a rather wide grin. "I wasn't expecting to see you in a place like this. Are you an avid drinker of coffee yourself? We do get to take home the brewing samples of the winner and try it at home before everyone else, so I wanted to make sure that it was the one I actually liked. " That was his reason for being here in the first place, but what was hers?"What kind of flavors are you looking forward to seeing?" Though, as soon as he said that, they were already starting.

Ok contestants, the first cup today is the bannaa cream coffee.

"I just love the taste of coffee." Red would reply simply, returning the smile. "It's always been one of my favourite types of drink, although I usually only have the basic kinds. Never really tried any flavoured coffee's before, so, thought it might be interesting to come try it out is all." She wasn't really sure what kinds of flavours to expect honestly, yet she had a pretty good idea of what kinds she'd hope to see. "We get to take home some as well? Awesome, I'm sure my sister would love to try some." Raine wasn't quite as big a coffee fan as Red herself was, but she'd probably still love to try out an interesting flavoured coffee. "Me? Oh I hope they just do something that tastes chocolaty, I love the taste of chocolate but, I usually try not to eat much of it. It being bad for you and all."

As she was finishing her sentence, Red would jump lightly as the first coffee they were going to test was placed in front of her. Banana flavour? Huh, that could be interesting...

"Never tried a flavor coffee before you say? Well then, maybe this will change your mind about it. Adding flavor and spice to the coffee, bringing you into a higher ground!!!" Gabe would say in a dramatic way. "The best part of waking up is

Spoiler:

in your cup! " Though, Gabe only laughed in the end after acting so dramatic about it. When it came to the banana flavor, the first thing that Gabe did was put a spoon inside, spinning it around. "Hmm..." After that, he would bring the spoon up to his mouth and take a sip. " Well then....." Afterward, Gabe brought the cup to his mouth and blew on it before taking a full sip. After everyone had a taste, the manager went over and asked. "What do you think?" The first one to speak was gabe. "Well, I think it was a little milky. The taste of bananas was strong, you can't even taste the coffee anymore, but then there were small chunks that are hardly noticeable.... but..." Gabe pushed his glasses up. "Can't go past my tastebuds. It's not a bad drink, but it could do without the fruity taste. Coffee should be a little more mature than that. "

The manager nodded and wrote some notesdown before turnign to Red. "And you?"

"Hehe, you ever thought of becoming an actor Gabe?" Red would say teasingly with a light hearted chuckle as he finished his dramatic speech. "I'm sure you'd make an amazing actor if you performed like that.". The red hooded girl would inspect her cup of coffee, and after seeing Gabe stir it up a little with his spoon, decided to copy suit and do the same. "I'm sure I'll like at least one of the coffees here, it's not that I never wanted to try a flavoured one, just my mum never buys them." That excuse was lame, and you should feel lame. W-well, yeah but, shh.

After a quick sip of her coffee, Red was surprised at how hot it was, she expected them to had been made earlier and cooled down a little to be able to taste them faster without burning yourself. Yet, despite the slightly sore tongue, the coffee itself did have a pleasant taste to it. "I loved it." Red would reply simply when the manager asked her. "Sure it did kinda taste a little more like a fruit drink than a coffee, but it still tasted awesome. So, I guess it was good as a drink, but maybe not the best coffee? Or at least, a good coffee that shouldn't be called a coffee?" She'd suggest, instantly feeling a little embarrassed for what she'd said. Did that even really make sense? N-not really...

The tally was taken in and it seemed as if the banana cream coffee didn’t make the cut. “The most common responses I received was that it didn’t have that much of an established taste that coffee is supposed to have. Way too fruity, so back to the drawing board on that one. However! We do have a few more to try! Let’s hope we can at least walk with one unanimous yes or ¾ of you to agree on something! “ Gabe turned to Red, seemingly impressed at Red’s assumption. “Ahh, seems as if we have the same idea so far. Hang in there now!” He encouraged his friend to carry on with the taste test very briefly as the net presentation was being brought in. “

“So Red, what kind of flavor do you think would end up winning today? Is it something you can imagine off the back with the volume of taste you experienced a moment ago?

"Hehe, it's not hard to just taste something and let your thoughts run wild. It's quite fun actually." She'd reply smiling, honestly the only part of all this she was worried about was having to give her opinion of the coffee's to someone she didn't know. Her social skills had always been awful, yet she always felt way more comfortable when with someone she knew, even if she only knew them briefly. "Hmm... What flavor I think will win?" She'd take a moment to pause and think, leaning on her right arm whilst scratching her face lightly. "Depends really. Are you asking which drink I think will win overall with everyone's votes, or the drink that I think will be my favourite?" She'd question back, unsure of which answer Gabriel was looking for.

“Hmm, for once….i’m actually stumped….” Gabe said with a bit of honesty. “Maybe a bit of both?” With that being said, the next batch of coffee was brought out for the taters to indulge in. “Our next batch of coffee includes a more original touch. Coffee Cake Coffee…enjoy!” Now, this one was a bit more recognizable by name, only due to the fact that Gabe has had coffee cake before. “Hmm, I heard of the cake, but what happens if you take that actual flavor and make it into a drink?” Gabe would tap his spoon on the side of the cup and wave it at Red. ”Well, cheers…” After swirling the spoon inside of the drink for a few seconds, Gabe took a few tablespoons and slurped it up.

“Not bad, not too sweet. Actually it’s not sweet at all….. a little hmm..it’s on the tip of my tongue. It’s strong, it’s like if you drank this one morning after a shave, you’ll grow your mustache back. It tastes like, that 15 minute break at work that you know you can’t enjoy because the coworker with bad body odor is sitting next to you. Somewhere along the lines of satisfaction and disappointment. “ They stared at Gabe for a while, who only gave an embarrassing look.

“What? You told me to be honest. Long story short, the cinnamon throws off the drink quite a bit, it doesn’t capture what it’s supposed to be, and the after taste is rather strong. It can be a drink to exist, but as a monthly signature to appeal to ALL coffee lovers…no.

"Well, quite honestly I'm not really sure what flavor could win this overall. Like I said, never really had flavoured coffee before so I have no clue what'll be nice and what wont be. If I had to take a guess from what a lot of people like though, maybe vanilla flavour?" She'd guess, there was no real way for her to know. But a lot of people liked vanilla right? A vanilla coffee doesn't sound like it would be that gross... Probably, who knows? "As for my personal favourite... I'd have to guess I'd like chocolate flavour the best, always been a huge fan of the taste of chocolate. Especially as I only eat it very rarely since its bad for you and what not." She'd add with a nod as the next cup of coffee was placed in front of her. "Cheers."

Coffee Cake Coffee? Now that was a mouthful, and that was before she even had a mouthful of it actually in her mouth. That sounded weird. Anyway, try the drink? After a quick sip of the new coffee, Red would pull a rather disgusted face and slowly place the cup back down to the table, coughing slightly. "Eheh, that certainly wasn't my cup of tea... Or, uhh, coffee." She'd say whimsically as she tried to simultaneously get the horrible taste that lingered at the back of her throat to go away and not end up laughing at Gabriel's explanation of the taste. "Yeah, not a fan of that one. I know coffee's meant to be hot, but even the taste of that burnt my throat." She'd add before looking over to Gabriel. "Then again, never even been a fan of coffee cake. So I'm a bad judge for that."

"Hmm, so you didn't like that one either? Right, we do think alike after all. Though..." Gabe would say as he sat down and started to mull over the next coffee that they were going to bring in. "so what will it be this time I wonder... hmm.. ever been to a social gathering like this before? I never really knew that this was your thing? I mean, coffee is your thing, so you say, but going to an invitation of a taste testing contest is something a lot different. Personally speaking, it all feels a lot different to me. " Gabe would say as he looked over to the tip jar beside him. "Hey, think the coffee would start tasting better if you made a song about it?

"No, actually. Nothing like this before. Well, unless you count it when your whole family goes with you, heh." She knew that didn't count for much, and those times weren't really on her own decision anyway, she was just too young to be left at the house alone back then. "Social things like this aren't really my thing at all, you're right there. Honestly if you weren't here I'd probably only be here trying out the coffee's, I hadn't expected to have a chat with someone whilst here. But yeah, I agree it is quite different, I just hope they bring out something super good soon." The red hooded girl would say, playing with the spoon in her hand out of a force of habit for her hands to be constantly doing something. She'd suddenly stop and blush. "O-oh, no! I-I couldn't... I-I, not in front of this many people... P-plus I haven't planned anything, o-or brought my guitar, or I..." She'd sigh and close her eyes, lowering her head, none of these excuses were good excuses... Truthfully she was just terrified at the thought of trying to make up a song in public.

Whole family huh? Are you close with them?" Gabe only hoped that asking Red if she was close with her family wasn't too much of a personal question. Hearing about families was something that brought a smile to his face, it reminded him of his own. "Well, don't sell yourself short, you come off as quite a charismatic young lady. Im pretty sure that people would be dying to talk to you. "After giving her a teasing smile, Gabe looked to the manager of the coffee shop as he brought out the next drink. "This drink is called the Caramel Roast Latte, hopefully, this is a success. " Gabe got his cup after red got hers. "Would you do the honor of taking the first sip this time?

"Yeah, we're quite a close bound family. Mum and dad make an effort to take me and my sister out once every so often so we can have some family time, it just so happens we have done stuff like this before." Red would reply smiling back at Gabe, she was lucky really, she knew she was. As hard as it was to lose Rose last year, there still aren't many families as stable as hers were. "D-do I? Would they?" She'd question, quite baffled by the very thought of it. "I'm just good at, well, warming up to people. Once I get to know someone I'm fine, it just, ya know, the initial 'getting to know them' part." The red hooded girl would continue as the next cup of coffee was placed in front of her.

"Sure, I'll let you know if you should hold your nose." She'd joke teasingly before taking a quick sip of the coffee. "Hmm..." It was real sweet, the taste was honestly much nicer than she had expected. There was just something heavenly about it, although it did kinda make her feel thirsty. Which was kind of a weird trait for a drink to have. "The taste was perfect, definitely the best one of our the lot so far." Red would tell them. "Yet the after taste is kinda strange, it almost makes me feel more thirsty than before I took the sip? If you could figure out how to get rid of that though this is one amazing coffee!"

"Hmm? It's that good? How interesting, that might be the first thing i heard at this event that seemed to be pretty positive. " Gabe took his own cup and took a sip, his eyes lit up after the liquid made contacted with his taste buds. "I see...even though i keep drinking it..it's almost as if i want more..." That was a strange predicament. "There aren't any addictive drugs in here is there?" Gabe would say in a skeptical but joking way. "Alright. ....i think we have a winner here...." The other candidates were silent, but made satisfying hums upon drinking the coffee. "I guess it's a bit of lady luck that Red did the honors, maybe thats why the flavor ended up to be so good! Ha!"

The manager smiled and nodded. "So, are we all deciding on this as the winner?