Mungstern Coffee

NOTE

This is a practice piece; all content is fictional.

This article was translated by ChatGPT.

Mungstern is most famous for its local coffee. Unlike ordinary coffee, it is not made from coffee beans. Instead, the people of Mungstern use the seeds of papa grass, a plant that grows only in this region, to make Mungstern coffee.

Papa grass looks no different from common roadside weeds, but its seeds are quite unusual: they are blue in color and shaped much like sunflower seeds. Papa grass does not bloom; its seeds grow from the tips of its stems and leaves. In March, papa grass sprouts. By May, tiny blue dots begin to appear at the tips of the leaves. Another month later, the seeds ripen, and the plant’s slender, soft stems bend under the seeds’ weight until the seeds touch the ground. Finally, in August, the seeds detach from the plant and begin to put down roots, drawing in the nutrients they will need for the next sprouting season.

The ancestors of the Mungstern people discovered that freshly detached seeds carried a faint fragrance—at first like lemon, then, upon closer sniffing, like osmanthus, and after a while, the scent turned into that of pine wood. Adventurous Mungsterners tried drying the seeds, grinding them, and steeping them in hot water. The resulting liquid was also blue—deeper than the sky, yet brighter than the sea. This freshly steeped papa seed infusion smelled of fresh grass, tasted slightly bitter with a hint of tartness, but left a lingering sweetness on the palate. This curious taste experience made papa juice (as it was originally called) popular among the Mungstern people.

One day, a Mungsterner had a bold idea: what if the seeds were roasted before grinding? He tried it—and the flavor changed dramatically. The papa juice became smoother, its bitterness deepened, the tartness vanished, and the final sweetness grew richer, like the last moment of chocolate melting on the tongue. The color changed, too—the roasted-seed infusion turned a light brown, somewhat like a latte.

In the 1960s, Mungstern was discovered by a German expedition team. Upon returning home, they published their travel logs, and for the first time, the Mungstern people became known to the outside world. Among the entries was a description of a “drink with a marvelous taste,” which caught the attention of the famous barista Mr. Edwin. The month after the expedition returned, Edwin set out for Mungstern; a month later, he came back with about 15 pounds of papa grass seeds and held a tasting event dedicated to papa juice. It was there that he named it Mungstern coffee. Although it was not made from coffee beans, its appearance, flavor, and preparation method closely resembled coffee—and it had an even stronger energizing effect along with a uniquely complex taste. Calling papa juice “coffee” was therefore not entirely wrong (though in truth, it was mostly Edwin’s passion for coffee that inspired the name).

Thus, Mungstern coffee made its official debut to the world.