What’s a day in my life as the co-owner of both a coffee cart and roastery? Well. . .

“Can you read my future? I’ve heard you’re like, a super gifted psychic.”

I wish I could say this was the first time a customer had asked me, Harley Yamazaki—master coffee roaster and soccer-obsessed human—to mystically tell their future. It took me a moment to remember how to make words come out of my mouth. (Honestly, speaking to strangers doesn’t really play to my strengths. I mean, discussing the finer points of coffee roasting? Fine. But chit chat? I’m about as useful at providing small talk at a cocktail party as asking an elephant to write out your text messages without crushing your phone.)

“Sorry, my business partner Sage stepped out for a moment. But she might be up for reading your aura when she gets back.” This customer had heard about Sage but clearly never seen her. Since Sage is more of a Fairy Foxglove, aka plant with charming, colorful flowers that pop up out of walls and surprise you. While I’m the espresso-scented version of a rare Chocolate Cosmos flower, known as a symbol of peace and balance. (Although, seriously, if you can plant a flower that smells like chocolate, why would you grow anything else?!?) Which is my way of saying that, either than being short, we look nothing alike. But, like a Fairy Foxglove and a Chocolate Cosmos, we make a pretty awesome bouquet together.

The customer still looked disappointed when I handed over her vanilla latte. She hung around for a few minutes, eying the door to the cart like Sage would pop out like a genie and grant a few wishes with a dusting of espresso powder. Then the customer headed to the bus stop on the corner, looking like she needed more than the coffee to pick her up. A good number of the morning customer at the Rail Yard food cart pod catch the bus to downtown.

It’s worth noting: Sage has never offered to read my fortune. Mainly because I know the truth: she’s not psychic. She’s just great at knowing what people need.

For example, working with Sage is always seamless. I need a cup, and one will just show up. I’ll turn to clean up something I’ve spilled, and it’s already been wiped down, and Sage is back at the window, joking with a customer. I’m sure she would’ve known what to say to our sad customer to turn that frown upside down!

Although I guess I don’t need to be psychic to know once the morning rush slows down, I’ll head to the Ground Rules roastery. I can’t wait: there’s a batch of our Puddle Jumper blend that’s been degassing and is now ready to make its way out into the world. Degassing is the process of carbon dioxide releasing from the beans. If you don’t properly degas coffee beans after roasting them, you can end up with too many tiny gas pockets in your beans. If you brewed them, you’d get an uneven cup of coffee. Because the improperly degassed carbon would dioxide keep the full flavor of the coffee from being extracted. Which would make the Puddle Jumper taste rubbery instead of its usual notes of angels singing. But if you let the beans degas too much, the beans will get stale, leading to a gross coffee cup. Luckily, our Puddle Jumper should be in the perfect moment when the beans sing when brewed in a French press. . .

Oh, yeah, where was I?

Once I double-check the Puddle Jumper is ready (e.g., coffee cupping time!), I’ll check on the general business email to see if any of our wholesale accounts need restocking. We have a few mail-order customers, so I’ll get their beans packaged and dropped off at the post office while delivering our wholesale orders. But if I need to smooth talk any accounts, I’ll wait until Sage finished managing the cart for the day and ask her to bust her patented charm offensive. And tonight, I had a seven PM indoor soccer game.

“What’d I miss?”

Sage’s smile was slightly mysterious, and I caught a glimpse of the guy who may-or-may-not be her boyfriend disappearing through the gate to the Rail Yard.

“Nothing,” I said. Because today is a quintessential day of my life as the second half of Ground Rules.

As long as Sage doesn’t fall over another body.

Fresh Brewed Murder, A Ground Rules Mystery #1
Genre: Cozy
Release: March 2021
Purchase Link

Master barista Sage Caplin is opening a new coffee cart in Portland, Oregon, but a killer is brewing up a world of trouble. . . .

Portland is famous for its rain, hipsters, craft beers . . . and coffee. Sage Caplin has high hopes for her coffee cart, Ground Rules, which she runs with her business partner, Harley—a genius at roasting beans and devising new blends. That’s essential in a city where locals have intensely strong opinions about cappuccino versus macchiato—especially in the case of one of Sage’s very first customers. . . 

Sage finds the man’s body in front of her cart, a fatal slash across his neck. There’s been plenty of anger in the air, from longtime vendors annoyed at Ground Rules taking a coveted spot in the food truck lot, to protesters demonstrating against a new high-rise. But who was mad enough to commit murder? Sage is already fending off trouble in the form of her estranged, con-artist mother, who’s trying to trickle back into her life. But when Sage’s very own box cutter is discovered to be the murder weapon, she needs to focus on finding the killer fast—before her business, and her life, come to a bitter end. . . 

About the Author
The first novel in Emmeline Duncan’s Ground Rules Mystery Series, Fresh Brewed Murder, comes out in the spring of 2021. As Kelly Garrett, she’s the author of the Oregon Book Award-finalist YA thriller The Last To Die and a 2020 Oregon Literary Fellowship recipient. You can find her online at emmelineduncan.com and on Instagram at  @WriterEmmelineDuncan and Facebook at WriterEmmelineDuncan. If you look for her in person, you might find her in one of Portland, Oregon’s many coffee shops, or on a hiking trail somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, accompanied by her Great Pyrenees.

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