Sweet Peach

Sol had always admired Hops’s quick, smooth, and efficient work whenever she visited The Rabbit Hole. Truthfully, she wasn’t a frequent drinker, but she did enjoy watching Hops work. Her movements were so fluid and graceful like each bottle and glass were merely an extension of Hops herself. Truthful, Sol just wanted to learn the art behind drink making not necessarily the drink recipes themselves but the extra knowledge was still welcomed.

“Alright, Sol, which drink would you like to try making first? A Sin and Tonic would be a great easy start but if you have a preference on learning something else just name it.” Hops’s voice filled with excitement at having another new student to teach.

Sol leaned against the counter as she tapped her chin in thought. “I think something sweet would be a good choice. I myself have a preference on the sweeter side so..” She pushed off the counters and grinned at Hops. “How about a Peach Hellini?”

“Still a good starter drink to learn for a beginner with easy ingredients to remember.” Hops raised her hand showing 3 fingers. “Peaches, peach juice, and of course Prosecco.” With that Hops spun around and grabbed two of the signature winged flute glasses from a shelf and placed them on the bar, gesturing for Sol to stand next to her.

“Now some customers prefer more juice to make the drink sweeter but we won’t worry about that for now.” Hops then placed a blender on the counter which caused Sol’s eyes to widen, but before she could speak Hops smiled and patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry I promise it's easy.”

“I would hope so with it only having 3 things in it. I just wasn’t expecting to blend the peaches myself. I just assumed you bought the peaches already pre-blended.”

Hops burst into giggles as she placed the ingredients on the counter. “That would take away from the freshness do you think? Ok now listen closely and just do as I say.”

Sol simply nodded and focused on the task.

“When we are done this will be enough for 6 servings so it’ll save me a bit of time later.” Hops chuckled a bit. “For starters, we add 3 cups of Prosecco which in this case is a whole bottle. Then we 3 cups of sliced peaches and ½ cup of peach juice into the blender.”

“All at once?”

“Yep. All at once.” Hops grinned and waited.

Sol did just as Hops had said, taking care to measure out what she needed before adding everything into the blender.

“Good!” Hops beamed with delight. “Now just blend on high speed for about 2 minutes until everything is smooth. Then we’ll pour it into the glasses and garnish with more peach slices and my special little touch.”

Sol raised a brow in concern but didn’t speak, just simply followed through with what Hops instructed.

Once the blended drink was in the glass Sol took a deep breath and smiled proudly before carefully adding the peach slices. “Alright, now the...special touch?”

Hops nodded with delight as she pushed a small pouch into Sol’s hands. “Just sprinkle a little bit on top and you are done.”

Again, Sol did as she was told and carefully added a bit of the powder to the tops of both of the drinks before turning to look at Hops for approval.

“Perfect!” Hops cheered as she practically jumped with joy.

A smile spread across Sol’s face and she offered the pouch back to Hops.

“No, no. You keep that. We’re gonna need it for more drinks. And no, you can’t ask me what it is. I’ll only tell you it's what makes the drinks special.” Hops smiled wide before she snatched up her glass. “You ready to try out your handy work?”

Sol shook her head and pushed the glass over to Hops. “No. I actually don’t like the taste of peaches, I just think Peach Hellinis smell good.”