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"Then I suggest not pissing them off." Jordan smirked. As the main buildings came into view, he headed for the cafeteria. "Normally I'd use my own stuff, but without power in the dorms the community kitchen is going to have to suffice," he explained.

"You observe first," Jordan said. "Then you try it yourself. Kind of like doing a lab experiment in school." The building was dim, only half the lights on; Jordan commandeered a hot plate and a kettle in the kitchen, setting a pot of water to boil, then searching through the utility cabinets. "Someone's got to have bought a press for the kitchen at some point," he muttered, half to himself, then added over his shoulder, "The machines are a different process, but I'm going to show you how to make small servings, just for one or a few people."

"Hm?" Jordan threw Al a puzzled look. "Not quite sure I'm parsing that. Could you rephrase the question? Hah." He pulled out a cheap-looking French press pot with mysterious residue still clinging to its sides. "Oh my God, doesn't anyone wash anything around here? Don't answer that. The answer is probably no and I don't want to know if that's the case."

He moved over to one of the sinks and started taking the pot apart to scrub it. "Wash your equipment after you use it," he instructed Al. "That goes for any kind of cooking. Actually, it probably goes for a lot of activities."

"Usually it's better this way. You get more flavor. But you really can't do this for large quantities, like cafeteria quantities, and it's not automatic, so for those of us who need caffeine to start higher brain functions in the morning it's more difficult." Jordan finished scrubbing the pot and examined it. It was apparently clean enough to meet his standards; he reassembled it. "The plunger and screen screw onto the rod here," he explained.

As he took an industrial-sized can of coffee out of one of the supply cupboards, he gave Al an amused look. "Anything that gets the equipment you're using messy, you should clean it up before putting it away," he said. "Before the mess has time to get too gross, because it will be grosser later if you leave it."

Jordan's expression said clearly what he thought of that, though he decided not to mention that the hidden mug had almost certainly been Rep's fault. "There's a reason I don't let anyone leave mugs around in the apartment," he said. "That would be it."

He dug a large spoon out of a drawer. "One or two spoonfuls of grounds per cup, depending on how dark you like it," he said, and scooped four into the pot. "Put it into the pot first." He glanced at the kettle and held his hand about an inch away from the metal to check how hot it was. "This should be boiling soon. Let it get to a full boil before you take it off the heat."

He moved back over to the supply cabinet. "While we wait for that - if you're on kitchen duty and they assign you to the coffee machines, it's pretty simple. These are coffee filters." He held up a package of paper filters. "You take one of these and use it to line the inside of the basket. That's the part above the actual pot. Then you use the scoop that's kept by the machines to put coffee into the filter. Ten scoops is good for the standard size machines. The back part has a lid, and when you lift the lid there's a reservoir for water - fill that up to the line on the inside. Once you have the water and the grounds in the machine, make sure the pot is centered under the basket, then you can turn it on."

"You'll be able to hear it. Some kettles have whistle caps, so they whistle when they're ready. Otherwise, you can hear the water bubbling in the kettle when it's hot enough. That should happen shortly." Jordan glanced back at the kettle, pausing to listen; it wasn't ready quite yet.

"It filters the grounds out so you don't have to do so afterwards," he explained. "Same thing the mesh is for on a press pot." He picked up the top with the plunger and showed Al. "When it's ready, I'll push the top down and it'll filter it."

"There, listen." Jordan waved a hand at the kettle, from which the faint sound of boiling water could be heard. "Hear that? That's what a rolling boil sounds like." He grabbed a hand towel to pick the kettle up with and flipped the spout lid back to pour the water into the pot. "Up to the line there. Now you put the lid on without pushing the filter down and give it five minutes to brew. You want to get a couple of mugs out?"

He was tactfully not saying anything about the unfiltered mess. You tried, Al. You tried.