NTE Café Guide
The Cafe by Origen — Owner's Selection: 31 Levels, 3 Acts, 140k Fons
The challenge-mode arc inside the NTE café — 31 scripted scenarios split into 3 acts (Coffee Master, Timing Master, Pianist) with a clear-all Fons ceiling of 140,000. Companion guide to the interactive Cafe Optimiser tool.
Verdict
Treat the Owner's Selection as a completion grind, not as your primary Fons source. The full 31-level clear pays at most 140,000 Fons — meaningful for early accounts, marginal next to a single good Pink Paws Heist run. Where the Owner's Selection earns its place is the menu tuning loop: each act forces you to expand your dish roster (Act 2 = side-dishes and cakes; Act 3 = multitasking + Proliferative C contamination), and the side-effect is a permanently better cafe.
- Clear-all payout:
37,600–140,000Fons cumulative across 31 levels. - Per-level cap: 1–3k Fons in Act 1, 4–5k in Act 2, 6–8k in Act 3. The max scales with your run quality, not with the level number alone.
- Where to optimise: use the live Cafe Optimiser — it ranks your current dishes, employees and trend against each level's payout window.
The 3 acts
The Owner's Selection is split into 3 narrative arcs. Each act adds a new mechanic the next reuses — clearing in order is the intended path, and the optimiser locks reachability per-level on your current roster.
Act 1 — Coffee Master — 11 levels (1-0 to 1-10)
Onboarding. Learn the core barista loop: take orders, brew the right cups in time, build customer flow. Damage budget is small (100 → 1500 Fons baseline) but every Improvisation level introduces a curveball the next acts will reuse.
Act 2 — Timing Master — 10 levels (2-1 to 2-10)
Tempo and pressure. Wave density rises, the menu expands (Mysty, cake kaleidoscope, traffic-light service), and you're expected to handle simultaneous stations. Baseline cap nearly doubles (5000 Fons max).
Act 3 — Pianist — 10 levels (3-1 to 3-10)
Mastery. Multitasking is forced (3-3 and 3-4 explicitly require coffee + side-dish parallel service), Proliferative C contaminates the floor, and the final level pushes 8000 Fons per clear. This is where the Owner's Selection becomes a real Fons farm.
All 31 levels at a glance
Every code, name, Fons range and event line below is datamined from DT_StoreBrandOnlineLevelConfig — exactly what the game ships, in EN.
| Code | Name | Act | Fons (min–max) | Event line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-0 | Goal: Coffee Master | 1 | 200 – 1,000 | Let's begin the Path to Coffee Mastery! |
| 1-1 | New Product Practice I | 1 | 100 – 1,000 | You've learned a new recipe. Give it a try! |
| 1-2 | First Badge! | 1 | 500 – 2,000 | For someone who wants to become a Coffee Master, this little challenge is nothing! |
| 1-3 | Ice and Fire Badge | 1 | 700 – 2,000 | Cold coffee and hot coffee… A trial of ice and fire? Hmph, interesting. |
| 1-4 | Improvisation I | 1 | 500 – 2,000 | An excellent barista can naturally handle any unexpected situation. |
| 1-5 | Coffee Machine Gun | 1 | 900 – 2,000 | Precise, elegant, swift! Making coffee should be as simple as breathing! |
| 1-6 | Cute Villain?! | 1 | 700 – 3,000 | Sometimes unwelcome customers show up… |
| 1-7 | Final Training | 1 | 800 – 3,000 | Take this step, and the title of Coffee Master awaits you! |
| 1-8 | Pendulum | 1 | 1,000 – 3,000 | Thank you for your business. You are very unwelcome to visit again. |
| 1-9 | Danzaburou's Big Raid | 1 | 1,500 – 3,000 | I already told you that you're very unwelcome to visit again! |
| 1-10 | Tea Time Symphony | 1 | 1,000 – 3,000 | Coffee, cake, fast food… The symphony of afternoon tea is the perfect background music for the Coffee Master's grand entrance! |
| 2-1 | New Product Practice II | 2 | 800 – 4,000 | You've learned a new recipe. Give it a try! |
| 2-2 | Mysty?! | 2 | 1,100 – 4,000 | What, it's not an apple pie! Could it be… a Mysty? |
| 2-3 | Traffic Light | 2 | 1,200 – 4,000 | Have you ever thought that "red light stop, green light go" is also a kind of Meme Anomaly? |
| 2-4 | Afternoon Tea Time | 2 | 1,600 – 4,000 | Sometimes I get tired of work too and want to quit to live the slow life. |
| 2-5 | Timing Master | 2 | 1,600 – 4,000 | I just glanced at my phone for a second, and suddenly the store is packed!? |
| 2-6 | Improvisation II | 2 | 800 – 5,000 | An excellent barista can naturally handle any unexpected situation. |
| 2-7 | Cake Kaleidoscope | 2 | 1,500 – 5,000 | Cakes as brilliant as a kaleidoscope, giving customers a dreamlike experience. |
| 2-8 | 45 Seconds | 2 | 700 – 5,000 | Sometimes I wish time would go faster, but definitely not right now. Time is limited, don't stop! |
| 2-9 | Improvisation III | 2 | 1,200 – 5,000 | An excellent barista can naturally handle any unexpected situation. |
| 2-10 | Wheel of Fortune | 2 | 1,500 – 5,000 | A Danzaburou is in the box. You don't know if it's dead or alive until you open the box, then everything becomes certain. |
| 3-1 | New Product Practice III | 3 | 1,200 – 6,000 | You've learned a new recipe. Give it a try! |
| 3-2 | Proliferative C | 3 | 1,200 – 6,000 | From a food safety standpoint, this guy definitely shouldn't be here. |
| 3-3 | Multitasking | 3 | 2,100 – 6,000 | A Coffee Master can't just know how to make coffee, complementary dishes are essential too. |
| 3-4 | Multitaskinggggg | 3 | 2,900 – 6,000 | Of course, the complementary dishes can't be limited to just cakes either. |
| 3-5 | Path to Mastery | 3 | 1,600 – 6,000 | Celebrate! The moment a new Coffee Master is born! |
| 3-6 | Improvisation IV | 3 | 1,100 – 8,000 | An excellent barista can naturally handle any unexpected situation. |
| 3-7 | Ambidex | 3 | 2,100 – 8,000 | Has no one ever considered putting these two things a bit closer together? |
| 3-8 | Watch Your Timing | 3 | 2,100 – 8,000 | When customers come, there's food. When Danzaburou comes, there's a hammer! |
| 3-9 | Improvisation V | 3 | 1,500 – 8,000 | An excellent barista can naturally handle any unexpected situation. |
| 3-10 | Pianist! | 3 | 1,900 – 8,000 | Perhaps you could consider bringing that talent to the music field. |
How a single run actually works
Each Owner's Selection level is a fixed-length challenge with 3 customer waves. Your job is to take orders, brew the right cups, plate the right dishes, and serve them in the window before patience drops. The Fons reward you earn lands somewhere in the level's min–max window depending on:
- Menu pricing — each dish has 5 upgrade levels with rising sell price; your selected level at the moment of the run sets the baseline.
- Trends — the daily weathervane buff multiplies the effective price of ingredients in the matching category.
- Employee online ability — the "Manager's Pick" employee runs a passive (auto-coffee, tip bonus, cake bonus, patience increase, etc.) that compounds for the whole run.
- Popularity tier — your brand's PopularityValue grants a flat percent traffic bonus that turns into more customers per wave.
The optimiser at /nte/cafe-origen takes all four into account and tags each of the 31 levels as Clear, Tight or Push for your current setup.
Strategy across the 3 acts
Act 1 (1-0 → 1-10): unlock your roster
Do NOT chase Fons here. Use Act 1 to learn the recipe inputs and rotate every drink + main + dessert in your menu so you unlock the upgrade levels. Levels 1-3 (Ice and Fire) and 1-5 (Coffee Machine Gun) reward speed — practice them on a low-priced menu and re-clear later for the higher Fons window once your dish upgrades are out.
Act 2 (2-1 → 2-10): start optimising
Levels 2-2 (Mysty) and 2-7 (Cake Kaleidoscope) reward dessert-heavy menus — switch in your highest-priced cakes for these. 2-4 (Afternoon Tea Time) and 2-5 (Timing Master) reward wave-density handling; queue your "Manager's Pick" employee with a patience or tip ability for these. 2-10 (Wheel of Fortune) randomises encounters — do it last when your menu is fully upgraded.
Act 3 (3-1 → 3-10): full-roster grind
Multitasking levels (3-3, 3-4, 3-7 Ambidex) require parallel station service — your menu must include at least 2 drinks + 2 mains + 1 dessert at upgrade level 3+ to hit the upper Fons range. Pair with a trending ingredient category for the best per-level payout. 3-10 (Pianist!) is the final test and rewards a polished menu more than fast clicking.
None of the above is a hard rule shipped in the game — the act/level routing is editorial guidance based on the datamined Fons ranges and event prompts. The actual reachability for your run is computed live by the optimiser.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I find the Owner's Selection?
Inside The Cafe by Origen, after you have promoted at least one café to operate online. The Owner's Selection panel is the cafe's challenge mode — 31 hand-authored scenarios, each clearable solo.
How much Fons can I earn from a full clear-all?
Between 37,600 and 140,000 Fons cumulative across the 31 levels. The Fons range per level reflects your actual run quality (menu pricing, employee abilities, popularity, trends). The optimiser on /nte/cafe-origen estimates your real range for the current roster + menu.
Do challenge levels reset?
No. Once cleared, a level stays cleared. The Owner's Selection is a one-shot completion run, not a daily/weekly rotation. The recurring Fons stream from the cafe comes from the regular online mode, not from re-clearing these 31 levels.
What is the prerequisite?
City Tycoon level 4 unlocks The Cafe by Origen itself. You then need to operate the cafe online (own + open + promote a brand) to surface the Owner's Selection panel.
Should I rush the Owner's Selection for Fons, or build my menu first?
Build the menu first. Each level pays at most 8,000 Fons — Pink Paws Heist at City Tycoon L10 pays multiples of that per run. The Owner's Selection is best treated as a completion-grind for the Fons baseline plus the narrative payoff, after your roster and dishes can clear levels comfortably.