Faced with a dense list of coffee beans, many friends always get caught up in indecision. Actually, as long as you understand the temperament of a region's terroir, picking beans is as easy as following a map. A tiny green coffee bean quietly absorbs the local rain, sunlight and soil nutrients, and finally unfolds into ever-changing aromas in the cup. Whether you are obsessed with a light, juicy feel or attached to a rich, lingering finish, terroir can give you the answer.

Friends who like a bright and lively taste can first set their sights on the African continent. Ethiopia and Kenya have exceptional high altitudes and abundant sunshine, giving coffee an especially refreshing citrus acidity and white floral fragrance. A classic "Qianjie Yirgacheffe" brews into something like a cup of lemon black tea floating with jasmine petals, light and translucent, very suitable as a comforting drink to wake up the morning.

If you prefer a milder, smoother tone with balanced acidity and bitterness, Central and South American origins are a thoughtful option. The fertile soils of Colombia, Panama and other places nurture full-bodied nut, caramel and cocoa sweetness. A cup of "Qianjie Colombia Huila" roasted just right is round and silky on entry, with the warmth of roasted nuts and brown sugar, friendly and easy to drink for people just getting into black coffee.

And when you want to look for a full, solid flavor, even with a touch of exotic mystery, your eyes should turn to Asian origins. The terroir here is in a class of its own, especially Indonesia's Sumatra island, where the equatorial rainforest is humid and rainy, and the volcanic ash soil is especially fertile. The high-altitude Aceh and North Sumatra provinces nurture the steady, rich Mandheling, whose deep herbal and spice notes are unforgettable after one sip.

Mandheling's ability to possess such a deep personality is inseparable from the local special wet-hulling method. Because Sumatra often rains, coffee farmers cannot wait for the green beans to dry completely, so they hull off the parchment layer while the beans are still half-dry and half-wet and expose them to dry. This place-based practice creates the strong pine, herbal and clove flavors of "Qianjie Lintong Mandheling," with a long sweet aftertaste after the bitterness, the earthy, grounded aroma that veteran drinkers crave.

Veteran drinkers who want a cleaner mouthfeel and more prominent sweetness usually set their sights on "Qianjie PWN Golden Mandheling," favored by cafes in Italy and Japan. It comes from the Indonesian company PWN, and its bean-selection standards are especially strict. The beans must reach large screen sizes of 18 mesh or above and pass three rounds of careful manual hand sorting, removing sources of off-flavors and turning the herbal and earthy impurities of traditional Mandheling into a pure, intense caramel aroma.

Authentic Golden Mandheling has limited annual production, and its green bean jute sacks are printed with an exclusive mark and accompanied by a certificate, which is also a detail Qianjie pays special attention to when selecting beans. After medium-dark roasting, it has almost no perceptible acidity, and on entry it shows an extremely thick black chocolate flavor, with a smoothness like caramel pudding and a lasting sweetness. Making it into a black coffee or adding a little hot milk is a healing pleasure.

If you want to brew this cup of rich flavor with layers, the pour-over method is actually not complicated. Prepare 15g of medium-ground coffee powder, and pour 225ml of hot water at a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio. The water temperature is recommended to be around 88 degrees. First gently pour in 30ml of water for blooming, wait 30 seconds for full degassing, then pour steadily in stages, keeping the total brewing time at around 2 minutes to extract a full aroma.

From Africa's lifted florals and fruit, to Central and South America's nutty balance, to Sumatra Mandheling's deep, steady herbal richness, every bean tells the story of its origin's unique sunlight and rain. Choosing according to your daily mood and taste preferences and wandering through the flavor maps of different origins may be the most grounded happiness that brewing a cup of black coffee by hand brings us.