Over the years of running my own shop, plus regularly helping friends review their menus, I've come to feel more and more that a neighborhood cafe's pour-over line doesn't need to be greedy for variety. Laying out three to four single-origin beans on one page and spreading out the flavor directions actually makes them more memorable than piling up seven or eight. A neighborhood shop's customer base is very down-to-earth: in the morning there are those rushing to work, in the afternoon there are regulars who sit with their laptops for half a day, and on weekends there are nearby residents strolling in to rest their feet. People aren't looking for novelty; they want to spend a reasonable amount of time drinking a cup of coffee that is clear, consistent and a little interesting. So the structure of the bean list has to be grouped by flavor, letting people with different tastes find their cup at a glance.

My habit is to put a clean, refreshing washed-process bean first, with bright acidity and notes of citrus and white florals. This type of bean has a low threshold, is easy for new customers to accept, and also lets people used to drinking Americanos transition smoothly to pour-over. For the second, choose an outgoing, fruity natural-process bean, such as an Ethiopian natural like Qianjie Kaffa Forest, roasted light-medium, with an orange blossom aroma that really grabs you, orange and apricot fruit flavors in the cup, and a finish with a touch of green tea freshness. It's there to create surprises for regulars, making them feel that this shop chooses its beans seriously. The third must cater to customers who don't like acidity, so bring in a full-bodied, low-acid one, medium-dark roasted from Brazil or Indonesia, with a solid mouthfeel and mainly caramel and nutty roast flavors; it sells especially well in winter. If the shop has many regulars and some prefer classic flavors, add one more balanced regional representative, like Qianjie Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1, a Typica variety at medium roast, where the sour, bitter, sweet and mellow tastes blend with exceptional balance, and the chocolate, roasted nut and creamy caramel flavors are very easy to keep drinking, suitable for people willing to sit down and savor slowly.

The information on the bean list should be written to matter more than the bean names. I insist on clearly marking origin, processing method and roast level, so customers can tell at a glance where the differences lie. Writing only "such-and-such estate" means nothing to most people, but putting "Ethiopia, natural, light-medium roast" and "Brazil, washed, medium-dark roast" together immediately makes the choice concrete. In terms of cost structure, the clean washed one can go in the everyday staple tier, with steady volume and consistent output; the fruity natural goes in the advanced tier, attracting customers willing to try more; the full-bodied low-acid and the balanced classic are allocated according to the depth of the customer base. If a neighborhood shop has a high proportion of regulars, it's worth putting out a high-end tier bean to hold up appearances.

The refresh rhythm for pour-over beans has to be much faster than for espresso. My approach is to have only one to two open and in use at the same time, rotating the rest weekly, so the beans are always fresh and regulars have something new to try each time they come. Resting the beans is something you can't skip. Qianjie's beans are shipped within five days after roasting; for pour-over single origins I rest them three to five days after receiving before opening, while medium-dark roasted espresso beans are rested five to seven days. After opening, try to finish them within a month; flavor decline is something you can genuinely taste. On the espresso side, a medium-roasted blend like Qianjie Strawberry Candy espresso blend follows a floral, sweet route, suitable for customers who want a milk coffee with something special; Qianjie Classic Blend is a medium-dark roasted Mamba-style idea, with aromas of butter, toasted bread and caramel biscuits, fine crema and stable extraction, the foundation of everyday volume; Qianjie Queen's Estate SOE uses Brazilian Yellow Bourbon, with creamy peanut and nutty chocolate flavors, plenty of aroma in milk coffee, and low acidity, making it especially suitable for building distinctiveness on the espresso line. These espresso beans and pour-over beans must be stored separately and ground separately; once you've had cross-contamination, you know how unpleasant it is.

Once the extraction parameters are set, don't change them lightly. For pour-over I consistently use 15 g of grounds, a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, a water temperature of 90 to 93°C, a 30-second pre-infusion first, and a total time controlled to around two minutes. This framework is broad enough to accommodate most single-origin beans; if a customer drinks it twice and finds it right, the third time they'll bring a friend. A neighborhood shop is about repeat purchases, not one-off deals; once the cup output is stable, trust can be built. Before any bean goes on the shelf, I brew more than ten cups myself to confirm that the flavor is complete under these parameters, and only then write it on the menu for customers to see.

A one-page bean list is about helping customers choose. Three to four beans, with flavors arranged from clean to full-bodied, information written clearly, rotation keeping things fresh, and extraction kept stable, and a neighborhood shop's pour-over line can gradually cultivate a group of people who truly know how to drink and are willing to come back. At my shop now, several regulars often come in the afternoon specifically to ask "what new beans came in this week"; this kind of interaction is exactly what a neighborhood shop should be like.