Coffee · 10 of 21
Coffee to Water: The Ratios
Ratios turn up on nearly every coffee page here: 1:16 for a pour-over, 1:2 for espresso, 1:5 for cold brew, “55 grams per litre” for a tasting pot. This page puts them in one place, says what each one is comparing, and gives the weights for common cup and pot sizes. The other pages link here.
How to read one
A brew ratio is coffee to water, by weight, coffee first. 1:16 means 1 gram of coffee for every 16 grams of water.
- A bigger second number is a weaker cup. 1:15 is stronger than 1:18.
- A gram of water is a millilitre, so a scale does both jobs. 320 g of water is 320 mL.
- Grams per litre is the same thing written the other way. Divide 1,000 by the second number: 1:16 is 62.5 g per litre. The trade’s “55 grams per litre” is about 1:18.
- Weigh both. A scoop of dark roast weighs less than the same scoop of light roast, so a ratio by volume changes with the coffee.
| Ratio | Grams of coffee per litre of water | Tastes |
|---|---|---|
| 1:15 | 66.7 | Strong, heavy |
| 1:16 | 62.5 | The usual starting point |
| 1:17 | 58.8 | A little lighter |
| 1:18 | 55.6 | Lighter, tea-like; the standard for tasting |
Ratio sets strength; grind sets flavor. If the cup is sour and thin, grind finer. If it is bitter and harsh, grind coarser. If it tastes right but is too weak or too strong, change the ratio. Brewing explains why.
Filter coffee, by cup and pot
For pour-over, automatic drip, batch brew and French press. Grams of coffee for the water in the first column.
| Water | Makes about | 1:15 | 1:16 | 1:17 | 55 g per litre (about 1:18) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 237 g (8 fl oz) | one small cup | 16 g | 15 g | 14 g | 13 g |
| 355 g (12 fl oz) | one 12 oz cup | 24 g | 22 g | 21 g | 20 g |
| 473 g (16 fl oz) | one 16 oz cup | 32 g | 30 g | 28 g | 26 g |
| 1,000 g (1 litre) | three 10 oz cups | 67 g | 63 g | 59 g | 55 g |
| 2,200 g (2.2 L airpot) | about 32 two-ounce tastes | 147 g | 138 g | 129 g | 121 g |
| 3,800 g (3.8 L airpot) | about 55 two-ounce tastes | 253 g | 238 g | 224 g | 209 g |
The cup holds less than the water poured. The grounds keep about twice their own weight in water, by the usual rule of thumb. 22 g of coffee and 355 g of water gives about 310 g in the cup.
By method
The ratio each page on this site gives, with where it comes from.
| Method | Ratio | An example | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pour-over (V60, Kalita, Chemex) | 1:15 to 1:18; start at 1:16 | 22 g coffee, 360 g water | Brewing |
| Automatic drip | 1:16 | 63 g coffee to 1 litre | Brewing |
| Batch brew | 1:16 to 1:17 | 138 g coffee to a 2.2 L airpot | Brewing |
| Tasting pots at a stall | 55 g per litre, give or take 10% | 110 to 130 g coffee to a 2.2 L pot | Sampling |
| French press | about 1:15 | 30 g coffee, 450 g water | Brewing |
| Percolator | about 1:15 | Brewing | |
| Siphon | 1:15 to 1:16 | Brewing | |
| AeroPress | 16 to 18 g of coffee for one cup | The maker’s own instructions; the brewer forgives almost any ratio | Brewing |
| Flash-brewed iced coffee | about 1:15, with 40% of the water as ice | 23 g coffee, 220 g hot water, 130 g ice | Iced Coffee and Ice |
| Cold brew concentrate | about 1:5 | Toddy’s recipe: 340 g coffee to 1.9 L water, about 1:5.6 | Brewing, Iced Coffee and Ice |
| Phin (Vietnamese) | By volume: 2 parts water to 1 part coffee | 2 tablespoons of fine-ground coffee in a 4 oz phin, from one phin maker | The Drinks |
| Cupping | 8.25 g of coffee per 150 mL of bowl | See the table below | Cupping |
| Espresso | 1:2, coffee to drink | 18 g in, about 36 g out | Espresso |
Two methods have no ratio on this site. A moka pot sets its own: the basket is filled and the chamber takes water to the valve. Turkish coffee is measured by the cup and the spoon, and the brewing page gives no weights for it.
Cupping
The Specialty Coffee Association’s standard doses by the size of the bowl, filled to the rim: 8.25 g of coffee for every 150 mL, which is 5.5 g per 100 mL, or about 1:18. Each bowl’s dose may be off by no more than 0.2 g.
| Bowl, filled to the rim | Coffee |
|---|---|
| 150 mL | 8.25 g |
| 200 mL | 11.0 g |
| 250 mL | 13.75 g |
| 300 mL | 16.5 g |
| 350 mL | 19.25 g |
To find a bowl’s volume, put it on the scale, zero it and fill it to the rim with water; the grams are the millilitres. The rest of the protocol is on Cupping.
Espresso
Espresso’s ratio is a different measurement. It compares the dry coffee in the basket with the weight of the drink in the cup, not with the water that went into the machine.
| Shot | Ratio, coffee to drink | With an 18 g dose |
|---|---|---|
| Ristretto | about 1:1 to 1:1.5 | 18 to 27 g out |
| Normale | about 1:2 | about 36 g out |
| Lungo | about 1:3 or more | 54 g or more out |
Espresso covers what each does to the taste.
Ratios that are not coffee to water
Several numbers on these pages look like brew ratios and are not. Each compares two other things.
| Where it appears | The ratio | What it compares |
|---|---|---|
| Cold brew, to serve | 1:1, or Toddy’s 1:2 | Concentrate to water or milk |
| Flash-brewed iced coffee | 60:40 | Hot water to ice, within the total water |
| Cortado | about 1:1 | Espresso to steamed milk |
| Flat white | about 1:3 to 1:4 | Espresso to milk |
| Honey syrup | 3:1 | Honey to warm water (Honey in Coffee) |
| Phin | 2:1 | Water to coffee, by volume |
A card to print
The same numbers are on a one-page reference card: Coffee to Water: the Ratios, by Weight (PDF). The rest of the cards are on Reference Cards.
Sources
- Specialty Coffee Association, Standard 102-2024, Coffee Value Assessment: Sample Preparation and Tasting Mechanics, for the cupping dose and its tolerance.
- The SCA’s Golden Cup figure of 55 g per litre is given as secondary sources quote it, not from the standard itself.
- AeroPress and Toddy instructions, and one phin maker’s guidance, as cited on the pages linked above.
- The filter-coffee table is arithmetic. The water held back by the grounds is a rule of thumb, not a measurement of mine.
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