Coffee ratio
calculator
Great coffee is a ratio: grams of beans to grams of water, usually between 1:15 and 1:17. Pick your strength and volume, and get the exact dose to weigh out.
Why ratios beat scoops
A "scoop" of coffee varies with grind and settling by 30% or more; a gram doesn't. Specialty brewing quotes doses as 1:n — one gram of beans per n grams (= ml) of water. The widely cited sweet spot sits around 1:15 to 1:17, with 1:16 the safe center.
Tuning by taste and method
Bitter or harsh → go weaker (higher n) or grind coarser; sour or thin → stronger (lower n) or finer. Pour-over and drip live happily at 1:15–1:17; French press drinkers often like 1:14–15; cold brew concentrate runs 1:8 and gets diluted. Espresso is its own world (~1:2 in seconds, not minutes). Change one variable at a time — ratio first, grind second — and a $15 scale does more for your cup than any machine upgrade. Scaling a batch for guests? The recipe converter multiplies it out.
Coffee ratio FAQ
1:16 (one gram of coffee per 16 ml of water) is the widely used center, with 1:15–1:17 covering most tastes. For 500 ml of water that's about 31 g of beans.
A 240 ml mug at 1:16 needs 15 g — roughly 2½ to 3 tablespoons of ground coffee.
Use less coffee (move toward 1:17), grind coarser, or brew slightly cooler. Bitterness is over-extraction; sourness is the opposite direction.
No — cold brew concentrate is typically brewed strong at around 1:8 over 12–24 hours, then diluted roughly 1:1 with water or milk to drink.