Coffee to water ratio: pour over 1:16 (31 g coffee to 500 g water), coffee machine 1:17 (71 g to 1,200 g), French press 1:15 (47 g to 700 g), AeroPress 1:14 (16 g to 230 g).
Step by step: French press ratio guide.
Cold brew for five 8 oz glasses: about 99 g of coarse ground coffee in 789 g of cold water (a 1:8 concentrate). Steep 12 to 18 hours, strain, then dilute 1:1.
More on this: cold brew vs iced coffee and the best coffee for cold brew.
Iced coffee for one 16 oz glass: 30 g of coffee brewed with 270 g of hot water straight onto 180 g of ice (1:15 overall).
Step by step: how to make iced coffee at home.
Espresso: 18 g of coffee in the basket, stop the shot at about 36 g in the cup (1:2), in 25 to 32 seconds.
Dialing in at home: the best coffee for an espresso machine.
Latte, 12 oz cup: a double shot from 18 g of coffee, then about 8 fl oz of steamed milk.
A seasonal favorite: pumpkin spice latte at home.
Vietnamese iced coffee, one glass: 25 g of medium fine coffee in a phin. Bloom with 50 g of hot water for 30 seconds, add 150 g more, let it drip 4 to 6 minutes over 20 g of sweetened condensed milk, stir, then pour over 100 g of ice.
The full recipe: Vietnamese iced coffee.
Coffee per month: two 12 oz mugs a day uses about 1,349 g, or 3 lb, of coffee a month at 1:16.
The full breakdown: how much coffee you need each month.
How to use the coffee calculator
- Pick your method. Each method starts at a ratio that works well for it.
- Enter what you know. Most people know their water: a mug, a carafe, a press. If you only know how much coffee you have left, switch to coffee and it will tell you the water.
- Weigh, if you can. A kitchen scale that reads in grams makes every cup repeatable. One milliliter of water weighs one gram, so grams and milliliters are the same number.
- Adjust one thing at a time. Too weak, use a little more coffee. Too strong, add a little water. Bitter, grind coarser. Sour, grind finer.
Coffee to water ratio chart
| Method | Ratio | 12 oz mug (355 g water) | Grind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pour over | 1:16 | 22 g coffee | Medium fine |
| Coffee machine | 1:17 | 21 g coffee | Medium |
| French press | 1:15 | 24 g coffee | Coarse |
| AeroPress | 1:14 | 25 g coffee | Fine to medium |
| Iced, brewed onto ice | 1:15 overall | 24 g coffee, 40% of the water as ice | A touch finer |
| Cold brew concentrate | 1:8 | Dilute 1:1 to serve | Coarse |
| Espresso | 1:2 | 18 g in, 36 g out | Fine |
| Vietnamese phin | 1:8 | 25 g coffee to 200 g water per glass | Medium fine |
Grams to scoops and tablespoons
No scale? A level tablespoon of ground coffee is roughly 5 to 6 grams, and a standard coffee scoop is about 2 tablespoons, or 10 grams. Coarse grinds weigh less per spoon than fine ones, so treat these as estimates. For a 12 oz mug at 1:16, that is about 2 scoops.