Coffee Ratio Calculator
Coffee-to-water ratios for drip, pour-over, French press, espresso and cold brew — enter the water or the coffee and get the other, with a strength adjustment.
Coffee Ratio Calculator: with the default inputs, what you need is 55.7 g of coffee (1.96 oz) for 32 fl oz of water.
Used when you know the water. For espresso this is the weight of liquid in the cup, not water poured in.
Used when you know the coffee. Weigh whole beans before grinding — volume scoops vary by 20% with grind and roast.
Positive is stronger (more coffee, tighter ratio); negative is weaker. ±10% is a noticeable step.
- Coffee
- 55.7 g
- Water
- 32 fl oz
- Ratio used
- 1 : 17 by weight
- Parts water to 1 part coffee
- 17
- Grams per litre
- 58.8The SCA Golden Cup target is 55 g/L, ±10%.
- Level tablespoons of ground coffee
- 10.5At about 5.3 g per level tablespoon — weigh it if you can.
- Brewer 'cups' (6 fl oz)
- 5.3
Assumptions
- Water is taken at 1 g per mL, the brewing convention; real water is within 0.3% of that from room temperature to boiling.
- Ratios are by weight (coffee : water), not by volume.
- For espresso, the second figure is the beverage weight out of the basket, not the water pushed through it.
- A level tablespoon of ground coffee is taken as 5.3 g; real spoonfuls vary about ±20% with grind and roast.
| Method | Ratio | Coffee (g) | Level tbsp |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drip / automatic brewer | 1 : 17 | 55.7 | 10.5 |
| Pour-over (V60, Chemex, Kalita) | 1 : 16 | 59.1 | 11.2 |
| French press / immersion | 1 : 12 | 78.9 | 14.9 |
| Espresso | 1 : 2 | 473.2 | 89.3 |
| Cold brew concentrate | 1 : 8 | 118.3 | 22.3 |
Grams shown for the water figure above. Espresso and cold brew are included for reference; both mean something different by the second number.
How this is worked out
The formula
Coffee (g) = water (g) ÷ ratio Water (g) = coffee (g) × ratio Water: 1 mL = 1 g Effective ratio = base ratio ÷ (1 + strength adjustment) Grams per litre = coffee (g) ÷ water (L) SCA Golden Cup target: 55 g/L ± 10% Level tablespoon of ground coffee ≈ 5.3 g
Open How it’s calculated above to see this worked through with your own numbers.
What you enter
- Brew method
- Choose one of 5 options.Drip / automatic brewer — 1:17 · Pour-over (V60, Chemex, Kalita) — 1:16 · French press / immersion — 1:12 · Espresso — 1:2 — dose in to beverage out, e · Cold brew concentrate — 1:8 makes a concentrate to dilute 1:1 or more
- What do you know?
- Choose one of 2 options.The water — tell me the coffee · The coffee — tell me the water
- Water
- Used when you know the water. For espresso this is the weight of liquid in the cup, not water poured in.in fl oz, cup, mL, L, qt, gal · 0 or more · defaults to 32
- Coffee
- Used when you know the coffee. Weigh whole beans before grinding — volume scoops vary by 20% with grind and roast.in g, oz, kg, lb · 0 or more · defaults to 60
- Strength adjustment
- Positive is stronger (more coffee, tighter ratio); negative is weaker. ±10% is a noticeable step.a percentage · from -40 to 40 · defaults to 0
- Custom ratio (1 : x)(under More options)
- Leave 0 to use the method's ratio. Enter 16 for 1:16.from 0 to 40 · defaults to 0
What you get back
- What you needmain answer
- Coffee
- Water
- Ratio used
- Parts water to 1 part coffee
- Grams per litre
- The SCA Golden Cup target is 55 g/L, ±10%.
- Level tablespoons of ground coffee
- At about 5.3 g per level tablespoon — weigh it if you can.
- Brewer 'cups' (6 fl oz)
What this assumes
- Water is taken at 1 g per mL, the brewing convention; real water is within 0.3% of that from room temperature to boiling.
- Ratios are by weight (coffee : water), not by volume.
- For espresso, the second figure is the beverage weight out of the basket, not the water pushed through it.
- A level tablespoon of ground coffee is taken as 5.3 g; real spoonfuls vary about ±20% with grind and roast.
About this calculator
Coffee ratios are quoted as 1:16 or 1:17 — one part ground coffee to sixteen or seventeen parts water, by weight. Water is the easy half: one millilitre weighs one gram, near enough for any kitchen, so a litre of water needs about 60 grams of coffee at 1:17.
How to use it
Pick the method, then tell the calculator which side you already know. Filling a 32-ounce carafe? Leave it on water. Have a 20-gram dose and want to know how much water? Switch it.
The strength slider shifts the ratio rather than the amounts: +10% strength tightens 1:17 to 1:15.5, which is roughly one perceptible step. Use it to dial a recipe in rather than guessing at whole spoons.
The ratios, and where they come from
- Drip, 1:17. The Specialty Coffee Association's Golden Cup standard specifies 55 grams per litre, which is 1:18.2, with a control chart running from roughly 1:15 to 1:19. Most American brewers are designed around something a little stronger than the standard, so 1:17 is a good starting point.
- Pour-over, 1:16. Published V60 and Chemex recipes cluster between 1:15 and 1:17. Grind and pour technique move the result more than a point of ratio does.
- French press, 1:12. Full immersion pulls more out of the grounds and the cup carries fines and oils, so it runs stronger and heavier. Anywhere from 1:12 to 1:15.
- Espresso, 1:2. This one is different: it's the dose going in against the beverage weight coming out. Eighteen grams in, thirty-six grams out, in 25–30 seconds. The machine pushes more water than that through — the puck keeps the rest.
- Cold brew, 1:8. A concentrate, meant to be cut about 1:1 before drinking, which lands the finished cup near 1:16. Steep 12–18 hours at room temperature.
Ratio is only one of four variables
Extraction is set by ratio, grind, time and temperature together, and the ratio is the one that changes strength without changing flavour balance much. If your coffee is bitter, grind coarser before you use less coffee; if it's sour and thin, grind finer before you use more. Brew water should be 195–205 °F (90–96 °C).
And weigh things. A level tablespoon of ground coffee is about 5.3 grams, but that varies by 20% between a light roast ground coarse and a dark roast ground fine — which is enough to move a cup across the whole Golden Cup band. A $15 kitchen scale is the cheapest improvement available to any coffee setup.
Frequently asked questions
▸What is the golden ratio for coffee?
The SCA Golden Cup standard is 55 grams of coffee per litre of water, or about 1:18.2 by weight, with an acceptable band of ±10%. Most people brewing at home prefer something a little stronger — 1:16 to 1:17.
▸How much coffee for a gallon of water?
At 1:16, a US gallon of water weighs 3,785 g, so you need 3,785 ÷ 16 = 237 grams of coffee — about half a pound, or roughly 45 level tablespoons.
▸How many tablespoons of coffee per cup?
A level tablespoon of ground coffee is about 5.3 g. A 6 fl oz brewer 'cup' at 1:17 needs about 10.4 g, so two level tablespoons. Grind and roast change the weight of a spoonful by 20%, which is why weighing beats scooping.
▸Should I measure coffee by weight or volume?
Weight. Volume varies with grind size, roast level and how the grounds settle — the same scoop can hold 4.5 g or 6 g of coffee. Weighing is the single change that makes a home brew repeatable.
▸Why is espresso a different kind of ratio?
Because it's quoted as dose in to beverage out, not coffee to water. An 18 g dose pulled to 36 g of espresso is 1:2. More water passes through the puck than ends up in the cup — the grounds retain roughly twice their own weight.
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