When I was getting ready to start writing for this blog, I kept coming across the idea that there’s a golden ratio for coffee. But what is the golden ratio for coffee, and how do I use it to brew the perfect cup?
The coffee golden ratio is your best friend if you’re brewing coffee at home. It’s more important to some brewing methods than others, but knowing the ratios for coffee is like knowing the ratio of fat to flour when making gravy for your biscuits.
The golden ratio for coffee is a mathematical equation to get the best water to coffee ratio in your final brewed cup of coffee. It’s an industry standard that’s used by baristas and home coffee drinkers alike. When the side of a bag of coffee beans says to use 1 tablespoon of ground coffee to a cup (6 oz.) of water, it’s simplifying the golden ratio for your home drip coffee makers. The golden ratio is between 1:15 and 1:18. The 1 refers to 1 gram of ground coffee, and the 15 (or 18) refers to the grams of water.
It’s as standard a ratio as using 2 cups of water for each cup of rice.
The Golden Ratio for Coffee Explained in Detail (So You Can Make the Perfect Cup of Coffee)
This ratio of 1:15 or 1:18 provides the perfect extraction of the flavor of coffee beans. You can adjust the ratio to strengthen or weaken your cup of coffee.
The goal of achieving this golden ratio is to get the most precise extraction of flavor from your beans in the water that makes up the final brewed cup of coffee. A few other factors play into an excellent cup of coffee. You want to make sure you’re using the correct grind on your beans, you want to be sure to use fresh coffee, and you want to use a quality bean variety.
If your ratio is off, you’re going to have a bitterly strong brew or a brew that is so weak you might as well have not bothered.
If you’ve read my post about pour over coffee, you’ll see that I use the golden ratio for a perfect pot of pour over coffee. I suggest using 42 grams of water to 700 grams of water to brew a pot of pour over coffee. This is an example of the golden ratio is action.
The golden ratio for coffee also applies to French press coffee, drip coffee, or just about any other coffee brewing application are.
How to Use the Golden Ratio to Make Coffee
Coffee should attainable by anyone interested. Coffee shouldn’t be elitist. That trend needs to stop. Any brew guide is just a suggestion, and you don’t have to get too bogged down in the math of it.
We’re just trying to make the perfect cup of coffee.
We’re not trying to cure cancer.
You’ll find your own coffee golden ratio.
Here’s a quick guide to the golden ratio for most coffee brews.
Examples of the Coffee Golden Ratio in Use
- 1 cup of water is 8 ounces
- 8 ounces of water is 225 grams of water
- If you divide 225 grams of water by 15, you get 15. So, you’ll need 15 grams of coffee for a cup of brewed coffee
- To make more than one cup, you just multiply that by the number of cups you’re brewing.
- If you’re making 6 cups, then you’d need (6 X 15) or 90 grams of coffee and use 48 ounces of water.
The golden ratio can vary by brewing method. I use more ground coffee for pour over and less for other brewing techniques.
But now that you have the golden ratio, you’re ahead of the game.
Use a digital scale for this. Yes, it’s another gadget.
But you’ll find other uses for it. I use my scale for baking, portioning burgers, cooking any recipe written using the metric system. A kitchen scale is a multi-tasker that you won’t regret buying.
I like this one enough to have bought it twice.
It’s easy to use, switches between metric and imperial, and is rechargeable via a USB cable. You can buy the KOIOS kitchen digital scale on Amazon.
How Does the Ratio Vary with Different Coffee Brew Methods?
The golden ratio does vary by brewing methods.
The coffee golden ratio isn’t a hard rule, but it’s an easy one to follow. Once you know what you like, you can adjust as you see fit.
I said earlier that the coffee golden ratio is between 1:15 and 1:18. That’s because different users prefer different strengths.
Here’s a quick list of coffee golden ratios for different brewing methods. I’ve included the most popular brewing methods:
Drip Coffee: 1:15
For every 15 grams of coffee, measure out 225 grams (8 ounces) of water.
French Press Coffee: 1:17.5
For a full brew for 1 serving or 2 small cups for 2, you’ll need 80 grams of coffee and 1400 grams of water.
Espresso: 1:2 or 1:3
This is the densest ratio and can vary by shot pulled. You’ll need 18-21 grams of espresso to 56.25 grams of water for a double shot.
Pour Over or Chemex: 1:16.6
For a full pot of pour over coffee (Chemex style), you’ll need 42 grams of coffee to 700 grams of water.
V-60 (single serve pour over/ Melitta brewer): 1:14
For a single cup, you’ll need 20-25 grams of coffee to around 280 grams of water. The actual water measurement in 281.25 grams if you want to be exact.
Immersion Brewers: 1:18
For immersion style brewers like AeroPress, you’ll need 22 grams of coffee for 400 grams of water. This makes about 1 cup of brewed coffee.
Turkish Coffee: 1:12
This brewing method requires 30 grams of coffee for 350 grams of water. This makes around 1 serving of strong coffee or 2 small servings of coffee.
Cold Brew Coffee: 1:18
Disclaimer- this is for final diluted cold brew coffee. I brew mine as a finished product. For cold brew coffee, you’re looking for 100 grams of cold brew ground coffee to 1792 grams of water. If you want to read more about how to make cold brew coffee at home, read this post.
Also, cold brew coffee is NOT the same thing as iced coffee.
I have one more topic to cover — how to use the golden ratio without having to weigh everything.
How to Measure the Golden Ratio without a Scale
Not everyone has the budget or the time in the morning to mess around with a digital scale. Coffee should be easy.
Here’s a guide to achieving the golden ratio for coffee without a digital kitchen scale.
This means using volume measurements. That includes tablespoons, teaspoons, and cups.
Most people use volume for measuring their ratio of coffee to water. The instructions on the side of a bag of coffee use volume rather than weight.
Here’s how that works:
1 tablespoon of ground coffee is about 5 grams of coffee.
An ounce of water is 29.5 grams of water.
You can use this conversion with any of the ratios above.
Here’s an example using French press coffee.
If you’re making a single serving of French press coffee, you’ll want to use the 1:17.5 coffee golden ratio.
How to Make French Press Coffee Using the Golden Ratio
- 1 cup of finished coffee: 1 cup water (8 fluid oz) — 2 tablespoons ground coffee
- 2 cups finished coffee: 2 cups water (16 fluid oz) — 1/4 cup ground coffee
- 4 cups finished coffee: 4 cups water (32 fluid oz) — 1/2 cup ground coffee
- 8 cups of finished coffee: 8 cups water (64 fluid oz) — 1 cup ground coffee
That’s easy enough, right?
Don’t be turned away from using the coffee golden ratio if you don’t have a kitchen digital scale or don’t have the time.
Understanding the golden ratio for coffee is easy math to do.
Conclusion
The golden ratio for coffee is just what you need to make a perfect cup of coffee. You can use weight or volume, but using weight is more accurate. Coffee’s as much art as science, though, so don’t get too hung up on getting it perfect to within a decimal point. That’s just pointless.