How Much Coffee?

1:15

Is that AM or PM?

It’s neither; it’s the best ratio of coffee to water for almost all brewing methods.

Most people here in the U.S. have become very accustomed to under brewed coffee. In most restaurants a two ounce prepackaged portion of coffee is set for one carafe of coffee. The amount of coffee grounds used is called the dose of coffee. When we talk about coffee dosing we will measure by weight for the coffee and the water.

A quick note on the typical coffee carafe – most of the carafes I’ve paid attention to have markings that show 12 servings, or what most people will think is 12 cups. That 12 mark is a little deceiving though, those are 12-5 ounce servings. Not your standard 8 ounce measuring cup. So the typical coffee carafe is really only 7½ true cups.

12×5=60 and 7.5×8=60

Weight wise that full carafe is about 60 ounces (1700 grams or milliliters). Thus the typical coffee carafe using two ounces (60 grams) of coffee has a ratio of 1:28. That is close to half of the ideal ratio. If the restaurant puts in two coffee packs then they get a 1:14 ratio – very strong brew! We want to stick near the 1:15 ratio, even maybe 1:16 or 17.

Weight not volume

A lot of people measure out their coffee grounds with a teaspoon. DON’T

For the best results start measuring your coffee and water by weight. We will talk about the reasons in another blog.

1:15 the ideal ratio for coffee. One gram of coffee grounds should be paired with 15 grams of water (One gram of water is one milliliter). You can adjust that ratio to suit your own particular tastes and strengths. Less water and more coffee (stronger coffee) and the water may not be able to pull out all the flavors in the coffee. More water and less coffee (weaker) and the water may pull out too many of the undesirable chemicals in the coffee and leave you with not only a weak cup of coffee but a more acidic and bitter coffee.

Wait a minute! In the last blog, I said coffee is 99% water and now I’m saying its a 1:15 ratio or about 93%. The 99% is what is actually in the carafe where most of the coffee stays in the filter.

Good Morning

My home drip coffee maker (easy to make in the morning, but I usually preset everything the night before) that way I can accommodate a dose of 60 grams of coffee grounds in the filter basket without overflowing the filter basket during brewing. 60 grams of coffee at the ideal 1:15 ratio requires 900 grams (or milliliters) of water. On my carafe 900 ML of water is just over the 6 serving mark. About a half carafe.

I usually measure out 60 grams of coffee the night before and put water in the carafe up to around the 7 mark (some water stays in the coffee in the filter basket) and set the timer for my usual wakeup time. When I wake up I have about a half carafe of incredible specialty coffee. That half carafe will be about 24 ounces of coffee; 3 real (8oz) cups.

Dollars and Sense

Now the 1:15 ratio does make for a great cup of coffee. It also starts to cost more. Our 1/2lb bag of coffee will make about 3½ half carafes. You can increase the 1:15 ratio to 1:17 and get 4 half carafes without too much of a loss of boldness and taste. Looking at the same weights, your regular big name store bought coffee will run about $1.50 for the half carafe. At our average bag cost, each half carafe will be a little over $3. The ultra-premium coffee I roasted last night and brewed today would run you about $5 for that half carafe. Expensive? Yes, but the taste blows the doors off the store bought big name coffee!

But for comparison (and not to put them down (too much)) to the big chain coffee shops (where, in my opinion, you have to add all sorts of flavorings along with creams and sugars to make it taste good), depending on where you live, a 20oz cup of regular black coffee will be $3.25. A little more math (behind the scenes) and that is the same as the average half carafe you can brew at home with our multiple different coffees.

So while the coffee from any gourmet (specialty) coffee roaster looks expensive it is very much in line with the big chains and you will have a FAR greater amount of control over the coffee you brew and drink.