Coffee to Water Ratio Calculator: A Secret of a Perfect Cup

There is nothing worse than a bad cup of coffee early in the morning when all you need is that boost of energy.

To make sure that’s avoided you need to estimate the right ratio of coffee to water. But who has the strength to do those calculations first thing after waking up?

Luckily, there is a rather useful calculator to make your life easier and your coffee a whole lot tastier.

How does it work?

You might be slightly confused with how this calculator operates. There is no need for that since it is quite straightforward.

It provides you with certain parameters such as:

• brew style (immersion or drip)
• coffee strength (light/regular/strong)
• amount of water (in the number of cups).

Then, the coffee to water ratio calculator gives you the optimal quantity of coffee you should use to achieve great results.

What’s the best ratio?

.There is no one correct answer to this question. You are the one that decides what coffee to water ratio tastes the best!

If you are not sure and trying to figure that out, you can use an alternate calculator.

You still have the first two parameters but you enter the amount of coffee you want to use and the calculator suggests the quantity of water (instead of the other way around).

Tablespoon vs scale

Most of us are used to a tablespoon as a measure but it is more efficient and accurate to use a small kitchen scale instead.

Why is that?

It is simply because the same volume of different beans (various roasts, origins, etc) has different weights.

For precisely that reason, the calculator shows how much coffee you need in grams or oz. So even when you change the beans, you’ll be able to brew them properly.

Brewing methods

You can notice that the calculator asks you to select your brewing style before anything else. Your answer will determine the number of beans, which depends on this factor in particular whilst other variables stay the same.

In other words, some brewing methods use completely different coffee to water ratios.

That means you will get different ratios for Espresso, Moka pot, Aeropress, etc.

here is no need to remember all of them. Here is a chart that can serve as cheat sheets.

Once you have determined the ratio, you can play around, change, and adjust other parameters in order to customize your perfect cup.

Adjustments

There are three additional aspects that can have a significant impact on the taste of your perfect brew.

Grind size - when grinding the beans at home, you have absolute control over all the fine-tuning. The most common rule is - the finer the grounds, the more flavors you can extract. That also depends on the type of beans you choose.

Brewing time - unless it’s a fully automated machine you can adjust the brewing time. If it seems too sour, brew it longer, if it’s too bitter, brew it for a shorter time. It is up to you.

Temperature - in theory, higher temperatures help with extracting more flavors. However, by slowing down the process, cooler temperatures could help avoid some undesirable flavors. With all the different opinions, an optimal temperature should be around 92.2 - 94.4°C.

Final thoughts

Don’t forget to experiment and have fun with it!

At the end of the day, it is about personal preference, so you do have a lot of freedom in this whole process. It also provides you with a chance to change things up a bit every once in a while by trying different techniques, ratios, beans, etc.

For a coffee lover, the most important part is to enjoy and appreciate a good cup of coffee.