Figuring Out Your Brewing Ratios

2 min read

Figuring Out Your Brewing Ratios

Figuring out your brewing ratiosis essential for optimizing the flavor and balance of your coffee mug, yet it’s ironic that this is one of the least understood topics.

Like every other variable in coffee brewing, rations are all about modifying yield and strength to create the finest cup possible. A cup of water on one coffee bean will give a very watery cup of coffee. A cup of water on 60 coffee beans is likely to give a balanced cup. A cup of water on a bag of coffee beans cannot even be counted as an effort towards coffee brewing because there’ll be no results at all. 

First Things First, No Golden Ratio…

It is common to hear that the best ratios of water to beans lie between 1:15 and 1:18, but we believe this is not always so. For a start, the barista who won the US Brewers Cup, 2014 used the ratio of 1:13. Most brewers may prefer a spot from 1:15 to 1:18, but this isn’t a law. What we mean by good ratios is that which you prefer to every other. 

A 1:30 (20g grounds, 600g water) ratio will give a weak, bitter, and over-extracted cup. A 1:5 ratio (20g grounds, 100g water) will be extremely concentrated as well as under-extracted. You have to settle for a balance in-between, and while most go with 1:15–1:18, there’s always the choice to adjust. 

The Coffee-Water Ratio

The ratio is easy to understand. If you have 1 gram of coffee grounds and 1 gram of water, the ratio of water to coffee is 1:1. If you have 1g coffee grounds and 15g water, the ratio is 1:15. However, no one makes a coffee cup of just 15 grams. The typical size starts from 300g. 

To keep things simple, we’ll use the ratio of 1:15 for this math. If 1g coffee grounds and 15g water equals 1:15, how many coffee grams will necessitate using 300g of water? 

Fairly simple: divide the given water mass by its portion in the ratio to get the right coffee mass: 30/15 = 20.  This means that with the 1:15 ratio, you’ll have to use 20g coffee with 300g water. 

What if you have 30g of coffee to be used at once? What’s the ideal water mass? 

You multiply instead of dividing here. 30 X 15 = 450. You’ll have to use 450g water with 30g coffee to get a well-balanced cup of coffee using the 1:15 ratio. 

Changing Ratios

Like previously said, no ratio is compulsory. You can decide to use 1:17 rather than 1:15 while using the same water mass of 300. The steps remain the same. Divide the water mass by its portion in the ratio (300/27= 17.6). 

If you had already decided on coffee (say 25g) but not the water, then you’d multiply (25 X 17 = 425). You’ll be using 425g of water. 

Final Thoughts On Figuring Out Your Brewing Ratios

Go through this article again if you have to. You’ll see it’s a simple process that’ll make your fellow couple brewers see you as a guru in the field. Yeah,figuring out your brewing ratios correctly earns you that tag.