Coffee ratio calculator: dose, yield and ratio for six methods
Dose, yield and ratio for six brewing methods, converting in any direction. Type any two numbers and the calculator fills the third. Espresso starts at about 1:2 and pour over at about 1:16, and both are labelled as starting points because that is what they are.
The published starting points
These are starting points, not laws. Every figure below is quoted from the source named beside it, and the calculator flags you when your number falls outside the published band.
| Method | Published ratio | Other published parameters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Espresso | 1:2 (dose to brewed espresso) | 20 to 30 seconds of contact | National Coffee Association |
| Pour over | 1:13 to 1:16 | Medium grind, 93 plus or minus 3 C, 2 to 4 minutes | National Coffee Association |
| French press | 1:10 to 1:16 | Coarse grind, 93 plus or minus 3 C, about 4 minutes | National Coffee Association |
| AeroPress | No published weight ratio | 16 to 18 g, medium grind, water to the 4 mark, 185 F (85 C) | AeroPress |
| Moka pot | No published weight ratio | Cold water to the lower edge of the safety valve, funnel filled without pressing | Bialetti |
| Cold brew | 1:4 to 1:5 (concentrate) | Coarse grind, room temperature or cooler, about 12 hours | National Coffee Association |
Why two methods have no ratio
AeroPress and the moka pot are the two methods where nobody publishes a weight ratio, so this calculator does not invent one. AeroPress gives a dose in grams and a water level as a mark on the chamber, and does not publish what that mark weighs. Bialetti gives a fill line on the boiler and tells you to fill the funnel level and never press it. In both cases you weigh once, type the number in, and from then on you have a ratio that is actually yours instead of one somebody guessed.
One calculator per method
Each of these opens the same calculator with that method already loaded:
Espresso ratio calculator
Pour over ratio calculator
French press ratio calculator
AeroPress ratio calculator
Moka pot ratio calculator
Cold brew ratio calculator
What a ratio does not fix
Ratio sets strength. Grind size and contact time set extraction, which is the part that decides whether the cup tastes sour or bitter. If you are dialling espresso rather than scaling a recipe, the espresso dose calculator and the dial-in logbook are the pages built for that. For pour over timing, the brew timer runs the stages.
Every free tool on the site is indexed on the tools page. What a pound of that coffee costs is tracked, from Bureau of Labor Statistics data, on the coffee price tracker.