Coffee to Water Ratio Calculator

About this calculator

Coffee strength is governed by the brew ratio — the weight of ground coffee relative to the weight of water, typically written as 1:15 to 1:18 (coffee:water). The Specialty Coffee Association’s general guideline sits around 1:17 to 1:18 for balanced pour-over coffee, while French press is often brewed slightly stronger (closer to 1:15) and espresso uses a much tighter, separate ratio because it’s measured by extraction yield rather than dilution.

This calculator takes your water amount and chosen ratio and does the division for you — grams of water ÷ ratio number = grams of coffee — so you can dial in dose without doing mental math each brew. Home baristas and coffee shops both rely on a fixed, repeatable ratio (rather than eyeballing scoops) because it’s the single biggest lever for consistent extraction and flavor batch to batch, and it lets you scale a recipe up or down for any brew size while keeping the same taste profile.