Drip coffee drinkers, whats your ratio?

All -

Just wanted to see how much coffee everyone uses in their drip coffee maker to water.

I am currently experimenting with different ratios.

What amount of water to coffee do you use?

2 tbsp ground coffee to 6 oz water; seems to be fairly standard directions from both coffee makers and bags of coffee. Works well for me.

Although I probably err on the side of too much coffee (to accommodate my own predilections), my measurement is pretty much based on a "standard" 2 tsp to 6 oz of water as well.

When I first started drinking coffee I would do one to one and gradually made it stronger. I now use the 'standard'.

We've tried all kinds of ratios, made more difficult by the fact that nobody seems to offer a specific "cup" size in their coffeemakers, or "spoon" size in their coffee scoops. Right now, the current ratio that we're happy with is 1 "scoop" for every two "cups" where scoop=3 1/2 tsp and cup=5.5 oz. Don't ask me why they're such fussy, odd sizes, that's just the way they came - but the lesson you should take from this is to measure your water reservoir, and your coffee scoop if you have one.

So 1 3/4 teaspoons for every 5.5 ounces...or, if my "I failed freshman Algebra" calculations are correct, about 2 1/2 teaspoons per 8 ounce cup. OMG.

Matt wrote:2 tbsp ground coffee to 6 oz water; seems to be fairly standard directions from both coffee makers and bags of coffee. Works well for me.

I concur on this. two TABLESPOONS, not teaspoons.

Matt wrote:2 tbsp ground coffee to 6 oz water; seems to be fairly standard directions from both coffee makers and bags of coffee. Works well for me.

I use this as a basic, volumetric guide too...I tend to adjust slightly based on the coffee and coarseness or fineness of the grind.

I use 7gm of coffee per "cup" (5oz). I believe this is the SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) recommendation. The weight is a little lower (5gm?) if using a french press or other European-made equipment since their coffee "cup" is slightly smaller.

Sometimes I bring out the scale and weigh the beans before grinding but more often I use the scoop that came with my Aeropress. It is pretty good at dosing 14gm of whole beans and is the right amount per unit in the AP. I'll probably go back to the scale whenever I get an espresso machine though.

For volumetric dosing of ground coffee, I believe it's one coffee scoop or 2T per "cup".

2 tablespoons grounds per 6oz of water is a good guide, 2 tablespoons can be anywhere from 8 - 10 grams depending on the coffee. It is important to realize that you should adjust your brew volumes based on the type of coffee, brewer, the water and all the other variables that come into play in order to arrive at a flavor that you're happy with. I use very different brewing parameters based on the type of coffee I'm making and on what type of brewer...(Uh, I'm in the coffee business) The finer the grind the less coffee you should have to use, but if you grind too fine you can easily extract too much out of the coffee and end up with a muddy, overly bitter cup. I don't understand why when it comes to coffee there are so many definitions of "cup".

fyi- i think this is pretty helpful:

http://www.metropoliscoffee.com/university/brewing/