S2: Episode 6: Put Down The Scoop And Get Out The Scales!
In this episode we tackle the question of how much coffee you need to use to brew a tasty cup and why the ubiquitous coffee scoop is not in fact the best tool for the job. It gets a bit technical as we get out the scales and get our heads around brew ratios so you may need to grab a biscuit to keep you going through this one! In this week's FACQ answer we dig into espresso brew ratios and what they actually mean in the cup.
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To work out how much coffee to use for each brew first measure the water your cafetière, coffee jug or if brewing by filter, your favourite cup, holds in millilitres. Divide that figure by the amount of water indicated in the brew ratio for your brewing method (see below) to get the amount of coffee you need to use in grammes. NB the coffee grounds will retain a little of the water, which is most noticeable when using the filter brewing method.
Example:
Using the brew ratio of 1:15 to brew 210ml (1 mug) of coffee you will need to use 14g of ground coffee, but to brew 600ml you will need 40g of ground coffee to achieve the same strength. If you use 600ml of water to brew 14g of ground coffee the brew ratio then would be 1:43 and the coffee will be horribly weak and over extracted.The Specialty Coffee benchmark for a good extraction of coffee is:
55.5g of coffee per litre of water which is the brew ratio 1:18
In other words: 1 gramme of coffee for every 18 millilitres of water used.
But this is not an absolute to be followed zealously.
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Cafetiere - between 1:12 to 1:15
Cold Brew - to get a concentrate that you dilute: between 1:5 to 1:8; for a brew that you can drink undiluted use 1:12 to 1:15
Clever dripper - 1:15
Filter - 1:15 to 1:18
Stovetop espresso/moka pot - 1:10 to 1:13
Vacuum brewers - 1:15
These suggestions are intended as starting points. You can personalise to suit your taste by either adjusting the weight of coffee or the volume of water each time you brew until it tastes good to you - but not both at the same time!
Brew ratios for espresso shots:Ristretto - 1:1
Espresso - 1:2
Lungo - 1:3 to 1:4
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Hello and welcome to The Coffee Drinker’s Guide, a podcast for the coffee curious where I explore and explain the world of specialty coffee to make your daily coffee better and more satisfying.
I’m Angela Holder a coffee roaster and writer on a mission to fight back against bad coffee by giving you the knowledge you need to help you get good coffee and a happier (coffee) life in coffee-break sized episodes. So grab your coffee, pull up a chair and take a break…
In this episode we are delving into something that may not seem very important but is crucial for a good tasting cup of coffee and that is the question of how much coffee you should actually use for each brew - buckle up, we are getting into brew ratios! …and later I’ll be answering a question about the special case of how much coffee to use when brewing espresso coffee…...
Firstly as you can probably hear I have a cold which is affecting my voice, so apologies for that, but the show must go on. If you are one of those people who eyeball the amount of coffee you use each time you make a brew, I’m willing to bet that your coffee doesn’t always taste amazing and may even taste slightly different each time you brew a cup. The bottom line is that the amount of coffee you use in relation to the volume of water you brew with, really matters to the taste of the end result. If you want a better tasting and more consistent coffee experience at home you need to start paying attention to how much coffee and water you are using to brew with - yes, this episode is getting technical! So its time to get out the scales, get into brew ratios, and perhaps grab a biscuit to go with your coffee…
So firstly brew ratios and the brew
If your brewed coffee is different from brew to brew the first thing you can to do to make it taste better is simply to use the same amount of ground coffee every time, ideally by weighing it. If that seems too much of a faff, weigh it out once then figure out how many flat tablespoons or scoops that is to use in the future. It has to be said that using what we call a volumetric method like this is notoriously inaccurate but is better than just eyeballing it! If you do no more than this, you will have gone a long way towards more consistent coffee. The second step towards better tasting coffee is to decide how strong you want your brew to be. This involves working out how much coffee you need to use for the amount of water you want to brew with - because if you use too much or too little water you’ll risk over or under extracting the coffee. This is where brew ratios will help you to figure out how much coffee to use for your brewing method and the strength you want to achieve. First you’ll need to do a bit of reverse engineering by measuring the volume of coffee you want to brew in millilitres. A little bit of maths using the guidance in the show notes and hey presto! better tasting coffee. You’re welcome.
Next brew ratios and the taste
So why does the amount of coffee relative to the volume of water you use matter? Because if you use too much water for the amount of coffee the brew will be thin and bitter - or in other words, over-extracted. If you use too little water the brew will be under-extracted, tasting intense and sour. For most brewing methods, the limits for a good extraction of the coffee are defined by the brew ratios of 1 gramme of coffee to 10 millilitres of water at the lower end and 1 gramme of coffee to 18 millilitres of water at the higher end. Towards the 1 to 10 end of the spectrum the brew becomes a more intense and heavier bodied drink. While at the other end, 1 to 18 produces a well extracted but light bodied brew. While brew ratios may seem a bit nerdy, they are useful when you want to change the volume of coffee you’re brewing without changing its strength. Again, the guidance in the show notes will tell you how to do that. Whatever you do, do not fall into the trap of thinking that you can use the same amount of coffee to brew a larger volume of liquid and have it taste the same because it just won’t. Specialty coffee is not cheap - but it’s a false economy to eke it out by using less as the resulting over extraction of the coffee defeats the purpose of buying that great coffee in the first place! You have been warned…
Finally brew ratios and the bean
To some extent the roast level and bean character can influence the brew ratio needed for the best tasting brew. Lightly roasted fruity coffees and high grown washed coffees can be too intense and mouth puckeringly sour when brewed at low brew ratios. But when brewed at 1:18 the acidity of the coffee opens up to reveal the complexity of flavour that these coffees are known for. Whereas darker roasts and coffees with less fruitiness and more cooked sugar flavours like caramel benefit from using more coffee and less water. However these are just guidelines and in the end the best brew ratio is the one that produces the most enjoyable brew for you, with the beans and brewing equipment that you have. Something to note is that when you change your beans you may need to tweak the amount of coffee you are accustomed to brew with. The new beans may need to be brewed with a bit more or a bit less ground coffee than the previous one to taste good. This is especially important if you use the volumetric method of measuring coffee as the volume of coffee beans varies depending on bean size and roast level. Another reason to put down the scoop and get out the scales…
And now its time for a Frequently Asked Coffee Question…
And this episode’s question is…
How much coffee should you use to brew espresso?
When brewing with an espresso machine, the amount of coffee you use largely depends on how much the basket of your portafilter will hold. This can be as low as 7g for a small basket or as much as 35g for a very large basket. What is more important to understand is how many millilitres of coffee you want to brew, or another words the length of the shot, in relation to the amount of coffee the basket will hold. This is what determines the style of the drink you’ll brew as this is named after the quantity of water used to brew it. The ristretto or ‘restricted’ shot is a very short drink where the volume of the brewed liquid is equal to the weight of the coffee used, or in other words, one to one in brew ratio terms. As you may guess this produces a very concentrated and intense cup of coffee! The standard espresso shot is a volume of brewed liquid that is double the weight of the coffee used or a brew ratio of one to two. And finally the longer and weaker lungo shot is a volume of liquid that is three to four times the weight of the coffee used so is a brew ratio of one to three or four. The issue of under-extraction from using such small amounts of water to brew with is side stepped in espresso brewing by using a very fine grind, water under high pressure and carefully selected beans to get the best result.
Thank you for listening to this episode of The Coffee Drinker’s Guide and that was all about brew ratios. I hope you found it helpful. Did it prompt you to tweak the amount of coffee you brew with - and did it taste better? Send me a text using the link in the show notes and let me know. In the next episode we’re taking a look at black coffee - and if you’ve ever wondered why coffee people get so het up about not putting milk and sugar in coffee this is the episode for you! Make sure you follow the show so that you don’t miss it. If you know a friend who would also find this interesting be sure to tell them about the show and rate and review this podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts to help other coffee curious people find the show too. If you have a question about coffee or a topic that you would like me to cover please get in touch. I’m on on Instagram @thecoffeedrinkersguide or email me at thecoffeedrinkersguide@gmail.com. Thanks to my executive producer Viel Richardson at Lusona Publishing and Media Limited. You can find him at lusonapub.co.uk. Until next time I’m Angela Holder thanks for sharing your coffee break with me - the best way to tackle life is one coffee at a time and here’s to better coffee!
The Coffee Drinker’s Guide is a Blue Sky Coffee Project.