Coffee Calculator
Find the right coffee-to-water ratio in grams for any brew method and cup size.
Written by Golam Rabbani, Founder & Lead Engineer
How to use this coffee calculator
- Enter how much water you are brewing with and pick its unit (grams, milliliters, fluid ounces, or US cups).
- Type your brew ratio as 1:N — 1:16 is the SCA filter standard.
- Optionally tap a preset (Light, Standard, Strong, or Espresso) to fill the ratio for you.
- Hit Calculate to get the exact coffee weight in grams plus an approximate cup count.
- Use Copy to send the recipe to your clipboard or Reset to start over.
About this coffee calculator
Brewing great coffee is mostly a weight problem: the same dose-to-water ratio holds whether you are making a single mug or a full pour-over. The coffee calculator inverts that ratio for you: pick how much water you want to brew and a target strength (typically 1:16 by mass for filter, ~1:2 for espresso), and it tells you the coffee dose in grams.
Worked example: you want 500 g of water at the Specialty Coffee Association's "golden cup" ratio of 1:16. The math is coffee = water ÷ ratio = 500 ÷ 16 = 31.25 g. That is roughly a 2-cup pour-over — about 31 g of fresh medium-grind coffee with 500 g of water just off the boil. Move to a 1:14 ratio and the same water needs 35.7 g of coffee, noticeably bolder. Switch to espresso (1:2) and 36 g of water needs 18 g of coffee — the classic double-shot recipe. Water amounts in mL and fluid ounces are converted internally using 1 fl oz = 29.5735 mL and 1 US cup = 236.588 mL.
FAQ
- Why measure coffee and water by weight instead of volume?
- Beans vary in density, so "two scoops" is unreliable. Weight (grams) is reproducible and how every modern brew recipe — SCA, Hoffmann, James Hoffmann, and most café SOPs — is written.
- What ratio should I use?
- For filter and pour-over: 1:15 to 1:18 (1:16 is the SCA Golden Cup baseline). French press: 1:14 to 1:15. Espresso: about 1:2 (in : out). The calculator includes presets for each.
- Are milliliters and grams of water the same?
- Effectively yes for brew water at room temperature. Water density is ~1 g/mL, so 1 mL ≈ 1 g, which is why most digital scales work in either unit.
- How many cups does the recipe make?
- The tool divides water grams by 240 (a standard 8 fl oz cup). For a 500 g brew that's about 2 cups — a typical home pour-over yield once filter retention is accounted for.
- Does this support metric and imperial recipes?
- Yes. Enter water in grams, milliliters, US fluid ounces, or US cups; the tool converts using exact NIST factors before computing the dose.
- Is the coffee calculator free?
- Yes — free, no signup, no ads inside the tool, and your inputs never leave your browser.