How Much Coffee Do I Use?

The most common question at The Coffee Roastery: How Many  Coffee Scoops?

It makes more sense to think in terms of weight rather than coffee scoops, especially taking into account the variety of sizes in which a “coffee scoop” is available. The industry recommended ratio of ground coffee to water for drip brewing is approximately 7 grams (roughly 1 rounded tablespoon) ground coffee per 5.2 oz (150 ml) of water, though many will find this to be quite a strong brew. You will want to measure the water yourself separately as the cup measurement lines on each machine are different and often do not represent any standard measurement. Many coffee machines consider 6 oz as a cup, while some others consider 5 oz as a cup.  (We don’t know what happened to 8 oz equals a cup!)

The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) Golden Cup brewing fundamentals provide additional guidance (might be a little strong for the novice coffee drinker):

Don’t Forget The Water Quality

Other than the coffee itself, water is the most important ingredient in a cup of coffee. Water makes up more than 97.8% of what ends up in our cup. With this in mind, it is easy to see why it is so important to use quality, filtered water whenever you are brewing coffee of any kind. Carbon filtration is a minimum to remove any unpleasant flavor, like chlorine, while still allowing desirable trace minerals to remain in the water.

Grind Level

Experiment with different amounts and grind sizes to experience a dynamite cup. Black Power experience is a darker roast usually is a finer grind than a medium roast. Why? Because the consumer is looking for a deeper roasted flavor on a dark roast and therefore the finer grind increases the contact time to leach higher tannins.

So next time you are brewing your own cup of coffee, think about water quality, grind level and weight instead of the number of coffee scoops.