What coffee/water ratio do you use? (AKA is my coffee stronger than I think?)

[forty-two]

I learned to make coffee from Reddit and Youtube, so I know I'm more persnickety than the average bear.  But as far as coffee/water ratios go, I just picked one that was in the middle of the rec'd range and called it good - I figured I was middle of the pack there, so far as it goes (15g/250mL - probably around 3T/9oz).  I do like my coffee to taste like *coffee*, but I hadn't thought it was especially strong or anything.  But evidence keeps mounting that makes me wonder if I'm an outlier there, as well :lol. 

1) My mom finds my coffee unbearably strong, but she knows she likes hers weaker than average. (She does ~1.5T/12oz 1 scoop plus a bit for 12oz, which I guess is more like 2.5T/12oz.)

2) I tend to find hotel coffee more like coffee-flavored hot water, but figured they were just saving a buck.

3) I made my dh some flash-cooled coffee when he wanted iced coffee but his cold brew wasn't ready.  I used around 4-5 T 4-5 scoops to make 20oz (I did it by weight, but I was using the scoop, so I could make a rough estimate: ~9T/20oz).  Out of curiosity, I asked him afterward how much he uses to brew hot coffee - around 2T/20oz 2 scoops/20oz (4T/20oz).  He uses half-and-half and sugar and vanilla, so it's not like he's drinking it black like Mom and I do, so he didn't mind it being stronger, but he did notice.

4) We got a new coffee maker from a rummage sale (new in box!), and I thought I'd try it out, have a faster option than my usual routine available.  It's a single cup (Hamilton Beach's The Scoop) - makes 8oz-14oz servings.  As I go to make my usual, I realize that, per the coffee maker, I'm using 14 ounce's worth of coffee grounds to make an 8oz 9oz cup. (ETA1: Actually did the g-to-oz conversion, and it's actually more like an 8.85oz cup.)

 

By Reddit standards I'm normal (lol), but by IRL standards I'm seeming like more and more of an outlier.  So I'm curious how I stack up by WTM standards (feels sort of like a middle ground between Reddit and IRL, lol).

 

ETA2: Forgot a scoop is 2T, not 1T :sigh, so fixed that.

Edited May 9 by forty-two

[Arcadia]

For drip coffee, about 1.25oz of coffee grounds to an 8oz cup for coffee black.

ETA: My husband does the picking the coffee grounds. We currently use this and I use half a pack for drip coffee using a individual coffee filter.

Edited May 9 by Arcadia

[J-rap]

For a drip coffee maker, I think the standard "cup" measurement is 6 ounces.  So for every 6 ounces or cup on a drip maker, I use one heaping tablespoon of ground coffee.  If I know ahead of time that the grounds are quite strong, I might use a rounded tablespoon instead of heaping.  We like strong coffee in our family.  🙂 

[Pawz4me]

I'm not at all picky about coffee, except that I don't like it very strong. I use one level standard coffee scoop (which Google tells me is usually 2 tablespoons) for every 1.5 "cups" on the drip coffee maker. So my usual pot is 6 "cups" (according to the coffee maker marking) and 4 level to very slightly rounded scoops of coffee. 

So breaking that down in regular measurements that would be about 8 tablespoons of coffee for 36 ounces of water, or 1 tablespoon per every 4.5 ounces of water.

ETA: Stating the obvious, but there's going to be a lot of variation depending on brand of coffee and brewing method. Even when using the same method (regular ol' drip coffee maker, for example) IME there's some variation between machines. And if you're using a French press or pour over timing is going to affect things. So . . lots of variables.

Edited May 9 by Pawz4me

[Laura Corin]

15g of coffee to 225ml of water for filter coffee.

[forty-two]

@Arcadia - wow, that's pretty strong - 2.5x stronger than mine, I think. (1.25oz/8oz => 1:6.4; 15g/250mL => 1:16.67)

@J-rap - you're right, that does sound pretty strong.  I've seen the rec's for 2T/6oz; my mom pretty much halves that, while y'all are adding more to it 😉 I'm guessing the heaping-ness adds at least another 1-1.5T per 6oz.  The internet tells me that average weight for a 2T scoop of coffee is 10g, which would make 2T/6oz a 1:17 ratio, and yours maybe somewhere between 1:11.3 and 1:9.7 (with a huge margin of error, lol)

@Pawz4me - thanks for reminding me that a scoop is 2T (not the 1T I had been misremembering - you can tell I don't really use the scoop much).  Yeah, even with all the variables (and the imprecision of many people's measures), I thought it would be fun to inquire anyway.  So, 1T/4.5oz is around 5g/128g, which is a ratio of 1:25.6.  That's in the ballpark of what my mom makes, I think (2.5T/12oz => 1:27.2)

[forty-two]

4 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

15g of coffee to 225ml of water for filter coffee.

That's a bit stronger than mine: 1:15

[Carrie12345]

When I get home, I’m going to check my scoop. I’m very much aware that my coffee is considered mud, and that’s fine by me! I have a hard time choking down coffee flavored water elsewhere, unless I get a ridiculous amount of caramel in an iced Dunkin. 

[JennyD]

26g coffee in about 10 oz of water, brewed in a 6-cup moka pot.  It's rocket fuel and I LOVE IT.

 

[ScoutTN]

1 rounded scoop (from the coffee can a million yrs ago) per 6 oz “cup”. We drink dark roast and use a Chemex.

[J-rap]

3 hours ago, forty-two said:

@Arcadia - wow, that's pretty strong - 2.5x stronger than mine, I think. (1.25oz/8oz => 1:6.4; 15g/250mL => 1:16.67)

@J-rap - you're right, that does sound pretty strong.  I've seen the rec's for 2T/6oz; my mom pretty much halves that, while y'all are adding more to it 😉 I'm guessing the heaping-ness adds at least another 1-1.5T per 6oz.  The internet tells me that average weight for a 2T scoop of coffee is 10g, which would make 2T/6oz a 1:17 ratio, and yours maybe somewhere between 1:11.3 and 1:9.7 (with a huge margin of error, lol)

@Pawz4me - thanks for reminding me that a scoop is 2T (not the 1T I had been misremembering - you can tell I don't really use the scoop much).  Yeah, even with all the variables (and the imprecision of many people's measures), I thought it would be fun to inquire anyway.  So, 1T/4.5oz is around 5g/128g, which is a ratio of 1:25.6.  That's in the ballpark of what my mom makes, I think (2.5T/12oz => 1:27.2)

I once made coffee for our church, and the woman teaching me their standard measurements told me to use 1 tsp. per 6 ounce cup.     I was kind of horrified and secretly changed it to a tablespoon per cup...    People came up to me afterwards telling me it was the best coffee they'd had at church!  😄 

[Arcadia]

5 hours ago, forty-two said:

I tend to find hotel coffee more like coffee-flavored hot water, but figured they were just saving a buck.

For the coffee in the hotel room, cold brew would get it thicker. If it comes in packs, I just let the coffee pack steep longer in my cup.

For the coffee at the hotel lobby, the strongest brew is usually during the first hour of breakfast. They probably figured anyone drinking coffee at 6am needs that caffeine kick to start their work day.  The hotel staff also waits for the 6am coffee to be put out at the breakfast area to fill their own coffee mugs.

[73349]

I follow the directions that came with the French press: two of their scoops (each being I think a little under a tablespoon) per 200 mL water.

[Zoo Keeper]

3 hours ago, J-rap said:

I once made coffee for our church, and the woman teaching me their standard measurements told me to use 1 tsp. per 6 ounce cup.     I was kind of horrified and secretly changed it to a tablespoon per cup...    People came up to me afterwards telling me it was the best coffee they'd had at church!  😄 

On behalf of coffee drinkers the world over, thank you.  🙂  

(1 tsp!  Why bother even making the coffee!)

[Arcadia]

4 hours ago, J-rap said:

I once made coffee for our church, and the woman teaching me their standard measurements told me to use 1 tsp. per 6 ounce cup.     I was kind of horrified and secretly changed it to a tablespoon per cup...    People came up to me afterwards telling me it was the best coffee they'd had at church!  😄 

 

6 minutes ago, Zoo Keeper said:

On behalf of coffee drinkers the world over, thank you.  🙂  

(1 tsp!  Why bother even making the coffee!)

I thought the 1 teaspoon per cup was for instant coffee. Even then I put 3 teaspoons of Nescafé instant coffee for my cup of coffee. 

Edited May 10 by Arcadia
typo

[Ausmumof3]

Doesn’t it depend what coffee maker you use? We use a mocha pot and put in maybe two/three dessert spoons. It doesn’t brew as strongly for the amount of coffee as some machines would (but better than others). Dh usually puts more but it doesn’t taste as good to me because it packs the coffee grounds too tight and the machine isn’t designed to work that way

[Carrie12345]

I checked last night when I set the pot! I use an old 1/8 cup scoop and use 3 HEAPING scoops to 8oz water. Of dark roast grounds. No idea what the conversion is, but it works for us!

(We are not allowed to make the coffee at the firehouse unless we’re using the premeasured packages.)

[teachermom2834]

I have no idea why but I always thought it was 1 TB per cup water. I like it strong so I use a heaping TB per cup. And I drink it black.  I don’t know where I got that but I do know I can’t really drink coffee outside the house and enjoy it. 
 

But wow I guess what I’m doing is really outrageous and now I don’t know where I learned it. 

[Pawz4me]

5 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

But wow I guess what I’m doing is really outrageous

It's not outrageous if that's how you like it. That's the joy of making coffee at home. Whatever your way is, it's the right way. 😉 

[Brittany1116]

Somewhere along the way I also settled on the 2T scoop being the measure to use per cup. Seems to work well for us. However, we once had friends stay over and she just filled the machine to the limits with water and coffee and said she never measured because they just always made "a full pot". 😮