How coffee ratio calculator works
A brewing ratio is the weight of water per weight of coffee — 1:17 means 17 grams of water for every gram of coffee. The "golden ratio" most brew guides aim for sits between 1:16 and 1:18: strong enough to taste the coffee itself, weak enough not to turn bitter. Espresso is a different animal at roughly 1:2 (18 g in, 36 g out), while cold brew concentrate steeps as strong as 1:5 before dilution.
The calculator works in both directions. Choose what you know: if you have 500 ml of water (about 2 cups), it divides by the ratio to give the coffee dose — 500 ÷ 17 ≈ 29.4 g. If you have a fixed dose instead, it multiplies by the ratio to give the water that dose wants. Water in grams and milliliters is treated as 1:1, which is accurate enough for brewing.
Pick a style preset — espresso, moka pot, pour-over, French press, cold brew — or type a custom ratio between 1 and 40. The result shows the coffee dose and water in grams, the water volume in US cups, and a strength readout that places your ratio relative to the golden window, so you can see how far from standard your brew sits.