Storage and Dosage

Storage and Dosage

The biggest enemies of beans are air, moisture, heat, and light.

To preserve the fresh-roasted flavor of your beans for as long as possible, store them in an opaque, airtight container at room temperature. Coffee beans can be pretty, but avoid clear jars so that the light doesn't affect the taste of the coffee.

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Keep the beans airtight and cool

Store your beans in a dark and cool place. Cabinets near the oven are often too hot, and a spot on the kitchen counter is also exposed to the intense afternoon sun.

The retail packaging of coffee is generally not suitable for long-term storage. Invest in airtight storage tanks if possible.

How to store coffee?

Buy the right amount

Coffee begins to lose its freshness almost immediately after roasting. Try buying small batches of freshly roasted coffee more frequently—enough for a week or two.

Exposure to air is harmful to beans. Suppose you prefer to keep your coffee beans in an easily accessible and attractive container. In that case, it's best to divide your coffee supply into smaller portions, with the larger unused portion in an airtight container.

This is especially important when buying pre-ground coffee, which increases exposure to oxygen. If you purchase whole beans, grind the desired amount immediately before brewing.

Freeze your beans?

Freshness is crucial to a good cup of coffee. Experts agree that coffee should be eaten as soon as possible after roasting, especially after the original packaging seal has been broken.

While there are differing opinions on whether coffee should be frozen or refrigerated, the primary consideration is that coffee absorbs moisture from the surrounding air - as well as smell and taste, since it's hygroscopic (bonus words for all coffee lovers out there ).

Most household storage containers still take in a small amount of oxygen, which is why food stored in the refrigerator for a long time can suffer from freezer burn. So if you do refrigerate or freeze your beans, be sure to use an airtight container.

If you choose to freeze coffee, quickly take out the required amount in no more than a week, then put the rest back in the freezer before the frozen coffee forms any condensation.

Freezing beans doesn't change the basic brewing process.

How to Store Whole Bean and Ground Coffee

Coffee is best stored in dry, airtight containers. Avoid air, moisture, heat, and light when keeping your favorite mix at home. Here are quick facts on properly storing coffee beans and ground coffee for maximum freshness and flavor.

Coffee Storage Location

While convenience is vital (who wants to go looking for coffee at 6 am?), you want to store your coffee to keep it fresh and delicious. Consider this:

  • Choose a cool, dark, dry place such as a pantry or cupboard.
  • Do not store coffee in the refrigerator or freezer; humidity can cause moisture to seep into the packaging.
  • Avoid warm places such as above/next to the oven or in cabinets that get hot from exposure to sunlight or cooking equipment.
  • The coffee can be kept on the counter if it is kept in an opaque, airtight container out of direct sunlight and away from any heat sources.

Coffee Container Type

Once you open the vacuum-sealed package, the coffee starts to lose its freshness quickly. Therefore, it is best to transfer the coffee to another suitable container as soon as possible.

  • Use opaque glass, ceramic, or non-reactive metal containers with ferrules for best results.
  • Clear glass or plastic containers should be stored in a dark place.

Coffee freshness over time

The coffee starts to lose its freshness immediately after roasting; the flavor peaks over the next few days. Ground coffee is best consumed within one to two weeks of roasting, and whole beans within a month. Here are some tips to keep your coffee at its best:

  • Buy freshly roasted coffee often, in quantities that last a week or two, and store it properly.
  • Seal large quantities of coffee in an airtight container in a cool, dark place, and keep small amounts in another container for everyday use. Only open the larger container when you need to refill the smaller container. This reduces the air exposure of most coffees.

Ground Coffee vs. Whole Beans

Ground coffee has a higher surface area ratio and spoils faster than whole beans. Grind your coffee beans every morning if you have the time, energy, and equipment. If you're not ready to take on this level of commitment, you can still enjoy delicious fresh coffee if you use whole beans within a month of roasting and ground beans within two weeks of roasting.

DIY Bake and Grind

If you're a coffee connoisseur, you might want to try buying, roasting, and grinding your green coffee beans. Green coffee beans are usually available from high-end coffee retailers. Compared to roasted coffee beans, green beans store better and last longer; appropriately stored, they can stay fresh for over a year.

You can roast green coffee beans at home and then grind them to make the freshest coffee you need with a bit of work.

In the first few days after you roast your coffee, the beans release a lot of carbon dioxide. Store them in a valve-sealed bag or an airtight container and open the container daily for the first few days after baking to release the accumulated carbon dioxide.

Buying tips

For the freshest coffee, choose a brand that uses valve-sealed rather than vacuum-sealed packaging.

Vacuum-sealed coffee must be aged before packaging, as the gas released from the coffee can cause the bag to swell or even burst. In contrast, valve-sealed coffee allows gas to escape from the coffee package but does not let air in, so it can be packaged immediately after roasting.

Choosing the Best Coffee Storage Containers - Yes, You Need One

You know, I spend a lot of time at Coffeeness talking about how to make coffee, explaining why having a good coffee grinder is crucial, and reminding you that using high-quality, freshly roasted beans is the only way to go. 

But where exactly should you put your excellent coffee beans to keep them fresh and roasted deliciously?

This is the moment you've all been waiting for: a guide to the best coffee storage containers. This article will tell you all about what to look for in a coffee storage container and which materials are the best. I'll also give you some gentle reminders about proper storage to maximize freshness.

Why do you need a coffee storage container?

In my article on store coffee beans, I talked about the environmental factors that affect coffee freshness. One thing's for sure: From the moment fresh coffee leaves the comfort of the roaster, it seems the whole world is conspiring against it.

Tender beans are susceptible to moisture, UV rays, heat, and oxygen, all of which seem destined to cause as much damage as possible.

That's why, as lovers of taste and aroma, all good coffee-drinking citizens should do their best to protect their beans by stashing them in a worthy container away from the cruel world.

There are many options, from simple airtight jars to high-tech vacuum-sealed vaults. But you don't have to spend a fortune on the best coffee storage containers.

Still, no matter how much you put in, you're prolonging the freshness and flavor of your beans.

Should I not keep the coffee in its original packaging?

Coffee packaging has come a long way in recent years—though some of my favorite beans still go in their old-fashioned kraft paper bags with reclosable tin ties.

Today, you'll find most third-wave roasters selling premium coffee beans in airtight, resealable plastic bags with a one-way valve that allows carbon dioxide to escape.

 

Once opened, the package can be resealed, but you'll have a hard time keeping it sealed.

That's why I put coffee beans in the bag where I bought them and put them in an airtight container. Better to be safe than sorry, right?

How long will coffee keep fresh?

No matter how you decide to store your coffee beans, the fact remains that coffee is a perishable natural product that doesn't stay fresh forever.

Factors such as roast profile and variety affect a coffee's shelf life, but it's best to buy freshly roasted beans to maximize freshness.

Even better, you should always buy beans from a roaster that has the roast date printed on the package. If I didn't see one, I'd be a little skeptical - so should you.

Remember that coffee needs to "rest" or "degas" for a few days before it works. Carbon dioxide is released during this time, so it is straightforward to use sparkling coffee beans to extract espresso from an espresso machine or a super-automatic espresso machine.

You will have about two weeks of prime time after your freshly roasted coffee beans have rested. That's when your beans will reach their peak performance and may even continue to develop in-depth and complexity.

After that, your beans will gradually lose their aroma and flavor and eventually become tired and stale. That said, to keep the good times going for as long as possible, you still have to follow the four golden rules of coffee storage:

  1. Keep away from oxygen. Minimize the presence of oxygen in your coffee, which will slow down the oxidation process and maximize freshness, so you don't end up with stale coffee beans.
  2. Keep away from moisture. Be sure to store your coffee in a dry environment to prevent moisture absorption, eventually leading to moldy beans.
  3.  Keep away from light. Forget those pretty glass jars and switch to opaque coffee storage containers to eliminate the sun's harmful UV rays.
  4. Keep away from heat sources. Store beans in a cool, dark cupboard, as it's the perfect place to prevent damage from heat sources such as stoves or windows.

Choosing the Best Coffee Storage Containers: Airtight vs. Vacuum Seal

If you've only spent a few minutes researching the best coffee cans, you've probably come across the most debated topic in coffee storage circles: airtight containers vs. vacuum-sealed containers.

An airtight coffee container won't provide a completely oxygen-free environment, but it will come very close. But keep in mind that as you start using coffee beans, the available space inside will get bigger and bigger. This means that oxygen has more room to damage.

Vacuum-sealed coffee storage containers take things to the next level. Here you can achieve an almost entirely oxygen-free environment as it actively draws air out of the container. While this slows down oxidation considerably, "what about carbon dioxide?" After all, if you're using freshly roasted coffee in a vacuum-sealed container, the beans won't be able to degas.

Maybe the solution is to not create a vacuum for a few days on coffee breaks.

Alternatively, you can store freshly roasted coffee beans in an airtight coffee container (preferably with a CO2 valve) for a few days and then transfer them to a vacuum-sealed container. This might just be for die-hard fresh fanatics, though.

The best plastic coffee storage containers

Generally speaking, I'm really not the biggest fan of plastic products.

Of course, I'm an exception to the AeroPress, but I don't like the idea of coffee and hot water mixed in a plastic dripper. That said, when it comes to materials for the best coffee storage containers, plastic does serve many purposes:

  • Easy to remove residual coffee oil.
  • Usually very affordable.
  • Reasonably durable and long-lasting.
  • Just make sure the plastic is BPA-free and UV-lighted, or completely opaque. Then you can rest assured that you and your coffee beans are safe!

3 Useful Tools for Espresso Making - Metering, Tamping, and Dispensing Tools

Beginners to espresso usually grind some beans, tamp the ground, attach the handle to the set head, and let the espresso machine do the rest. It sounds simple, but it can be confusing, and - worse - the resulting espresso tastes less appealing due to uneven extraction.

This article aims to explore the best ways to make the process of creating espresso more straightforward and consistent. We will also check if specific techniques or tools are required to dispense, meter, and tamper your beans.

We'll introduce three practical and valuable tools for any coffee brewer that will always make brewing espresso easier and more consistent for any home barista. Check out this brewing guide if you're interested in more tips for making espresso at home.

Three valuable tools for the novice home barista

Dose cup or dosing cup.

A metering funnel (or cup) is essentially a no-frills, inexpensive tool worth putting on your coffee bar.

Why do we need dosing funnels?

Most espresso machines and grinders allow you to pour ingredients directly into the mobile filter basket. Sounds good, but the process can be confusing.

During the grinding process, the coffee grounds will often bounce off the sides due to static electricity. Even if they end up in the moving filter, they will form a small mound on top, so you have to tap the mound to make sure the ground coffee is more evenly distributed before tamping.

However, if you tamper too hard, the coffee grounds on top may roll off, not only leaving a mess on your counter but a waste of good coffee. Metering funnels help alleviate this problem.

How does a dosing funnel work?

Simply place the dosing funnel on top of the mobile filter. You are saving coffee and time.

The metering funnels are helpful, and, as you can see in the picture, they make sure you don't waste beans on the side as you grind them into the mobile filter. All the reasons to stick to it will neither make a mess on the counter nor the grinder.

When distributing the ground, you can simply tap the side of the filter with your hand or hit it vertically onto the tamping pad—no need to worry about the ground on top rolling off.

Choose the ideal dosing funnel.

The shot metering funnel is a 54mm tool, perfect for the Barista Pro or Express. However, there are a variety of sizes and brands to choose from. However, the most important thing to remember is that the mobile filter is compatible as long as it is the same diameter as the dosing funnel.

Shortcoming

Some grinders, and some espresso makers with built-in grinders, will not be able to mount the dosing funnel on top of the mobile filter holder. Therefore, grinding must be started manually.

Consider a dosing cup.

The measuring cup solves the above problems. They usually have a lip on the outside to be dropped directly into the mobile filter holder. However, you need to look at the diameter of the filter basket. For example, a metering cup that is a few millimeters smaller than the diameter of the basket can create more problems than it solves.

Our suggestion

We recommend an espresso measuring funnel (although you may need a different size depending on your basket).

Distribution Tool (Coffee Leveler/Coffee Distributor)

The following equipment is the dispensing tool (often called a coffee leveler or coffee dispenser). Distribution tools are the subject of an industry-wide debate. Some coffee experts swear by them, while others don't. In our opinion, they may be suitable for newbies.

Why do you need a coffee dispensing tool?

The even distribution of coffee grounds before tamping is crucial in keeping the water going through the coffee bed as you pull out the coffee.

Coffee lovers use various methods to dispense their coffee to achieve this. These include using your thumb and fingers to level the ground (called the Stockfleth method), tapping the sides of the mobile filter, or tapping the base of the portable filter on the counter to secure the ground and distribute them more consistently.

Using a distribution tool will be more consistent and clean than what you can do by hand or other methods.

If you choose to click on it, you must do it with the correct intensity. Otherwise, some ground may fall off the filter and make a mess.

Using a dispensing tool ensures a consistent espresso and a more even extraction. They allow you to set the depth and do the same number of rotations each time.

How do espresso dispensing tools work?

Allocating involves preparing the ground (resulting in compression) before tamping.

Simply place the coffee dispenser on the ground coffee, rotate it a few times to ensure even distribution in your mobile filter every time. It will leave you with a very flat surface, perfect for compaction.

Some distribution tools allow you to change the depth. We recommend starting with a minimum depth and adjusting from there.

Choose the ideal distribution tool.

Dispensing tools come in various sizes, shapes, and prices, but the most important thing is to make sure you buy the right tool for your filter basket size. They usually come in 54mm and 58mm sizes and fit most commercial or home espresso machines.

Some coffee dispensers have four bevels at the bottom, while others have only three bevels or a V-shape. We don't think design is essential. We are using this dispensing tool with three pusher arms on the base, and it does a great job.

Espresso Tamper

Most espresso machines have a tamper that works fine. However, some tamperers in espresso machines are of poor quality and plastic. If this is your case, you're better off investing in a heavier one.

Even if your espresso machine has good tampering, some purchased separately can take the hassle out of the process and do a better job. There are several options: calibrated tampering or palm tampering, usually with a distribution tool.

Why espresso tamping tools are important

Tamping can be difficult for an inexperienced espresso maker. One of the questions is how stressful it is to apply. Another is how to achieve consistency from one shot to another. Calibrated tampers, or palm tampers are designed to ensure more consistent tamping.

How does it work?

The palm tamper allows you to set the depth. This means it will not exceed the depth setting. You cannot press when the edge of the stir stick reaches the edge of the filter. Therefore, it will only compress the coffee grounds to your set depth. This allows for a more consistent espresso workflow.

The calibrated tamper includes a spring located between the base and the handle. It clicks when you apply 30 pounds of pressure to it, which means you can use the same force to every shot of espresso. This makes the tamping process easy, making it an excellent choice for inexperienced espresso brewers.

Choose the ideal tamper.

Calibration and palm tamperers come in different brands and sizes.

You'll usually find a palm tamper included with the distribution tools we outlined earlier. One side of the palm tamper is for the straightener, and the other side is for the tamper. This makes it very useful, and we love the combination.

Most calibrated tampers offer the same thing - about 30 pounds of pressure and the same way of operation. So your choice of a calibrated tamper will come down to the size and aesthetics of your mobile filter.

Final Thoughts

Brewing espresso at home is a fulfilling and fun experience. However, it also requires a certain level of precision and can be confusing and frustrating. The tools outlined in this guide are designed to take the confusion and guesswork out of the process. However, they are not essential for making good espresso.

Still, whether you're trying to brew espresso for the first time or you're a barista with years of experience, having these additional tools can go a long way toward making your espresso more consistent with less confusion.

They take care of some of the more important variables to get the perfect espresso, which means you can focus on a few other elements, including grind size, dial-in temperature, and grind size.

What is a coffee dose? (all you must know)

The correct dose is essential to making a cup of coffee. It can make or break the taste of your coffee, as too much will make the coffee unnecessarily bitter and pungent, and too little will make your cup taste more like water than coffee. There are many things to consider when figuring out the dose in coffee and the specific numbers behind it.

Adding coffee is an act in which the amount of coffee about the desired total yield is carefully measured. A general rule to follow is three tablespoons of ground coffee per 8 ounces of water for a medium-bodied roast.

Dosing can be tricky, especially if you're not a fan of unique brews and lean more towards the estimation method of making coffee cups. However, learning how to measure coffee correctly is an essential part of being a good barista (it's also necessary for a perfect cup of coffee).

What is a "dose" in coffee? It's a balancing act.

There are many things to consider when drinking coffee. In addition to achieving the flavor you want, you can also view the quality of the beans used for brewing. This part is critical as the quality of the beans may require different dose ratios.

To give a vivid example, the dosage in coffee is very similar to how you would take a particular drug (i.e., an antibiotic). Be mindful of the dosage required for the medicine to remain effective without risking an overdose.

Like drugs, there is an "overdose" of doses in coffee. It's like a balancing act, and one wrong move can tip the entire coffee mix in another direction, dramatically altering the overall flavor.

How important is the dose in coffee?

Now, we have emphasized that the dose in coffee is essential. However, how important is it?

The wrong dose is one of the worst mistakes a barista can make when ruining a cup of coffee. Also, it's easy to make mistakes when adding coffee, and you can't make one mistake at a time because it's easy for a person to make multiple mistakes.

The truth is, the dosage in coffee is critical to making a good cup of coffee.

What Makes Dosing in Coffee Essential?

  • The right dose can get the right taste.
  • The right dose can give you excellent caffeine control.
  • When looking at the exact dose, you can quickly get consistency in a coffee mug.

Get the Right Taste

Whether professional baristas or regular coffee lovers, we always have one goal in mind when making coffee: to get that great taste.

Dosing in coffee is critical because the dosing process is half the battle when it comes to making a great cup of coffee. There are several consequences when a dose is administered inappropriately.

The easiest mistake to make when adding coffee is adding too much ground coffee because if there is too much of everything, you are confident that you can "add water" to the cup. Please don't be that kind of barista.

Adding too much ground coffee can have a devastating effect on the taste of a coffee cup, as the drink itself can become very bitter.

There's always been a misconception in Asian cuisine that "espresso is better," but that's not the case with coffee. Many coffee drinkers despise extremely bitter coffees because they mask the soft and subtle flavor profile of nuts, chocolate, and fruit in coffee.

Worst of all, your coffee mug will be called "cheap" because most cheap coffee beans are very bitter.

Tamping and dosing

When coffee is not subjected to a proper tamping process, there is a chance that the coffee will be incredibly diluted, which means an unbalanced ratio of coffee grounds to water.

Although tamping is not a "dose" per se, you want to make sure that your measurements of coffee grinds are accurate. As you can understand, when you forget to compact, there is a chance that the coffee grounds are not compressed enough and contain less than they appear.

Consistency can make your coffee sell well.

In addition to flavor, the dosage can also help you achieve better consistency in your coffee cup. While the drink's thickness is an excellent addition for those who make coffee at home, it's not an essential feature for making a cup of coffee at home.

However, people running businesses that offer coffee products need to maintain this consistency.

Most consumers love the consistency of coffee flavors because it assures them that every time they buy a cup of coffee from your store, it will taste the same as the last cup of coffee they liked. While the dosage isn't a panacea, it can certainly help a lot.

Maintaining a consistent ratio to the contents of your coffee grind is critical to ensuring that each cup is nearly identical to the previous one.

Caffeine Control

There is a direct relationship between caffeine levels and ground coffee used. Controlling caffeine might not make much sense now for baristas, but for those who brew at home, it might make more sense than you might think. This is when the dose in coffee comes into play.

In a study conducted by Karacan, each of 18 average young adult men drank 1 cup of warm water, 1 cup, 2 cups and 4 cup equivalents of regular coffee, 4 cup equivalents of decaffeinated coffee, and 4 cups In a 13-night sleep lab test, the equivalent of caffeine twice. Proponents of the trial conducted the trial to test the effects of caffeine in humans.

The researchers drank all beverages 30 minutes before bedtime, and the results were as expected. Regular consumption of coffee and caffeine prevents rapid eye movement (REM) sleep from appearing earlier in the night, while sleep stages 3 and 4 occur much later.

Some subjective sleep parameters were also affected by coffee consumption. These findings suggest that caffeine and coffee can cause insomnia-like symptoms in healthy people.

Abstract and key concepts

Metering is a process done before brewing in which the barista determines how much fresh coffee grinds need to be dispensed during brewing. This process is critical in determining the taste of the final coffee cup.

While it's very tempting to go through the process without meticulousness, one can get a real boost when there's a dose. In addition to having a better-tasting cup, you'll get a more consistent brew and better caffeine control.

Frequently Asked Questions

Regarding baking, how should I optimize my dosage?

If your coffee is lightly roasted, I recommend a smaller dose. However, I would use a higher amount for a darker roast. This is because lighter roasts have more caffeine than dark roasts, even though heavy roasts have a more intense and smoky flavor.

How should I tamp?

Tamping doesn't have to be complicated. First, fill the filter accordingly, brush off any overlapping ground coffee with your index finger. After that, tamp the ground coffee evenly with about 10 pounds of pressure, then finish it off with a "polishing" tamp (twist tamp).

How many grinds should I use in my espresso machine?

A general rule of thumb with an espresso machine is that the size of the removable filter determines how much grind you should use in most cases.

How to dose the coffee

Metered coffee refers to the weight of dry coffee grounds placed in the moving filter.

  • Clean and dry your mobile filter.
  • Grind espresso into your mobile filter. You can use a digital scale to measure your coffee dose for an accurate measurement.
  • Tap the removable filter to drop the espresso grounds into the basket.
  • For any excess espresso grind, use your fingers at the top of the basket to gently guide the espresso into the basket.
  • Once the espresso dose is at a level, you can mash the espresso even near the moving filter. You can mash the espresso.

How to measure the correct dose of coffee

To measure the correct coffee dose, you can use a digital scale to measure the grams in the moving filter basket.

How many grams in two espresso

You should put 14-18 grams of ground coffee beans in your filter in a double espresso. This will yield 30-36 grams of espresso.

Find your recommended basket grams from the manufacturer. The recommended dosage is different for each filter basket.

How much espresso powder is in a cup of espresso

For a cup of espresso, you need about 6-8 grams of dry ground coffee beans. The volume of a single shot of espresso will yield 12-16 grams of liquid espresso.

Espresso brew ratio

The brew ratio for espresso is generally 1:2. 1g of ground dry coffee beans will yield 2g of espresso.

However, you can change the espresso brew time to increase or decrease the espresso yield. You can use the same dose but shorter or longer brew time.

Espresso has a 1:1 brew ratio - your espresso is under-extracted, so it's stronger and stronger.

The brew ratio for espresso is 1:3 - your espresso will be lighter and thinner.

Your espresso brew ratio may vary based on your coffee preference. The dose will permanently be fixed.

You can measure your dose with a digital scale. Place your mobile filter on the scale and estimate the amount of espresso into the portable filter basket each time for an accurate dose.

How long to brew espresso

Your espresso will be too sour and bitter if your shot is too fast - less than 20-25 seconds.

If your espresso is brewed too slowly - more than 30 seconds, the espresso will be weaker and too watery. It doesn't have the spicy taste and flavor that espresso usually has.

Ideally, espresso should be brewed for 20-30 seconds.

How hard should you pound your espresso?

The espresso should be tamped with about 30 pounds of pressure.

You can also use the dispensing tool to level the coffee and tamp it for you, which will give you a consistent espresso without the need for a tamper. This will deliver your espresso the best crema.

How much ground coffee per cup? perfect coffee ratio

The correct ratio of coffee to water is critical to the successful preparation of coffee. A kitchen scale can help you keep accurate counts. For those who don't have a kitchen scale on hand, we have helpful tips on how many grams of coffee a scoop will hold and how many scoops of ground coffee you need for a cup or liter of filter coffee.

How to Dosing Your Coffee - Without a Kitchen Scale

For every 200ml of coffee, you need about one tablespoon of ground coffee. If you want to make a liter of filter coffee at a time, we recommend seven tablespoons of ground coffee.

Filter coffee dosage in spoons:

Number                                                      For one cup (200 ml)         For 1L                         

Numbers of tablespoons (full heaped)        - 1 to 1,5                              - 5,5 to 7

The number of portion spoons (7g)             - approx 2                            - approx. 9

In Gramm                                                  - 12g                                    - 65g

We decided to use a fully heaped standard spoon for the coffee quantity specification. All sizes are suitable for medium grind filter coffee roasts.

Tip: If you always decide to use a measuring spoon to measure your coffee, we recommend that you measure each spoonful of coffee. That way, you know how many grams of your favorite coffee can fit in your spoon.

Coffee dose for all preparers

The table below shows the amount of coffee required for each brewer. We're also assuming a whole tablespoon (see second photo above). When preparing coffee in a French press and a Bayreuth, grind the coffee slightly coarser than when preparing it in a manual filter. This results in more uniform extraction of coffee and a more delicate flavor.

Coffee Amounts for Different Preparers:

Preparer and water quantity   Amount of coffee    Amount of coffee in tablespoons

Hand filter (500 ml)                 - 32 g                        - 3 to 3,5

French Press (1000 ml)             - 65 g                        - 7 to 8 

Chemex (600 ml)                      - 38 g                        - 3,5 to 4,5

Coffee maker (1250 ml)            - 75 g                        - 6,5 to 8

Espresso maker                        - Fill sieve                 - Fill sieve

Bayreuth pot (350 ml)              - 22 g                         - 2,5 to 3

Espresso machine (40 g)           - 17 g                         - approx 1,5

When you get started - think in grams!

The amount of coffee grounds always depends on the amount of coffee to be brewed. Americans call this the "brew ratio," the ratio of coffee to water when brewed. SCAE (Specialty Coffee Association of Europe) recommends 60 grams of coffee per liter of water. So for a 200ml cup, you need 12g of ground coffee. The ratio should be used as a guide, and you can adjust it to your taste.

However, we recommend a slightly higher dose to accentuate their nuances better for our coffee: for filter coffee, we use about 65 grams of coffee per liter of water. We've rounded up our recipe suggestions for all the standard coffee makers - you can print out the This Is How We Brew poster and hang it in your kitchen.

Unfortunately, most instructions that come with coffee makers include dosing information, such as "two scoops per cup." Some coffee makers also have a portioning scoop for dosing. This type of dosing information is not accurate enough for preparing excellent coffee. Therefore, we recommend that you schedule your coffee with the help of a coffee scale. It's a simple and practical tool to help you achieve consistent coffee quality - in addition to grams. It measures another essential factor: extraction time.

This is how you can simply measure with your kitchen scale

1 ml of water = 1 gram

  • Weigh the desired number of coffee beans and grind the coffee fresh.
  • Place the coffee maker with freshly ground coffee on the scale and tare it.
  • Pour in the coffee water slowly and in small steps. The scale measures how much water you have poured. So you know when to stop pouring and when to reach the optimum coffee to water ratio.

What's wrong with approximate quantities?

Coffee beans have different structures: Different coffee varieties come in different shapes and sizes—plus, the type of roasting also affects the size of the beans.

In the picture, you can see 200 grams of Indian Monsoon Malabar Beans in the left glass and 200 grams of our Limu beans in the right drink. Since Limu beans are denser, the right can be filled less high to achieve the same weight. So if you measure coffee beans with a spoon, the grams will vary from bean to bean, i.e., the amount of ground coffee.

How to Measure Coffee Without Scoop Size & Tablespoons 

You have done it. You've finally decided to get serious about coffee brewing and started measuring your coffee grounds. But how much coffee did you measure precisely? Should you use a spoon, spoon, or coffee scale?

Let's get a clear understanding of the tips for measuring coffee.

Different roasts = different quality

In the world of specialty coffee, uniformity and precision are everything. We have the tools to measure everything, from the total amount of dissolved solids in a cup of coffee to the distribution of coffee grinds. However, of all these high-tech measurement and analysis tools, our most important and valuable is a simple digital scale.

When brewing coffee, we measure our ingredients in grams. This is more reliable and precise than volume-based measurements such as cups or spoons.

Here's why: All coffees are different in quality.

When coffee is roasted, it changes in many ways—one of the many changes in the moisture content of the beans. Green coffee is unroasted coffee, which has a moisture content of about 11%.

This reduction in moisture content reduces the weight of the beans by about 15-20% compared to what they would have been in mung beans.

This moisture content drops somewhere in the 3-5% zone during baking. This is because the water in the bean structure turns into steam and is released. This reduction in moisture content results in about 15-20% less bean weight than before roasting.

Generally speaking, the darker the coffee is roasted, the lower the moisture content. Therefore, darker coffees are lighter than lighter roasted coffees.

Why does the amount of coffee matter

An essential part of making good coffee is knowing how much good stuff to use. If too much coffee is used, the brewed coffee may be under-extracted. This coffee tastes sour, doesn't have much sweetness, can be a little salty, and lacks real depth. On the other hand, if we don't add enough coffee, the brew will be thin, bland, and watery.

Over-extracted coffee is dry and bitter, under-extracted coffee is sour and hollow (among other flavors).

There are many opinions about precisely what the "right" amount is, and there is no right or wrong answer, just preference (some will swear otherwise). While this is essentially a matter of choice, most coffee professionals, including the SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America), agree on a starting point of about 60 grams of coffee per 1 liter of water (60 grams per liter).

We can use brew ratios to achieve this.

How to use the brew ratio

The brew ratio is a simple guide on how much coffee and water to use. It gives us an easy recipe that can be a good starting point for various brews.

The brew ratios are as follows: 1:15, 1:16, 1:17, etc.

A brew ratio of 1:15 coffee to water means; 1 part coffee to 15 parts water. A 1:15 ratio might be 20 grams of ground coffee brewed with 300 grams of water. This will yield about 300ml of coffee.

To use the brew ratio, you can do it in one of two ways:

  • Start with the amount of coffee you want to use, or;
  • Decide how much coffee you want to brew (…and then calculate your brew ratio accordingly).

Let's make an example for each option using French Press brew.

Start with the amount of coffee you want to use

Suppose we want to use 20 grams of coffee. Multiply it by our brew ratio, in this case, 15:

20g x 15 = 300 (grams of brewed coffee).

In this case, we will use our scale to measure out 20 grams of coffee and brew it with a French press. We will set up the media on the scale, add the coffee grounds, press the skin on the scale, and pour water into the media until the final weight is 300 grams.

Decide how much coffee you want to make

I prefer to decide how much coffee you want to make and then calculate your brew ratio based on that. The first challenge is to choose how much coffee you want to make. The standard size for a cup of coffee is full of differing opinions, so for simplicity, we'll say 10 oz (300 ml).

So we have to brew a cup of 300g coffee, and there is about 300ml in the cup. To calculate the brew ratio and coffee volume for 300 grams of water, we will:

300 (grams or milliliters of water) ÷ 15 (our chosen brew ratio) = 20.

20g of coffee is the amount we need to make 300ml of coffee.

Brew ratio for each brew method

As a starting point:

  • 1:15 brew ratio for most immersion brew methods
  • 1:17 brew ratio for most pouring methods

Again, these ratios are a starting point. If you like your coffee a little stronger, add an extra gram or three. If you prefer a coffee lighter, use a few grams less.

How much are 6 cups of coffee?

This is one of the most common questions around this topic, and if you've read this article, you should be able to solve it fairly quickly using brew ratios.

If we were to use 10 oz or 300 ml as the standard coffee cup in the example above, we would need 1800 ml (or grams, the same thing) of coffee. Using a brew ratio of 15, this is how it looks on paper:

1800ml ÷ 15 = 120. So we need 120 grams of coffee to make 6 cups of coffee (10 oz each). Simple.

This is for the lazy skim readers among us. For 10 oz coffee using the standard 1:15 brew ratio:

10 oz cups (300 ml)           Amount of Coffee                Amount of water

1                                           - 20 g                                    - 300 ml

3                                           - 60 g                                    - 900 ml

6                                           - 120 g                                  - 1800 ml

8                                           - 160 g                                  - 2400 ml

10                                         - 200 g                                  - 3000 ml

How to use a scale for coffee

The only accurate way to measure the amount of coffee we use is by weighing. While there are other ways to obtain approximate quantities of coffee, we have learned that these are flawed due to the varying quality of coffee.

The density of a scoop of coffee can vary depending on many factors, including the type, size, and degree of roasting of the coffee beans.

Follow these steps to measure coffee with a scale:

  1. Place the scale on a flat surface and turn it on.
  2. Place the container into which the beans will be placed on the scale.
  3. Press Tare (this will set the scale back to zero).
  4. Add the amount of coffee you want to the container (see the brew ratio above for how much coffee you should add).
  5. Make sure you are as precise as possible.

Always measure your coffee before grinding, not after. You will have the exact amount ready to grind if you measure your coffee before grinding. If you grind and then measure, you either have too much, and you'll have some coffee left (which will be wasted), or you don't have enough and need to grind more!

Final Thoughts

While there are other ways to measure coffee (cups, coffee spoons, and tablespoons), these are volume-based measurements. This makes them invalid. They both lack accuracy.

As we learned in the previous section, the origin, variety, craftsmanship, and degree of roasting of a coffee can significantly affect its weight.

If we use a coffee scoop, we might think we're getting the same amount of coffee; (1 scoop), but in reality, we might increase or decrease the amount by 25% from one cup of coffee to another. This makes a huge difference and can lead to under-or over-extraction. Not to mention that we wouldn't have the ability to repeat an excellent cup without a scale.

In conclusion - if you're serious about coffee, use a coffee scale. Happy Brewing!