The Magic Ratio for Great Coffee

Have you ever been sitting in front of a coffee maker with a bag of fresh Lanna Coffee on the counter and asked the following question?

“How much coffee should I use?”

This is a question that comes up regularly, whether you’re brewing coffee at home, a restaurant, or even a coffee shop.

Well, prior to owning a coffee company, I used to wonder the same thing until I discovered what we call at Lanna Coffee Co. the “magic ratio.” Before learning this, it seemed the best way to determine how much coffee to brew was to ‘eye’ it by pouring what seemed like a decent amount of coffee into the cone of the brewer and go for it!

MAGIC RATIO: 16:1

This breaks down to 16 parts of water to one part of coffee. Example: 16 oz of water to 1 oz of coffee. It's not that simple (or maybe it is) but what brings it all together is a scale.

The easiest and clearest way to figure this out is by WEIGHT and not by VOLUME. This magic ratio can be scaled all the way up to the big coffee brewer in your church kitchen.

EXAMPLES

• Drip coffee at home: 32 oz of water: 2 oz of coffee.
• 2 Liter Airpot at the office: 67 oz of water: 4.2 oz of coffee.

To figure out how much water you’re using utilize a measuring cup or scale, and then divide that number by 16. This is a great starting place for brewing coffee, but you’ll want to experiment the more or less to see what you prefer. Some of my friends like extra strong coffee, so they brew coffee using a 15:1 ratio. Others prefer coffee that’s a bit on the lighter side and enjoy coffee brewed with a 17:1 ratio.

THE WHY

So why use a scale? This is where it gets a bit geeky, but I I think you can follow along. The roast of the coffee will affect the weight of it. So while using a measuring cup alone can work, you’ll need to figure out your desired water to coffee ratio ahead of time and use the same coffee over and over.

A French roast weighs lighter (per bean) than our Artisan roast.

Both of these coffees are weighed to 3 oz, but beans that are roasted longer contain less moisture. This means that a darker roast will actually weigh less since it has less moisture adding weight compared to a lighter roast. So our French roast requires more coffee beans to get to the same 12 oz. contained in our Artisan roast.

I hope that this all connects with you and that you teach your friends and family how to brew coffee like a pro. Armed with your scale you to be consistent brew coffee that is delicious and full.

Just remember 16 to 1! It's the best place to start.

Happy Brewing Lanna Tribe!