# Brewed coffee - dose weight per litre.



## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

I've been puzzling over something, so I thought I'd ask for your views.

Q1. How much do you use? (e.g. 60g/L)

Q2. Why this amount? What's your rationalle?

Q3. Have you tried other dosages? (And if so, how did it go?)


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## lookseehear (Jul 16, 2010)

1. I tend to go for 60g/l as a start point. If I'm not being careful I might go over slightly rather than under.

2. I use this as it seems to be an agreed 'standard' to produce a good cup (although not ideal for every bean) and is the culmination of a lot of people doing a lot of brewing (including James Hoffman, Steve Leighton etc) - more brewing than I'm likely to do in the foreseeable future.

3. I don't tend to stray much aside from laziness! If the cup tastes bad I usually assume its one of the other hard to control variables - technique, water temp, grind consistency etc so I'll work on those rather than introduce another variable.

If I had an uber grinder or perhaps a one of the big mahlkoenig brew grinders, an uber boiler for more or less exact temp control and an extract mojo then perhaps I'd start experimenting!


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## Fran (Dec 27, 2010)

I have to concur with LSH. I operate in exactly the same way!


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## buzzbuzzbuzz (Sep 1, 2011)

In a cafetiere, I usually use the equivalent of 56g/l. I use this as I've found I prefer a ratio of 1:16. Some coffees are better as 58 or 60g/l (and I make a note of which ones that do) but my starting point is 56g.

Buzz


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## RolandG (Jul 25, 2010)

I usually start with 60g/l. That's derived from other peoples experience, but I've also tried variation myself. I rarely tweek it more than about 5 g/l either side of that. Natural processed coffee I often use 55 g/l as a starting point, but compensate with greater extraction (finer grind) - I find this reduces the natural "funk" and emphasises the floral notes.


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## brun (Dec 26, 2011)

i bought a french press the other day, looked up online how much ground to use, and i couldnt believe the accepted amount is ~ 60g per litre !

thats an insane amount more than ive used in the past, probably over twice as much

used to always go by one spoonful per cup, so even with a lot of cups id rarely stick more than 30-40g in a full big one


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

If you like half the recommended dose use half!


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

v60 I use 20g coffee 300ml (67g p l)

aeropress 17g coffee 120ml water but then diluted to 250ml (142g p l then 68 g p l)

CCD 20g coffee 310 ish ml (65g p l)

Kantan 15g coffee 250ml (60 g p l)


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

brun said:


> i bought a french press the other day, looked up online how much ground to use, and i couldnt believe the accepted amount is ~ 60g per litre !
> 
> thats an insane amount more than ive used in the past, probably over twice as much
> 
> used to always go by one spoonful per cup, so even with a lot of cups id rarely stick more than 30-40g in a full big one


This used to catch me out too. A 'cup' is actually much smaller than the mugs that most of us usually tend to use.


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

garydyke1 said:


> v60 I use 20g coffee 300ml (67g p l)
> 
> aeropress 17g coffee 120ml water but then diluted to 250ml (142g p l then 68 g p l)
> 
> ...


Cheers Gary. How did you arrive at these recipes? Experimentation and tasting?


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

MikeHag said:


> Cheers Gary. How did you arrive at these recipes? Experimentation and tasting?


Yep , lots of tastings. I only stray if the beans are proving difficult to extract


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## Snakehips (Jun 2, 2015)

Apologies for the hijack but maybe on the end of a 4 year old post it will be forgiven?

@Gary - trying to reply to your PM but your box is full.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Snakehips said:


> Apologies for the hijack but maybe on the end of a 4 year old post it will be forgiven?
> 
> @Gary - trying to reply to your PM but your box is full.


I know , I know. Ive emptied it


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

garydyke1 said:


> v60 I use 20g coffee 300ml (67g p l)
> 
> aeropress 17g coffee 120ml water but then diluted to 250ml (142g p l then 68 g p l)
> 
> ...


This is like a time capsule though - Gary do you still use either the same ratios or even the same brew methods any longer?


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

jlarkin said:


> This is like a time capsule though - Gary do you still use either the same ratios or even the same brew methods any longer?


Lol nope!

Its all changed


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

jlarkin said:


> This is like a time capsule though - Gary do you still use either the same ratios or even the same brew methods any longer?


I remember a post of Gary's saying he was going to upgrade to a Mini-E as the 'end game' grinder


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## Snakehips (Jun 2, 2015)

garydyke1 said:


> I know , I know. Ive emptied it


Was it full of old recipes or old grinders?


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## YerbaMate170 (Jun 15, 2015)

EDIT: blimey, don't think I knew what coffee was when this thread started!

Q1. Currently I'm using a ratio of 25:2, or in simpler terms, 250ml water for 20g coffee in my chemex.

Q2. I tried higher ratios of 15-17:1 and just found the coffee to be too watery; I realise a chemex is supposed to get the more delicate flavours from beans but my current setup seems to be yielding good coffee.

Q3. As above - the only thing I'd say to people starting off with a new method is to play around with all the variables until you find something that works for you.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

At 12.5:1 it seems unlikely that you're getting a full extraction.

15:1 should provide a strong cup of filter coffee by anyone's standards, if it hits a nominal extraction.

There is a surprisingly narrow range of ratios that will net you a good level of extraction in a typical strength range, though you're, of course, not obliged to brew/like coffee in that range.

Perhaps you need to grind finer/slow down your pours?


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## YerbaMate170 (Jun 15, 2015)

MWJB said:


> At 12.5:1 it seems unlikely that you're getting a full extraction.
> 
> 15:1 should provide a strong cup of filter coffee by anyone's standards, if it hits a nominal extraction.
> 
> ...


the problem I have is, no matter how fine/coarse I grind, after around 200ml my filter seems to get "blocked" - it starts to take much longer for water to pass through, and I've always took this as a sign to stop. Should I just persevere? Doing so means my total extraction time would easily reach close to 4 minutes...


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## Kyle548 (Jan 24, 2013)

The longer the drink the longer the pour.

You can't expect 500 in the same amount of time as 200 and to get the same extraction.

For me, at about 16.5:1 I get about 2 mins for 200ml and then about 5-6 for 500ml.

Some will disagree and say that longer than 4 mins is too long - but there are other considerations such as temp profile.

Higher or more stable temps need less time.

You might need to help it along by creating a dent in the coffee to ensure the coffee filters the way you want.

After you finish, the bed is supposed to look like a deep flat bottomed V with thickish sides.


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

Also, of course, the time isn't so important as the taste. MWJB or Kyle no better than I, but from what I read it's common that the initial pour after bloom will go through more quickly - especially if you're pouring a larger amount as the weight of water helps force it through. Depending on the grind profile (amount of fines, overall distribution etc.) then at a certain point your'e probably getting all the fines settling onto the paper and it slows down. To be honest, I keep switching grinders and brew methods so haven't really bottomed this out but I pretty much always find my total draw down time is longer than 4 minutes (with 400ml +) and that it tastes better. I did at one point grind coarse enough for it to be about 4 mins but the taste wasn't there for me on that occasion...


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

YerbaMate170 said:


> the problem I have is, no matter how fine/coarse I grind, after around 200ml my filter seems to get "blocked" - it starts to take much longer for water to pass through, and I've always took this as a sign to stop. Should I just persevere? Doing so means my total extraction time would easily reach close to 4 minutes...


Are you using a bloom phase with up to twice the coffee weight, to pre wet, or going straight in with brew water in evenly weighted pours?

It's normal for the drain to slow as the brew progresses, but 4 min for a 20:250 brew seems long.

What grinder are you using? If the paper is getting clogged by small particles try a Hario 02 or 03 filter paper (tighter weave) with the 3-6 cup Chemex, or use a fine sieve to lose the smallest particles.

Using a smaller dose than 20g will also provide less resistance for your 250g water.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

jlarkin said:


> Also, of course, the time isn't so important as the taste. .


I find time & taste to be very closely related for a given brew size & ratio.


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## fluffles (Sep 4, 2012)

YerbaMate170 said:


> the problem I have is, no matter how fine/coarse I grind, after around 200ml my filter seems to get "blocked" - it starts to take much longer for water to pass through, and I've always took this as a sign to stop. Should I just persevere? Doing so means my total extraction time would easily reach close to 4 minutes...


I had this issue not so long ago on the Kalita. I found if I concentrated on pouring gently the problem went away. The only theory I could come up with was that too much turbulence was causing all the fines to sink to the bottom and clog the filter.


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## Step21 (Oct 2, 2014)

What is your normal pouring strategy? How often and how much?

Why do you use such a large coffee/water brew ratio? Is your taste preference for "strong" coffee?

60g/l is more the "norm" than 80g/litre. Have you tried 15g coffee into 250ml? This would speed up the brew.


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