Tips for your brewing methods

WARNING --- if you are an avid Keurig, Nespresso, or instant coffee maker, you will lose interest beyond this point.

One of the most common issues with getting your coffee to taste great is either stale coffee or googling the correct ratio's for coffee. We experience coffee in a similar ways (i.e. smelling, feeling the warm cup, tasting, then consuming) but the smell or taste tends to be a somewhat subjective experience. So, the goal here is to be a simply honest and hopefully helpful starting point, as well as giving permission for you to keep trying until you get the coffee to taste the way you prefer it.

All of that being said, aim for a stronger brew. Folgers (my childhood memories) drip ratio says to use 1 tablespoon per 6 ounces of water, or for a stronger cup to use 2 tablespoons for 6 ounces of water --- that's an incredible difference but good advice because you cannot make a weak cup of coffee strong. You can make your strong coffee weaker, though.

I don't find tablespoons or measuring cups to be helpful for my coffee making, though. I find a digital scale be the best method for closer accuracy and you finding your preferred ratio. Set it to grams for weighing your water and your coffee.

Here's where math comes in and you might want to use your calculator. A great standard is to start between 1 part coffee and 15-17 parts of water. If you have a Mr. Coffee that can brew 1L (1,000mL) of coffee and you want to make the full pot, simply divide your max capacity by 17 as a starting point, which is roughly 59mL of ground coffee. However, we don't use milliliters to measure solids but rather grams (they are approximately equal in number). So, 1,000mL of water to approximately 60 grams of coffee (get your calculator --- yep, the math checks out... 60 x 17 = 1,020) should get you in the ballpark.

For a quick start, here is a helpful chart that I have made up (in my mind, I suppose) for the different brewing methods, COFFEE:WATER (ratio)

DRIP MAKER

Lighter roasts - 1:16

Medium roasts - 1:17

Darker roasts - 1:18

FRENCH PRESS

Lighter roasts - 1:13

Medium roasts - 1:14

Darker roasts - 1:15

CHEMEX

Lighter roasts - 1:15

Medium roasts - 1:16

Darker roasts - 1:17

Again, these are starting points for you to find your preferred strength of coffee.

Start strong, then lower your grams of coffee on your next brew.

Enjoy your coffee!