A Pour-over Coffee Ratio You Can Actually Remember

If you want one number to carry into the kitchen, use 1:16: one gram of coffee for every 16 grams of water. A 15g dose takes 240g of water. A 20g dose takes 320g. It is easy to scale, sits comfortably in the middle of common pour-over recipes, and leaves room to adjust without starting over.

What 1:16 looks like in real life

Ratios sound abstract until they are attached to the scoop of beans in front of you. Multiply your coffee dose by 16 to find the total water. These are the combinations worth remembering:

• 12g coffee → 192g water
• 15g coffee → 240g water
• 18g coffee → 288g water
• 20g coffee → 320g water
• 25g coffee → 400g water
• 30g coffee → 480g water

There is no need to hit the calculated number with laboratory precision. If the math says 288g, stopping at 290g is sensible. Consistency matters more than worshipping the last gram.

Ratio changes strength, but not by itself

Less water usually makes a more concentrated drink; more water makes a more diluted one. That is strength. Extraction is different: it describes how much flavor the water pulled from the grounds. Grind size, water temperature, agitation, and brew time all affect extraction, so a cup can be both strong and unpleasantly sour—or light and dry.

This distinction saves a lot of confused troubleshooting. If your coffee tastes good but simply feels too light, use a little less water. If it is sour, hollow, or sharply acidic, changing only the ratio may hide the problem rather than solve it.

How to adjust without chasing your tail

1. Brew once at 1:16Keep the dose, grind, temperature, pouring pattern, and total time written down—or at least roughly consistent.
2. Name one problemChoose the clearest description: too weak, too strong, sour, bitter, dry, or simply dull.
3. Change one variableFor strength, try the ratio. For sourness or bitterness, start with grind size. Avoid changing the ratio, grind, and pouring technique in the same brew.
4. Move in small stepsGoing from 1:16 to 1:15.5 or 1:16.5 is often enough to notice. You do not need to leap from one extreme to another.

When I would choose 1:15 or 1:17

A 1:15 ratio is useful when you want a smaller, more concentrated cup, when you plan to add a little milk, or when a delicate coffee feels thin. A 1:17 ratio can open up a dense coffee and emphasize clarity, but it asks the grounds to give up more flavor. If the grind is too coarse or the brew runs too quickly, the result may taste watery rather than elegant.

Treat those ratios as nearby paths, not opposing schools of thought. The useful recipe is the one you can repeat and then tune. Start in the middle, pay attention to the cup, and let taste—not online certainty—make the final decision.