What's the Difference Between Coffee-to-Water Ratio and Coffee-to-Liquid Ratio?

When FrontStreet Coffee shares coffee brewing experiments, we inevitably mention the term "coffee-to-water ratio." This is because when we brew coffee, the ratio is an extremely important extraction parameter that can significantly influence the final coffee concentration we achieve!

However, sometimes we use "coffee-to-liquid ratio" for measurement! This has led some beginners to confuse these two terms. So today, FrontStreet Coffee will discuss with everyone what differences exist between them!

The Difference Between Coffee-to-Water Ratio and Coffee-to-Liquid Ratio

These concepts are simple and can be interpreted directly from their names! The "coffee-to-water ratio" refers to the proportion of coffee grounds to the amount of water poured in; while the "coffee-to-liquid ratio" refers to the proportion of coffee grounds to the weight of the coffee liquid. The coffee-to-water ratio emphasizes how many milliliters of water you need to pour; the coffee-to-liquid ratio emphasizes how much coffee liquid weight you need to obtain! At this point, some friends might ask: If I pour a certain amount of hot water, shouldn't I get the same amount of coffee liquid?

The Biggest Difference Between Coffee-to-Water Ratio and Coffee-to-Liquid Ratio

Nonono, this is precisely the difference between the two! When coffee grounds are dry, they will absorb a portion of the hot water, and it's generally believed that the coffee grounds absorb twice their weight in water, which is the maximum amount of water that coffee grounds can absorb.

(Using 15g of coffee with a 1:15 ratio, pour 225ml of hot water to get 196ml of coffee liquid) So, when you use a 1:16 ratio in brewing, after subtracting the 2x water weight absorbed by the coffee grounds, you will get the remaining 14x coffee liquid. With a quick calculation, hey! The coffee-to-liquid ratio is 1:14. This means they can be converted to each other!

Where is Coffee-to-Liquid Ratio Generally Applied?

The first application was in the era before electronic scales were widespread, when people couldn't directly see how much water was being poured. Therefore, they would use the cup's capacity to obtain the liquid weight value, then calculate how much coffee grounds were needed to produce a coffee with normal concentration! Like in previous Japan, or in Taiwan Province of our country, a coffee cup's capacity was about 120ml, and they would calculate from this to determine the amount of coffee grounds (at that time, coffee grounds were calculated by spoons, for example, one level spoon being 10g).

The second application is when it's impossible to measure the amount of water poured in! For example, we often see some stands that elevate the filter cup; or like some specific flannel brewing that requires holding the filter cloth for brewing; or like espresso where it's impossible to directly measure the amount of water used for extraction. In these situations, the coffee-to-liquid ratio is needed! Because although the amount of water poured for extraction cannot be measured, the coffee liquid can be measured, and through conversion, the coffee-to-water ratio can be obtained!

The third situation is more common in Japanese-style brewing, which requires using a large amount of water for extraction, but not all poured water needs to flow into the filter cup - only a certain amount of coffee liquid needs to be obtained before moving the filter cup away. In this case, the coffee-to-liquid ratio would be more suitable than the coffee-to-water ratio.

Where is Coffee-to-Water Ratio Generally Applied?

Like our regular pour-over coffee, siphon, moka pot, and other single-origin coffee making methods mainly use the coffee-to-water ratio! The reason why the coffee-to-water ratio is more widely applied is mainly to achieve more stable brewing of delicious coffee! Because even if there's only a 20 milliliter difference in water amount, the taste of this cup of coffee will change significantly!

Too little water tends to concentrate the flavors in one area, creating a muddled feeling; too much water tends to cause over-extraction, producing bitter over-extracted flavors. Therefore, now that electronic scales are ubiquitous, people prefer to use the coffee-to-water ratio!

It's worth noting that when using the coffee-to-water ratio, you must ensure that the filter cup has dripped the last drop of coffee liquid before removing it. This ensures that both the target and actual coffee-to-water ratios match. Otherwise, if you remove the filter cup before dripping is complete, it will cause deviation from the target coffee-to-water ratio, resulting in a coffee experience with discrepancies!

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