What is the ideal coffee-to-water ratio? What are pour-over coffee concentration and extraction rate? How much hot water should you use for pour-over coffee?

The Brew Ratio: Understanding Coffee Extraction

The brew ratio is a professional term commonly used in coffee brewing discussions. As its name suggests, it refers to the proportion of coffee grounds to water used in brewing.

A higher ratio means less hot water is used, while a lower ratio means more hot water is injected. The brew ratio affects many extraction factors, making it crucial for the taste quality of coffee. Today, FrontStreet Coffee will share how the brew ratio affects extraction and how to find the optimal ratio for your coffee.

How Does Brew Ratio Affect Coffee?

The brew ratio affects coffee extraction in two main ways, with coffee concentration being the most significant. Concentration refers to the amount of coffee substances dissolved in water. Under identical extraction parameters, a higher brew ratio results in higher coffee concentration, while a lower ratio yields lower concentration.

FrontStreet Coffee previously conducted an experiment: brewing coffee with three different brew ratios (1:10, 1:15, and 1:20) resulted in concentrations of 1.93%, 1.35%, and 1.04% respectively, as measured by a concentration meter. However, the amount of water doesn't just affect coffee concentration. Many people make a common mistake: reducing water to make stronger coffee or adding more water for weaker coffee. While theoretically correct, this approach can impact the coffee's flavor! Why? Because the brew ratio also affects another crucial factor—extraction rate.

The Relationship Between Brew Ratio and Extraction Rate

With other parameters unchanged, more water means longer extraction time. Simultaneously, hot water extracts more substances from the coffee. For instance, in FrontStreet Coffee's experiment mentioned earlier, when only changing the brew ratio, the extraction rates of the three coffees were: 1:10 at 16.43%, 1:15 at 18.55%, and 1:20 at 19.72%. This demonstrates how increased water and time lead to higher extraction rates. Coffee has an optimal extraction rate range—if it falls below or exceeds this range, most people will find the coffee unpalatable. Therefore, we cannot simply increase or decrease water amount without adjusting other factors like pouring method, grind size, or water temperature to ensure proper extraction.

Finding Balance in Concentration and Extraction

In summary, the brew ratio affects both concentration and extraction rate. With other parameters constant, a higher brew ratio yields higher concentration but relatively lower extraction rate, while a lower ratio produces lower concentration but higher extraction rate. From the experiment above, we can observe another phenomenon: despite significant differences in ratios, extraction rate increases were minimal. The 1:20 ratio coffee's extraction rate was only 3.29% higher than the 1:10 ratio. What does this mean? Exactly! It means most soluble substances in coffee dissolve rapidly at the beginning of extraction. As the process continues and smaller molecules dissolve, only larger molecules remain, dissolving slowly. Therefore, even with additional water later in the process, we cannot significantly increase coffee's extraction rate.

That said, coffee concentration also needs proper control. When concentration is too high, flavor compounds become too concentrated, making it difficult to perceive individual flavors. Additionally, excessive concentration can cause discomfort and resistance to coffee! Of course, too low concentration isn't ideal either! Insufficient concentration over-dilutes flavors and texture, making it taste like coffee-flavored water. Therefore, like extraction rate, concentration must be appropriate. The brew ratio helps balance the relationship between concentration and extraction, so we need to select an appropriate ratio based on our brewing goals to achieve the desired range for both extraction rate and concentration.

What's the Optimal Coffee Brew Ratio?

Typically, pour-over coffee uses a brew ratio between 1:13-1:18 (hot brewing). Within this range, we can select appropriate ratios based on different coffee beans or personal taste preferences. Remember to adjust other parameters accordingly. Some might notice that FrontStreet Coffee often shares a 1:15 ratio, but this doesn't mean it's universally optimal. FrontStreet Coffee recommends 1:15 because this ratio offers a higher margin of error. Most people seeking brewing recommendations are beginners, and when not yet proficient in coffee extraction, a reliable set of parameters reduces variables and helps novices brew better coffee more easily.

Once we've mastered basic brewing skills, we can start customizing extraction parameters—whether water temperature or brew ratio—based on our understanding of brewing. For example, for intensely flavored, harder-to-extract beans, we can increase hot water to dilute concentration and extend extraction time, achieving better flavor expression. When brewing dark roast coffee, we can control the brew ratio between 1:13-1:15. This prevents over-extraction while producing coffee with higher body and richness. If the resulting coffee feels too concentrated, we can use bypass to dilute it. The flexibility depends on your understanding of brewing.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

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