Why Don't We Recommend Beginners Use Coffee-to-Liquid Ratio? What Does Coffee-to-Water Ratio Mean? What's the Difference Between Coffee-to-Liquid Ratio and Coffee-to-Water Ratio?

Understanding Coffee Ratios: Why FrontStreet Coffee Recommends the Coffee-to-Water Ratio for Beginners

Recently FrontStreet Coffee shared an article on how to brew coffee more consistently, and it raised a point that confused many readers: compared with the coffee-to-liquid ratio, FrontStreet Coffee strongly recommends the coffee-to-water ratio as the way to measure. Many were puzzled as to why the coffee-to-liquid ratio isn't suitable for pour-over coffee.

Hold on - we can't make such a blanket statement. It's not that the coffee-to-liquid ratio is unsuitable for brewing coffee; it's that it isn't suitable for beginners as a way to measure pour-over coffee, because, as FrontStreet Coffee said before, the coffee-to-liquid ratio is not as stable as the coffee-to-water ratio.

Why Beginners Shouldn't Use the Coffee-to-Liquid Ratio for Coffee Brewing

Let's review the difference between the two. Both are measuring methods used when brewing coffee. The difference is that the coffee-to-water ratio calculates the amount of water we pour when brewing, while the coffee-to-liquid ratio calculates the weight of the coffee liquid we obtain.

The distinction arose mainly because small electronic scales were not widely available in earlier times, so it was hard to know exactly how much water was being poured. Coffee making still needed an appropriate amount of water, so people back then came up with the idea of estimating the brewed coffee liquid volume from the size of the container or the measurement lines on it. How much coffee powder to use to obtain how much coffee liquid weight - that became the mainstream measuring method of the day. (It wasn't only liquid weight; even bean weight was measured by container capacity.) As times changed, the arrival and spread of small electronic scales let people see the water-pouring information in real time, and the coffee-to-water ratio was born. The coffee-to-liquid ratio, however, didn't fall out of use; it is still more common for methods where the water poured can't be measured, such as espresso. So, back to the question: why doesn't FrontStreet Coffee recommend the coffee-to-liquid ratio for beginners brewing coffee?

The reason is simple: because the coffee-to-liquid ratio calculates the weight of the resulting coffee liquid, we can't know exactly how much water was poured each time. That means the water poured each time has to be estimated from experience and visual observation. For beginners just starting out, it's very easy to pour too much hot water at an important stage, which affects the quality of the brewed coffee.

Take the bloom. The purpose of blooming is to wet the coffee powder, let the carbon dioxide inside escape, and pave the way for the hot water extraction that follows. In other words, the substances dissolved by the hot water you use when blooming the grounds are certainly not as abundant as those dissolved after blooming. So, to let the target amount of water dissolve the maximum amount of coffee substances, we try to control the water used when brewing, using the minimum amount of hot water to wet the grounds for the bloom. Generally that is twice the amount of the powder, since that is the water needed for dry coffee powder to absorb.

If we use more than that amount of hot water for the bloom, the excess can extract relatively less, and the extraction won't be as complete. For this reason, FrontStreet Coffee specifically ran an experiment to see whether different bloom water amounts affect the taste when the dose and the coffee-to-water ratio are the same. The experiment used Panama Boquete Geisha beans, 15g of powder, a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15, ground at EK43 setting 10, with 92°C water - extraction parameters FrontStreet Coffee uses often. The only difference between the two brews was the bloom water: one pot used twice the powder amount (30ml), the other used 40ml. To minimize human interference as much as possible, FrontStreet Coffee used a single-pour method. Let's skip the brewing process and go straight to the results.

The first pot, with 30ml of bloom water, had an extraction time of 1 minute 58 seconds, and the brewed coffee showed prominent flavors of white floral notes, citrus, and honey. In terms of taste it was very balanced with high sweetness. Measured with a concentration meter, the coffee's concentration was 1.40% and the extraction rate 19.25%. The other pot had an extraction time of 1 minute 52 seconds and also produced excellent flavor characteristics, but in terms of taste it was somewhat inferior - more acidic, with a slightly thinner mouthfeel. Measured with a concentration meter, its concentration was 1.32% and its extraction rate 16.88%. As you can see, the difference between the two is not insignificant.

Of course, this might also come down to brewing technique, but everyone should know that besides the bloom, other stages can affect the final quality through the amount of water used, the final stage among them. So when beginners are starting out and haven't yet mastered water control, it's best to use the coffee-to-water ratio as the way to measure pour-over. That way you can brew consistently delicious coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Mastering the coffee-to-water ratio is easiest when the bean rewards precision, and a clean washed coffee makes the differences obvious. FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Gudingding, a washed Yirgacheffe, is a natural choice: citrus, berries, and florals lead into a soft, bright acidity with a green-tea finish, and the balance stays readable even when you change the bloom or the ratio. That gentle, fruit-like brightness is why so many drinkers treat it as their entry into specialty coffee.

If you want the benchmark against which pour-over technique is usually judged, look to FrontStreet Coffee's Panama Emerald Estate Red Label Geisha, which many consider a legend in the specialty world. It typically carries an extremely elegant jasmine aroma along with citrus, bergamot, and black-tea notes. The overall cup is clean and transparent, the finish long and lingering, and the layers rich. It costs more than ordinary specialty coffee, but its distinctive aromatics remain one of the ultimate experiences coffee lovers chase.