Updated October 2026 · Filter Recipe Series
The ratio is how much coffee you use (the dose) compared with how much coffee you make (the yield). In the Filter Recipe Series it changes with the density of your roasted beans, across all 121 recipes, whether you brew with a V60, a Switch, a Kalita, an Origami or a cloth drip pot.
1:12 for the darkest roasts, 1:18 for the lightest, and 1:15 in the middle (Recipe 61, 0.390 g/ml). The ratio is coffee to the yield in your cup, not to the water you pour, so 1:15 in the cup is roughly 1:17 by brew water.
How the ratio is measured
Most pour-over recipes quote the ratio of coffee to the water you pour. The Filter Recipe Series quotes the ratio of coffee to the yield: the coffee that ends up in your cup or carafe, weighed under a drip stand. That's the same convention espresso uses.
190 ml ÷ 15 = 12.7 g
Why? The grounds soak up and keep some of the water, and how much varies with the dose and the roast level. Measuring what's in the cup takes that variable out, so the strength you drink is what the recipe intended. Choose your yield on the recipe page and the dose scales with it.
Spent grounds hold back roughly 2–2.5 g of water per gram of coffee, so a cup ratio converts to a brew-water ratio of about cup ratio + 2. Our 1:15 midpoint is roughly 1:17 by the water you pour.
The range
The ratio rises in a straight line with density, 0.05 per recipe, from 1:12 at 0.330 g/ml to 1:18 at 0.450 g/ml. Doses below are for the default 190 ml yield.
15.8 g for 190 ml · 0.330 g/ml, the darkest roasts (Recipe 1)
12.7 g for 190 ml · 0.390 g/ml, the middle (Recipe 61)
10.6 g for 190 ml · 0.450 g/ml, the lightest roasts (Recipe 121)
And in between:
Recipe 21 · 14.6 g
Recipe 41 · 13.6 g
Recipe 81 · 11.9 g
Recipe 101 · 11.2 g
Why this range
1:12 to 1:18 covers the span filter brewers commonly use, from a strong cup to a light one. In the series, each end is matched to the roast that needs it.
Dark roasts are brittle and give up their solubles easily. Less water per gram avoids over-extraction and bitterness, and the stronger cup stands up to the roast.
Light roasts are dense and resist extraction. More water per gram extracts more, so they taste sweet and clear rather than sour.
It's the same principle as the espresso ratio: water is the solvent, and ratio is your most powerful lever. A fixed ratio for every coffee means dark roasts come out bitter and light roasts sour.
The midpoint
Recipe 61, at 0.390 g/ml, is the middle of the series, and its ratio is 1:15.
1:15 in the cup is about 1:17 by brew water, roughly 59 g of coffee per litre. That sits inside the SCA Golden Cup recommendation of 55 g/L ±10% (about 1:16.5 to 1:20).
It lands between two of the best-known pour-over recipes: Tetsu Kasuya's 4:6 method (20 g to 300 g, 1:15 by brew water) and James Hoffmann's V60 technique (30 g to 500 g, about 1:16.7).
The French Press Recipe Series also targets 1:15 at its midpoint, so a mid roast tastes about as strong whichever way you brew it.
Haven't measured your beans? Start at Recipe 51 (1:14.5, 0.380 g/ml), then use Extract More or Extract Less. Measured? The coffee density calculator takes you straight to your recipe.
References
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