One-Cup Pour-Over Ratios: Recipes for 10 g, 15 g, and 20 g of Coffee

For one cup of pour-over coffee, start with 1 gram of coffee for every 16.7 grams of water. That gives you three easy baseline recipes: 10 g coffee with 167 g water, 15 g with 250 g, or 20 g with 333 g.

The multiplication is exact; the brewing technique is not. A 10 g coffee bed is shallower and loses heat faster than a 20 g bed. Use the same ratio as a starting point, then adjust grind and pouring for the dose, brewer, filter, and coffee in front of you.

One-cup pour-over ratio chart

All water figures are input water, not the weight of coffee in the cup. Wet grounds and the filter retain some water, so beverage yield will be lower and will vary with coffee, grind, filter, and drain time.

If you want one default, choose 15 g coffee and 250 g water. It makes a practical single serving and is usually easier to pour consistently than a very shallow 10 g bed.

What does 1:16.7 mean?

A brew ratio compares dry coffee mass with the water poured into the brewer:

water mass = coffee dose x ratio

For 15 g of coffee at 1:16.7, the calculation is 15 x 16.7, which rounds to 250 g of water. Because 1 milliliter of brewing water is close to 1 gram for kitchen use, a scale makes the calculation and the pour easy to repeat.

The ratio sets a strength direction. More water per gram of coffee generally produces a less concentrated beverage; less water produces a more concentrated one. It does not, by itself, tell you whether the coffee extracted evenly.

That distinction matters. A cup can be strong and sour, light and drying, or concentrated yet balanced. Peer-reviewed UC Davis Coffee Center research shows that strength, extraction yield, sensory attributes, and consumer preference interact in more complicated ways than a single "ideal" box. The researchers also found more than one preference cluster. Treat the baseline as a navigation point, not a law.

Use this shared setup first

These recipes assume a conical paper-filter brewer, a burr grinder, a gooseneck kettle, and a digital scale. They are starting points for light-to-medium roast coffee, not universal specifications.

1. Rinse the paper filter and preheat the brewer and server.
2. Use fresh water appropriate for coffee brewing and heat it near boiling. A darker roast may taste better with slightly cooler water.
3. Grind medium-fine, then adjust from taste and drawdown.
4. Make a small well in the bed so bloom water reaches the center.
5. Start the timer as the first water touches the coffee.
6. Pour with a controlled stream. Avoid repeatedly striking the bare filter wall.
7. Let the brew cool before making a final taste judgment.

Hario's Alpha V60-01 recipe, credited to Eight Ounce Coffee, uses 12.5 g coffee with 200 g water - a 1:16 ratio - and recommends a bloom of two to three times the coffee dose for 30-45 seconds. It is a useful real-world reference for a small cone, although other brewers may need different grind and flow.

10 g coffee recipe: 167 g water

Use a small dripper if possible. A size-01 cone supports the shallow bed better than an oversized brewer, and thorough preheating reduces the thermal disadvantage of a small slurry.

Keep the kettle stream narrow and low. A stream sized for a 500 g brew can churn a 10 g bed, push fines outward, and make repeatability worse. If the brew runs fast and tastes hollow, grind slightly finer. If it stalls and tastes drying, reduce agitation first, then try a slightly coarser grind.

15 g coffee recipe: 250 g water

This is the most forgiving baseline for many one-cup conical drippers. The bed is deep enough to manage without producing an oversized serving.

If your grinder produces many fines, fewer pours may help prevent a slow finish. If water rushes through and the cooled coffee tastes sharp and empty, grind finer before adding extra agitation.

For a dose-specific visual lesson, watch James Hoffmann's A Better 1 Cup V60 Technique. It is an expert demonstration rather than a scientific standard, but it usefully shows why a large-batch pouring pattern does not transfer perfectly to a small coffee bed.

20 g coffee recipe: 333 g water

Check that the dripper and server have enough capacity. A deeper coffee bed and higher slurry create more resistance, so a grind that works at 10 g may drain slowly at 20 g.

If drawdown becomes much longer than the smaller recipes and the cup tastes harsh or dry, grind a little coarser or reduce the number and force of pours. If it drains cleanly but tastes weak, decide whether the problem is concentration or extraction before changing anything.

Why the same ratio does not create the same brew

Scaling 10/167 to 20/333 preserves the ratio, but it changes the brewing system:

• Bed depth: more coffee creates a deeper path through which water must travel.
• Thermal mass: a larger dose and slurry usually retain heat better.
• Pour-to-bed scale: the same kettle stream is more aggressive relative to a 10 g bed.
• Water level and pressure: a fuller cone changes the hydraulic head pushing water through the bed.
• Filter resistance: paper manufacture, fit, fines, and clogging alter drawdown.
• Brewer geometry: a small cone and a large cone do not support the same bed in the same way.

The SCA's home-brewer certification requirements refer to roughly 55 g of coffee per liter and discuss coffee-bed depth. That is valuable context for filter brewing, but the document tests automatic brewers at full capacity. Its 4-8 minute contact-time requirement is not a target for these small manual recipes.

Should you change ratio or grind size?

Use the symptom that remains after the coffee cools:

Change one variable per brew. If you alter ratio, grind, water temperature, and pouring at the same time, you will not know which change helped.

How to convert any one-cup dose

Multiply coffee by the chosen ratio:

• 12 g x 16.7 = about 200 g water
• 18 g x 16.7 = about 300 g water
• 22 g x 16 = 352 g water

To calculate coffee from a desired water amount, divide instead:

coffee dose = water mass / ratio

For 300 g water at 1:16.7, use about 18 g of coffee. Round to a number your scale can measure consistently, then record the actual values.

Frequently asked questions

Is 1:15 or 1:17 better for pour-over?

Neither is universally better. A 1:15 brew is more concentrated than a 1:17 brew when other conditions are comparable. Choose according to preferred strength, then adjust extraction with grind and technique.

How much coffee should I use for one mug?

For a common 250 g input-water recipe, start with 15 g coffee at 1:16.7 or about 16 g at 1:16. Your final drink will weigh less than 250 g because the wet bed retains water.

Can I use tablespoons instead of a scale?

You can, but coffee density varies with bean, roast, grind, and how the spoon is filled. A scale makes both dose and poured water repeatable and is the better tool for diagnosing a recipe.

Should I keep the same grind for 10 g and 20 g?

Use the smaller recipe's grind only as an initial reference. The deeper 20 g bed may need a slightly coarser setting, while a shallow 10 g bed may need a slightly finer one. Let taste and flow decide.

Is brew time more important than ratio?

They describe different things. Ratio sets the coffee-to-input-water relationship; time is one clue about water flow and extraction. Neither number alone guarantees a balanced cup.

The practical takeaway

Start with 10/167, 15/250, or 20/333, then scale the technique - not just the arithmetic. Use ratio to correct preferred strength. Use grind, wetting, and pour control to correct extraction. Record the coffee, brewer, filter, dose, water, grind setting, and total time, and keep the recipe that tastes best rather than the one that merely lands on a prescribed clock.

Sources

• Specialty Coffee Association: Minimum Certification Requirements for Coffee Brewers
• Guinard et al., Journal of Food Science: A new Coffee Brewing Control Chart
• Hario USA: Alpha Series Dripper 01 recipe
• Hario USA: James Hoffmann Ultimate V60 Technique
• James Hoffmann: A Better 1 Cup V60 Technique