Pour-over ratios, explained

Start at 1:16

A 1:16 ratio means 1 gram of coffee for every 16 grams of water. For a standard mug, that is 20 grams of coffee to 320 grams of water. Weigh both. Scoops and eyeballed pours are how the same bag tastes different every morning.

We brew our light roasts, Konga and Gathaithi, at 1:16 on the dot. It gives the florals room without thinning out the body.

One mug (320 g water)

20 g coffee at 1:16

Two mugs (640 g water)

40 g coffee at 1:16

Stronger cup

move toward 1:14

Brighter, lighter cup

move toward 1:17

Bloom first, always

Fresh coffee holds carbon dioxide from roasting, and CO2 pushes water away from the grounds. Pour twice the weight of your dose (40 grams of water for a 20 gram dose), swirl gently, and wait 30 to 45 seconds before you keep pouring. Skipping the bloom is the most common reason a good coffee tastes sour and hollow.

When to break the rules

Darker roasts extract faster, so they can drown at long ratios. For our Mandheling we drop to 1:15 and coarsen the grind a step. The finish gets syrupy instead of bitter.

Taste before you adjust anything else: sour and weak usually means grind finer or lengthen the ratio; bitter and harsh means grind coarser or shorten it. Change one variable per brew or you will never know what fixed it.