Pour-over coffee is in a league entirely its own. Involving multiple steps and tools, it’s a perfectionist’s dream. But if you haven’t yet perfected the method yourself, there is a golden coffee-to-water ratio that makes a flawless pour-over every time. When Tasting Table spoke with Jee Choe, the coffee and tea sommelier and creator of the “Oh, How Civilized Blog,” she said “The ‘golden ratio’ is 1:18 coffee to water ratio in grams for pour-overs and drip coffee machines.” Elaborating, Choe said, “So for every 1 gram of coffee, you should use 18 grams of water. If you’re not using a scale, I would go with 2 tablespoons of ground coffee for every 6 ounces of water.”
According to Choe, this ratio doesn’t apply to espresso. “The golden ratio comes from SCA (Speciality Coffee Association) and it doesn’t apply to espresso. The golden ratio is … the SCA’s recommended ratio to get a balanced brew, so it’s a good starting point but feel free to adjust to your liking,” said Choe. “If you like your coffee to be stronger, use less water, and to make a weaker brew, use more water.”
So even though pour-over isn’t the preferred method for preparing espresso, you can adjust the ratio to get something similar. While you won’t recreate the signature crema (which some say to scoop out anyway), you can make a concentrated espresso shot using the pour-over method by simply adjusting the ratio of coffee to water. You can also adjust it if you simply want a stronger cup.
From pour-over coffee to espresso, and everything in between
Not everybody can afford to invest in an at-home espresso machine. Even if they can, they might not have the space in their kitchen for one. Knowing that you can adjust the golden coffee-to-water ratio for your pour-over coffee and use it to make fresh espresso at home — or at least a version of it — is a cost- and space-saving option. Simply place your pour-over cone on top of a mug and add a filter, then pour 8.5 grams of finely ground espresso beans into it. Adjusting Choe’s recommendation of 1:16 coffee to water ratio to a ratio of 1:10 coffee to water, you’d then want to adjust the amount of water to three ounces. Poured over your ground espresso beans, you’ll have a crema-less version of espresso that you can drink as is or make into a latte.
With a cup of pour-over coffee using Choe’s golden ratio being your standard preparation, and a pour-over espresso being your most concentrated, you can adjust the ratio to make anything in between. For those who enjoy a stronger cup, that would entail increasing the amount of ground coffee you add to the cone by a tablespoon or two before pouring the hot water over it. There are many other ways to tweak the process too, and it might take some practice to get your pour-over exactly how you like it, but that’s the beauty of pour-over coffee.
