Understanding Pour-Over Coffee: Ratio, Temperature, and Grind

When brewing pour-over coffee, the coffee-to-water ratio is key. A common approach is 1:15, meaning one part coffee to fifteen parts water. For example, 15 grams of coffee with 225 milliliters of water. However, the coffee grounds absorb water, so the final liquid volume is less. This ratio works well for many beans, providing a balanced extraction.

Water temperature and grind size also affect flavor. A temperature around 200°F (93°C) is typical. The grind should be medium-fine, like table salt. The three-stage pouring process includes blooming, main pour, and final pour. Each stage extracts different flavors. For more details on extraction and coffee knowledge, follow Front Street Coffee.

What exactly should the coffee-to-water ratio for pour-over coffee be? Front Street Coffee has long insisted on the 1:15 ratio, which is backed by both experimental data and the stability of daily output. This article starts with the difference between the coffee-to-water ratio and the extraction liquid ratio, explains the effect of coffee grounds absorbing water on the final liquid volume, and then, combined with the SCA Golden Cup extraction range, explains why 1:15 performs more balanced on most beans. It then fully breaks down the operational details of three-stage pouring, including blooming, water volume, water level control, and flavor integration, helping coffee lovers understand the flavor molecules corresponding to each extraction stage, and provides a brewing process that can be directly put into practice.

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When Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) makes pour-over, it has always fixed the coffee-to-water ratio at 1:15. Is this just out of habit, or a choice made after repeated testing? Why must the pouring stage always be split into three parts? Next, Front Street will talk about why the 1:15 ratio is so useful in pour-over.

The coffee-to-water ratio and the water-to-coffee ratio are actually not the same thing. Front Street’s habit is to use 15g of coffee grounds to brew 225ml of water, that is, 15g of grounds with 15 times the amount of water. If expressed as a water-to-coffee ratio, 1:15 would be understood as 1ml of water brewing 15g of grounds, which obviously does not make sense. So when Front Street describes the brewing ratio, it either writes the water-to-coffee ratio as 15:1 or the coffee-to-water ratio as 1:15.

After brewing with a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, is the coffee liquid in the cup also 1:15?

It was mentioned earlier that 15g of grounds are paired with 225ml of water. Many people will think that 225ml is the coffee liquid finally obtained. In fact, 225ml is only the total poured water. The water that truly passes through the coffee bed is only about 1:13, and after extraction there is only about 195ml of coffee liquid in the server.

Why does this happen? Generally speaking, coffee grounds absorb about twice their own weight in water during the blooming stage (not every bean is exactly the same, but most are close to twice), so the final liquid volume must be less than the poured water volume. If you still do not understand, Front Street will use a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15 to calculate: the coffee grounds will take away 30ml of water, 225 minus 30 equals 195, and 195 divided by 15 equals 13, so the final result is 195ml of coffee liquid, corresponding to a ratio of 1:13.

Why does Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) insist on 1:15?

The reference range given by SCA Golden Cup extraction is: extraction yield 18%-22%, concentration 1.15%-1.45%. Coffee falling within this range is generally considered to be in the “delicious zone.” From the relevant charts, 1:17 has the largest area passing through the Golden Cup range, meaning it is the easiest to hit the Golden Cup, followed by 1:16 and 1:18. By contrast, 1:15 is hard to squeeze into the Golden Cup range. According to this logic, is Front Street’s recommendation wrong?

After a long period of operation and experimentation, Front Street found that when baristas widen the coffee-to-water ratio to 1:18, although both extraction yield and concentration can fall within the Golden Cup range, it easily brings out unpleasant flavors—concentration is maintained, but extraction yield is hard to stabilize.

Switching to 1:16 for brewing also ensures extraction yield and concentration, but the flavor always feels a bit thin. When used to brew medium-dark roasted beans, the body does not come through. 1:16 is more suitable for beans that need to clearly present flavor layers, such as Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) La Esmeralda washed Green Label Geisha. Geisha itself is resistant to extraction, and its flavors are concentrated. Appropriately widening the coffee-to-water ratio can make Green Label Geisha’s rich floral aroma and bright acidity clearer.

Back to the main topic. After many brewing experiments with light-roasted beans, Front Street found that the concentration corresponding to 1:15 is roughly 1.35%-1.42%, and the extraction yield is about 17.79%-18.73%. Although from the Golden Cup standard it is only treading on the edge of qualification, sensory tests show that the flavor is very suitable, without the sharp acidity or astringency caused by under-extraction, and it can also adapt to the vast majority of coffee beans. Compared with larger coffee-to-water ratios that easily over-extract or turn bitter, 1:15 is a conservative and stable choice, and more than 80% of beans can be produced with this ratio.

Are the Golden Cup extraction parameters wrong?

Not at all. The Golden Cup extraction range is a parameter obtained by SCA using immersion extraction (such as cupping), while daily pour-over belongs to the drip filtration type. The water flow stirs the coffee grounds, and the extraction efficiency is higher, so Front Street appropriately narrows the coffee-to-water ratio when brewing. It is not that 1:15 is necessarily right, nor that 1:16 to 1:18 is necessarily wrong. Ultimately it still depends on bean freshness, grind size, water temperature, equipment, and the brewer’s taste preference. Parameters vary from person to person, and there is no absolute right or wrong. As long as you like the coffee you brew, that is the best result.

How does Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) brew with 1:15?

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) usually uses three-stage extraction. First, it can more fully extract the coffee’s flavor substances and enhance layering; second, it has strong compatibility and can better express the flavors of beans from different origins and different roast levels.

How do you brew a cup of coffee using the three-stage method?

First get ready: warm the dripper and server, grind the coffee grounds, prepare water at a suitable temperature, and then pour in the coffee grounds.

Begin the first pour while starting the timer. Pour in 30 grams of hot water in the first stage, circling from the center outward. After absorbing water, the coffee grounds slowly expand, forming a plump “coffee burger,” and wait 30 seconds for blooming.

When the electronic scale shows the 31st second, begin the second pour, still circling from the center outward, keeping the water flow stable and vertical. When the water column hits the coffee bed, foam appears. This stage lets the coffee foam release and cover the entire surface of the coffee bed, and the liquid level rises to the base of the short ribs. The poured water volume for this stage is 100 grams.

When the liquid level drops to the halfway point, begin the final pour. This stage also pours 95 grams along the center outward in an “aroma-seeking” pattern. The originally dark brown foam gradually turns light yellow, and the liquid level also returns to the height at the time of the second pour. After all the coffee liquid flows into the server, remove the dripper, and extraction is complete.

Finally, note:

In three-stage extraction, the first stage is responsible for awakening flavor molecules, the second stage extracts sweet and sour flavor molecules, and the third stage extracts mellow flavor molecules.

After extraction is complete, the coffee liquid in the server will separate into layers because the density of each stage’s liquid is different. So after brewing, remember to shake clockwise to fully integrate all the flavors before tasting.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.