A good French press coffee ratio is 1:15 to 1:18, or 1 g of coffee for every 15 to 18 g of water. For 350 g of water (about 12 oz), that's about 19 to 23 g of coffee, and for a full 1 liter press it's about 56 to 67 g.
| Water | Coffee at 1:15 | Coffee at 1:16 | Coffee at 1:18 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 350 g | 23.3 g | 21.9 g | 19.4 g |
| 500 g | 33.3 g | 31.3 g | 27.8 g |
| 600 g | 40.0 g | 37.5 g | 33.3 g |
| 800 g | 53.3 g | 50.0 g | 44.4 g |
| 1,000 g | 66.7 g | 62.5 g | 55.6 g |
What roasters use
- Stumptown Coffee Roasters: 56 g of coffee to 850 g of water, about 1:15, steeped for about 4 minutes.
- Sightglass Coffee: 38 g of coffee to 600 g of water, about 1:16, steeped for 4 minutes.
- Counter Culture Coffee: 45 g of coffee to 800 g of water, which it calls 1:18, steeped for 6 minutes.
For context, the Specialty Coffee Association's Golden Cup guideline of 55 g per liter works out to roughly 1:18. Counter Culture sits right on it, while Stumptown brews noticeably stronger. Both are reasonable. It comes down to how you like your cup.
Choosing your French press coffee ratio
A French press is an immersion brewer. All the coffee sits in all the water for the whole steep, and the coarse grounds soak up some water and stay behind when you pour. That makes the ratio easy to tune:
- Drink it black? Try 1:16 to 1:18 for a cleaner, lighter cup.
- Add milk or cream? Go toward 1:15 so the coffee flavor doesn't get lost.
- Tastes muddy? Check your grind before changing the ratio. Fine particles slip past the mesh filter.
Here's a worked example. Say you pour 500 g of water into your press. At 1:16 you'd use 31.3 g of coffee. If that tastes a little thin, try 33.3 g next time for 1:15. If it tastes heavy, drop to 27.8 g for 1:18. Keep the grind and steep time the same while you test, so you know the ratio caused the change.
Also remember that you'll pour out a bit less coffee than the water you put in, because the grounds hold some back.
Step by step French press
- Heat water to just off the boil, about 205°F.
- Weigh your coffee and grind it coarse. Counter Culture compares the texture to kosher salt, and Stumptown to breadcrumbs.
- Add the grounds, then pour in the water. Stir gently so everything is wet.
- Steep for 4 minutes. Counter Culture goes as long as 6.
- Press slowly, then pour all the coffee out right away so it doesn't keep steeping on the grounds.
Common mistakes
- Filling past the fill line, which leaves no room for the plunger.
- Grinding too fine, which makes pressing hard and the cup gritty.
- Guessing with scoops. A heaped scoop of coarse grounds can weigh very differently from a level one.
- Leaving coffee in the press after plunging, so it keeps extracting and turns bitter.
To weigh the coffee, a MeasureMate digital measuring spoon scoops and weighs in one step and reads in 0.1 g steps, so a 22 g dose for a small press is quick to hit. For a big press, weigh a few scoops and tap the tare button between them to zero the reading.
Quick questions
How many grams of coffee for a 1 liter French press?
About 56 to 67 g, for a ratio between 1:18 and 1:15. Start around 62.5 g, which is 1:16, and adjust.
How many tablespoons of coffee for a French press?
Stumptown calls its 56 g dose about 8 tablespoons, roughly 7 g per tablespoon of coarse grounds. Spoon weights vary, so a scale is more reliable.
How long should French press coffee steep?
Four minutes is the most common recommendation. Counter Culture steeps for 6.
Ratios based on Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Sightglass Coffee, Counter Culture Coffee and the Specialty Coffee Association Golden Cup guideline.