Brew Method Reference
Grind, ratio, dose and water for two common cup sizes, contact time, and an illustrative Extraction Yield band — one row per method this site has a real brew-ratio convention for, computed from the same functions behind the calculators above.
Method-by-method reference
| Method | Grind | Ratio | Water, 15g dose | Water, 30g dose | Contact time | EY at 1.35% TDS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Espresso | Fine 200–400µm | 1:2 | 30g | 60g | 25–30 sec | — |
| Moka Pot | Fine–medium 300–500µm | 1:10 | 150g | 300g | 4–5 min | — |
| French Press | Coarse 1000–1500µm | 1:15 | 225g | 450g | 4 min | 20.25% (ideal) |
| Pour-Over (V60 / Kalita) | Medium 600–800µm | 1:16 | 240g | 480g | 2.5–3.5 min | 18.9% (ideal) |
| Auto-Drip | Medium 600–850µm | 1:17 | 255g | 510g | 4–6 min | 20.25% (ideal) |
| Cold Brew | Extra coarse 1000–1600µm | 1:8 | 120g | 240g | 12–24 hr (steeped) | — |
Cold Brew: Concentrate — diluted with water or milk before drinking, so this ratio describes the steep, not the final drink.
How to read the two right-hand columns
The water columns come straight from the same solver behind the Coffee-to-Water Ratio Calculator: for each method’s ratio, waterG = doseG × ratio. Doubling the dose from 15g to 30g exactly doubles the water — that’s the whole recipe-scaling relationship in one glance.
The Extraction Yield column applies only to French press, pour-over, and drip — the three methods where the SCA’s filter “gold cup” 18–22% band is the right reference frame at all. It shows what EY% would come out of the TDS & Extraction Yield Calculator if a refractometer read the widely cited 1.35% reference TDS at that method’s ratio — it is a fixed comparison point, not a prediction of what any method actually measures. Espresso and moka pot brew at a far higher TDS in a different pressure-driven regime, and cold brew is a concentrate diluted after the fact, so the filter gold-cup band isn’t a meaningful reference for any of the three and they show a dash instead.
For pour-over and drip the column divides by the liquid that reaches the cup, not the water poured: spent grounds keep back about twice their dry weight (a common rule of thumb), so a 15g pour-over at 1:16 pours 240g and serves about 210g. French press is an immersion brew, so its whole 225g of brew water counts. The same 1.35% reading then lands pour-over at 18.9%, drip at 20.25% and French press at 20.25%. A looser ratio sits higher in the band at the same TDS, which is why it usually wants a slightly coarser grind or shorter contact time to taste the same.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do pour-over and drip show different Extraction Yield at the same 1.35% TDS?
Extraction Yield is calculated as EY% = TDS% x (beverage mass / dose mass), so at a fixed TDS reading, a looser ratio (more water per gram of coffee) produces a higher EY%. For pour-over and drip the beverage is the liquid that reaches the cup, not the water poured: the spent grounds keep back about twice their dry weight (a common rule of thumb), so a 15g dose at 1:16 pours 240g and serves about 210g, which puts 1.35% TDS at 18.9%. Drip's looser 1:17 serves about 225g and lands at 20.25%. Both sit inside the 18-22% band; the looser ratio simply sits higher in it.
Why does French press use all the water and pour-over only the cup?
French press is an immersion brew: the liquid left in the grounds is the same brew at the same strength as your cup, so the solids dissolved in it count toward extraction, and the whole 225g of brew water stands in for the beverage (20.25% at 1.35% TDS). In a pour-over the water drains through the bed and the liquid held back in the grounds is not the cup's strength, so only what reaches the cup counts. When you weigh your own brew for the TDS & Extraction Yield Calculator, a press gives a truer reading if you enter the brew water; a pour-over, the weight of the cup.
Does the Extraction Yield column change if I brew a bigger batch?
No. EY% only depends on TDS and the ratio between beverage mass and dose, and both stay fixed when you scale a recipe proportionally. Doubling the dose from 15g to 30g doubles the water right along with it, so the ratio — and therefore the illustrative EY% at a given TDS — comes out identical. See the dose-scaling guide linked below for the full worked example.
Why don't Turkish, AeroPress, Chemex, siphon, or percolator have a ratio in this table?
This site hasn't established a fixed weight ratio for those methods. Turkish coffee and moka-style pots are traditionally sized by a fixed pot or cup-count rather than a scale reading, and AeroPress recipes are deliberately flexible — see the Grind Size Guide's own note on it. Their grind and contact-time data is still covered there; this table only lists methods with a specific 1:R convention already in use on this site.
Is 1.35% TDS what my brew will actually measure?
Not necessarily — it's the SCA gold-cup chart's own commonly cited reference reading, used here as one fixed point of comparison across methods, not a prediction. TDS is set by grind size, water temperature, and contact time, not by which ratio you chose. Measure your own brew with a refractometer and run it through the TDS & Extraction Yield Calculator for your actual number.
Ratios and the illustrative TDS reading are starting points and reference conventions, not universal laws — brew to taste and adjust from here.
Use it with
- Coffee-to-Water Ratio Calculator— solve dose, water, or ratio directly for a size this table doesn’t cover.
- TDS & Extraction Yield Calculator— plug in your own refractometer reading instead of the illustrative one used here.
- Grind Size Guide— the full set of methods, including the ones without a fixed ratio.