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 | 21.6% (ideal) |
| Auto-Drip | Medium 600–850µm | 1:17 | 255g | 510g | 4–6 min | 22.95% (over) |
| 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.
Notice that the same 1.35% reading lands French press and pour-over inside the ideal band but pushes drip’s looser 1:17 ratio just over it, at 22.95%. That’s the ratio-vs-TDS relationship working exactly as the formula says: a looser ratio needs a lower TDS to land in the same place, which in practice means a coarser grind, cooler water, or shorter contact time than a tighter ratio needs to reach the same band.
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) always produces a higher EY%. Drip's 1:17 ratio pushes the same 1.35% reading up to 22.95% (over the 18-22% band); pour-over's tighter 1:16 lands at 21.6% (still inside it). This isn't a claim that drip machines over-extract in general — it shows why hitting the same TDS at a looser ratio takes a coarser grind or shorter contact time than reaching it at a tighter one.
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.