Do you often struggle with figuring out how to make a perfect pot of coffee? Do you wish you had a clear answer for how many ounces in a coffee pot? Is the flavor different every time? Is it difficult to get a consistent strength every time you brew coffee? Well, you can stop worrying about it because we’re gonna show you step-by-step the tricks to create a delicious coffee pot.
Measuring your coffee pot properly is a skill that anyone can get, but it takes a bit of practicing to get right the first time. However, once you do, you’ll be able to make a tasty coffee pot with a balanced flavor and aroma.
Of course, there are many things you must consider in order to make this coffee pot taste good. Factors like the type of coffee beans you are using, their roasting process, if you use filtered water, a paper filter or a flat-bottom filter, the brew time, and brew pospeed. The compounds that make up your coffee beans play a very important role, and they are affected by every element surrounding them. Let’s just say, finding the recipe that works for you will take a bit of tweaking and trying.
Another element that needs to be taken into account is the brewing methods available. A French press uses a different amount of coffee and hot water than Mr. Coffee automatic drip coffeemakers, a Moka pot uses different tablespoons of coffee, and so on. However, most home coffee makers normally use around the same grams of ground coffee and the same amount of water. It’s always a good idea to read the instructions, though.
Along with the brewing method comes the grind size, as different machines may use finer grinds or maybe coarse grinds. That’s why it’s important to invest in a good burr grinder that will improve the general quality of your coffee. Read our favorite Burr coffee grinders of 2021 here.
All of these factors will affect your final coffee’s profile, meaning its taste, acidity, and aroma. So you need to be mindful of them when brewing your coffee pot. Today we are specifically solving a big question most coffee drinkers have, which is: how many ounces in a coffee pot?
Are you ready to figure out how to make a full pot of coffee? Let’s get started!
How many coffee ounces for a cup?
First thing first… We need to figure out how many cups you want to brew. One thing we want to make clear, though, is that oz cup sizes are not standard across the world – which is why you’ll find 8 oz cups, 12 oz cups, 16 oz cups, and other different sizes.
The reason? Cups are not an internationally recognized standard of measurement, so making a consistent cup of coffee across the world can be trickier than expected. For example, in the metric system, the cup size is 250 milliliters – which is about 8.45 fluid ounces – but the coffee standard cup in the United States is 8 fluid ounces.
So the question remains, how many coffee ounces do we need for a cup of coffee?
If you are in a hurry and just want an easy answer for your morning cup that you can follow right now, the general rule of thumb for brewing the perfect cup of coffee is to use 1-2 tablespoons for every 6 ounces of water.
Here’s another way: you can use 0.36 oz of coffee per cup. If you don’t have a precision scale, don’t worry, most coffee makers come with a scoop, and a scoop equals 0.36 oz. Simple, right?
For the tastiest coffee extraction, there is a “perfect” coffee to water ratio that never fails, especially if you’re still getting the hang of coffee brewing: The golden ratio is 1:16 parts coffee to water. This can be grams or volume, but we recommend grams. So per 1 gram of coffee, add 16 grams of water; 22 grams of coffee to 352 grams of water, and so on.
Adding any more coffee than that is just wasting coffee since you can only extract so much caffeine before you over-extract flavors. Of course, there are other factors, like grind size, brew time, and water temperature, but the coffee to water ratio is probably the most important one.
How much coffee ground does a coffee maker need?
Let’s start with the simple part. If you want to make just enough for one cup of coffee, a good starting point is simply pouring 6 fluid ounces of water in your coffee maker’s water tank, and adding one coffee scoop of ground coffee in the filter basket. Let it brew for a couple of minutes, and you’ll get exactly one cup of coffee ready for you.
However, if you really need a strong coffee, consider using Robusta coffee beans, as Robusta has more caffeine than Arabica. Also, you can choose a lighter roast, as lightly roasted coffee beans tend to have higher caffeine numbers. Either way, you can change the numbers a bit: add 9 fluid oz of water and 3 tablespoons of ground coffee for a stronger cup.
If you have people over or need to brew coffee for more people in the office or gathering, here’s the answer. If you want to prepare 4 cups of coffee, add 4 scoops of ground coffee beans (or 8 tablespoons). Want stronger coffee? Add 10 tablespoons for the same four cups of coffee.
Here’s a tip: Use your coffee maker as a guide. Most coffee makers have lines on the side of the water tank to represent a cup, and numbers to represent the number of tablespoons. You can tweak it to make it more or less strong, according to what you prefer.
Just a starting point
At the end of the day, it depends entirely on your preferences. We offered a couple of solutions that are guaranteed to make everyone happy but if you feel like you need stronger coffee or less fluidity, feel free to make any necessary changes to make YOU happy. It is YOUR cup of coffee, whatever size that is, after all! Just have fun with it.
Remember this is just a guide, and coffee is here to make us happy – so feel free to play with the numbers to make your perfect pot of coffee. There is no right way to make it, and individual taste preferences play a big role. So enjoy using your creativity to create a great coffee pot. Enjoy your delicious coffee pot!
We hope this article was useful to you! Let us know in the comments if you tried our ideas and how they turned out.