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How Much Coffee for Drip Coffee Maker?

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If you’ve decided to purchase your own coffee maker to have at home, you’ve just made a wise investment.

Just think of all the money you’ll save by avoiding trips to your local barista every morning!

Then again, it’s one thing owning a coffee maker and is quite another to know how to use it properly. This is especially true when it comes to getting the strength just right.

As authorities on the subject of coffee, we’re often contacted by fellow coffee-lovers asking how much coffee for drip coffee maker is needed.

Below, we’ll take a look at how to brew the perfect cup. We’ll also include tips on finding the ideal strength that meets your needs.

How Much Coffee for Drip Coffee Maker Is Needed?

Half of the battle of making a great cup of coffee at home is ensuring you get the strength just right.

Of course, some people enjoy stronger coffee than others, but it’s best to start by making your coffee to standard strength.

Learning how to make a standard-strength cup of coffee is useful for when you have guests over.

It’s also a good starting point for working out your preferred strength and learning how much coffee for drip coffee maker you should use each time.

The Importance of Measuring

If you try to guess the amount of coffee you use each time you make it, the coffee you brew will always be inconsistent.

Plus, there’s no point in wasting your favorite coffee grounds on coffee that’s too weak or too strong for your tastes.

For this reason, it’s important to develop good habits when it comes to measuring your grounds and water accurately for each fresh pot you make.

After all, once it’s brewed, there’s no way of adjusting the strength as you can’t just stir in more beans!

We highly recommend that you invest in small kitchen scales that will weigh your coffee. They will offer you the best accuracy in the kitchen.

If you’re making do without scales, then we’ll also give you the measurements in spoonfuls. Be warned, though; it can lead to more inconsistent results.

How to Make Standard-Strength Coffee

To make a universally-acceptable, standard-strength pot of coffee, you should use 30 grams of whole coffee beans for every half liter (or 17 fluid ounces) of water.

This is a ratio of around one part coffee to every 17 parts of water.

The Two-Cup Recipe

Below, we’ve outlined how to make two cups of coffee. This recipe and method can be doubled for four cups or tripled for six cups.

This would depend on how many people in the house are drinking coffee and how many cups of coffee it takes each of you to get going in the morning.

Step 1: Measure the Water 

To make two cups of coffee, you’ll need to measure 355 ml of water, which is equal to 12 fluid ounces or one-and-a-half cups.

Some drip coffee makers come complete with measurements on the side of the carafe. This is to show you how much water or coffee is contained within.

If yours doesn’t show measurements, then you can use another liquid-measuring apparatus in your kitchen, such as a measuring jug.

Failing that, you can use your kitchen scales by weighing out 355 grams of water.

Put your empty carafe on your scales and press the Reset or Tare button so that the scales have a reading of zero.

Then, slowly fill up the carafe with water until the scales show that you have 355 grams in total.

Once you’ve got the right amount of water in your carafe or measuring jug, add the water to the back of the drip coffee maker.

Step 2: Measure the Coffee

Next up, you need to measure out 21 grams of your coffee grounds (for two cups of coffee).

Place a clean bowl on top of the scales and, once again, reset or tare the scale back to zero. Scoop your coffee beans or grounds into the bowl until the scale read 21 grams.

If you have beans, then you can grind them before or after weighing; it doesn’t matter.

If you’re measuring coffee without scales, 21 grams of coffee is going to be around four tablespoons of ground coffee.

A slightly heaped tablespoon of ground coffee measures around five grams.

So, you can afford to measure out four heaped tablespoons, being slightly more generous with the final spoonful, to try and account for the extra gram you’ll need.

Alternatively, you can also measure out a quarter of a cup of grounds.

Step 3: Brew and Enjoy

Place your filter in the coffee maker, add your grounds, and you’re ready to go. Close the top of the machine and switch it on to start the brewing process.

The Taste Test

By now, you’ve brewed and tasted your first standard-strength coffee. You can decide whether it’s perfect already, or if you’d prefer it a little weaker or stronger next time.

If the standard-strength coffee is a good strength for you, then you already know everything you need to know for coffee success every morning.

If, on the other hand, the standard-strength was too strong-tasting or didn’t pack enough punch for you, we need to make some further adjustments to the recipe.

How to Make a Weaker Coffee

If it’s just a tad too strong for you, all you need to do is use the same amount of water, but drop back the coffee amount to 19 or 20 grams.

If you’re measuring using spoons, just use four equally and moderately heaped tablespoons of coffee.

If the brew is still too strong for you, look for a lighter roast coffee next time you buy some.

How to Make a Stronger Coffee

For those of you who like a strong brew in the mornings, we suggest you adjust the ratio of water to coffee to 15:1.

Still use the same amount of water, but measure out 24 grams of coffee this time, or just under five tablespoons.

Note: Converting 24 grams of coffee into cups also gives you a ¼ cup measurement.

So, now, you can see why this form of measuring can be much more inconsistent than weighing the coffee.

Still Not Strong Enough?

Adding extra grounds will adjust the strength of your coffee, but only to a certain degree.

When it comes to drip coffee makers, as with pour-over coffee makers, the water only has a certain amount of time it’s in contact with the grounds.

If you use too much grounds, then you’ll just muddy your coffee and end up wasting grounds.

If you try this strong recipe and the coffee’s still not hitting the spot, then you may need to change your coffee or your brewing method.

You can invest in a darker roast coffee to get a fuller and deeper flavor.

Alternatively, you could try a different brewing method so that the hot water and coffee grounds are allowed a slightly longer brewing time.

Brewing Stronger Coffee Using Another Method

If you’re still reading, then we can assume that you still haven’t managed to achieve making a coffee to be as strong as you like it (at 15:1).

So, as mentioned previously, it’s time to consider a different brewing method.

For a stronger, more full-bodied coffee every time, we recommend you try a French press.

French-Press Coffee Maker

When you make coffee in a French press, you need to buy or use coarsely ground coffee beans.

Because of the space between the course grounds, it becomes even more difficult to measure this coffee accurately without the use of kitchen scales.

So, if you haven’t invested in some scales yet, now is definitely an appropriate time to do so.

The water-to-coffee ratio in a French press is usually between 10:1 and 16:1.

If you’re looking for a really strong cup of coffee, then a 10:1 brewing ratio means you’ll need 35.5 grams of coffee for every 355 ml of water.

Place your (accurately) measured grounds into the French press, add hot water, and allow to brew for around four minutes.

Once the four minutes are up, push the plunger down to separate the grounds from the coffee and pour it!

Conclusion

So, now you know how much coffee to use to make perfect drip coffee every time.

If you’re in a rush, then you can use four heaped tablespoons of coffee for every 12 fluid ounces of water to make two cups.

If you have a scooper that came with your coffee grounds, then you should find that each scoop holds two tablespoons.

This makes measuring even quicker as you just have to add two scoops of coffee into your filter.

However, if you’re looking for a great cup of coffee every time, then it’s much better to measure your coffee accurately to ensure consistency.

If you’ve tried brewing your coffee stronger, and even tried a darker roast, and it’s still not strong enough for you, then it’s time to trade in your coffee maker.

You can sell your drip coffee maker or donate it to a friend before purchasing a machine capable of making your coffee the way you like it.

After all, you’ll just end up back at your local barista’s spending a small fortune if you’re unable to make a great-tasting cup at home.

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