Most coffee enthusiasts agree that those served in coffee shops have a different kind of taste that makes them spend their hard-earned money without guilt.
The good thing is you can prepare your favorite perk-me-up beverage by using freshly ground beans with the help of grinders.
However, not knowing how many coffee beans to grind per cup and improperly measuring your coffee beans can lead to a poor-quality cup of Joe.
Let’s provide you with the necessary information to avoid wasting your beans and freshly brewed coffee.
How Many Coffee Beans To Grind per Cup
Keep in mind that when we say "how many beans," we refer to the coffee beans measurement instead of the actual count of beans.
After all, coffee bean manufacturers also use weight instead of numbers or count in their products.
The Standard Measurement
It is quite challenging to determine how many beans you need to grind to prepare a cup of coffee.
As such, experts refer to the standard set by the Specialty Coffee Association in terms of the ideal amount of grind coffee to use.
That is, for every six ounces of water, it’s best to use two tablespoons of ground coffee.
Using this ratio, you would need to grind 0.38 ounces or 10.60 grams of coffee beans for six ounces of coffee or one small cup.
However, this measurement depends on several factors.
Factors Affecting the Amount of Beans To Use
Adjusting the measurement when certain factors change will ensure you still meet the standard ratio (two tablespoons of grind coffee for every cup) for making a good cup of brewed coffee.
There are two essential factors that you need to make a note of when it comes to determining how many beans to grind for every cup of coffee, namely:
1. How Much Is One Cup
Not all coffee brewing appliances use six ounces as the standard for every cup.
Likewise, the cup you use to drink your coffee might also have a different capacity.
With that in mind, the other most common measurements are eight and nine ounces.
You would need to grind 0.51 ounces or 14.13 grams of beans for every eight ounces and 0.57 ounces or 15.90 grams for every nine ounces.
Thus, always make sure you read your brewing appliance’s specs and determine how many ounces is “your one cup” to ensure you use the right amount of beans.
2. Coffee Brewing Appliance
You’ll find that there are several ways to brew coffee, such as coffee makers, French presses, and espresso machines.
The standard ratios, 0.38, 0.52, and 0.57 ounces per cup, work best for preparing drip or pour-over and French press coffee.
For the other brewing methods, you would need to adjust the measurement, as follows:
- Percolator
This appliance is one of the most cost-efficient ways to brew coffee at home because it needs a minimal amount of grind coffee.
You would only need 3/4 tablespoons of ground coffee for a six-ounce cup, one tablespoon for an eight-ounce cup, and one-and-one-eight tablespoons for a nine-ounce cup.
Those numbers equate to 0.19, 0.26, and 0.29 ounces of coffee beans.
- Espresso Machine
If you’ve been drinking coffee for a long time, you know that coffee produced from an espresso machine is strong.
You also usually use a small shot glass hence the name espresso shot.
With that in mind, the recommended grind coffee to water ratio is one tablespoon to one ounce.
That means you would need to grind 0.19 ounces of coffee beans for one espresso shot glass.
How Do You Measure Coffee Beans for Grinding?
Knowing how many coffee beans to grind per cup and when to adjust aren’t enough to have a good cup of Joe.
You also need to learn how to measure your beans properly.
Similar to ensuring you use the right amount of ingredients for your vegetable smoothie, the best way to measure your coffee beans is with a kitchen scale.
More specifically, a digital scale. It is more precise and allows better control, even when measuring in small amounts.
Most of them are also capable of removing external interferences such as wind, dust, and dirt.
If you still don’t have a digital kitchen scale or want to upgrade, choose a model with two decimal places and at least two units of measurement: grams and ounces.
The steps you need to take are:
1. Prepare
The first thing you need to do is compute the specific number of cups of Joe you want to prepare.
Then, place the kitchen scale on a flat surface and turn it on.
2. Zero In
Next, take the cup or bowl that you’ll use to contain the beans and place it on top of the kitchen scale.
Zero-in the scale by pressing the Tare function to ensure it doesn’t include the container’s weight in the reading.
3. Measure
Once the reading is at zero, place a few coffee beans in the container until you reach the desired measurement.
Determining How Many Coffee Beans To Grind
Apart from the recommended measurement discussed above, there is a way to determine how many coffee beans you need to grind per cup.
This technique can come in handy if you don’t have a scale or don't want to keep using the scale every time you use your grinder.
You would only need a measuring spoon. Though bags of coffee beans come with scoops, wherein one scoop is equivalent to two tablespoons, experts don’t recommend that you use them.
For this technique, you need to:
- Measure four tablespoons of coffee beans and then grind.
- Next, measure two tablespoons of the ground coffee for each six-ounce cup of coffee you want to prepare or 2 ¾ tablespoons for every eight-ounce cup and three tablespoons for every nine-ounce cup.
- If you used all the grind coffee and still need more, grind one tablespoon of coffee beans and repeat step #2 until you achieve the total amount of coffee grind you need for the total number of cups of coffee you’re preparing.
- Take note of the number of tablespoons you used. This way, you already have an idea of how many coffee beans to use per cup the next time you grind and brew.
Don’t Waste Your Beans!
Refrain from wasting your beans by making sure you don’t grind more than what you need.
Although you can save it for later, it defeats your main goal. You can also brew it in one go, but you would need to reheat the next cups of coffee.
Keep in mind that the secret to how many beans you need per cup of coffee you want to prepare is the recommended number of tablespoons of grind coffee for every cup of water.
Use this guide as a starting point, and then adjust based on how strong or weak you want your caffeine dose will be.
After all, we all have different taste buds.