Cold Brew Coffee Ratio Calculator
Get the right amount of ground coffee for your cold brew at any coffee-to-water ratio.
Result
How it is calculated
Enter the water in millilitres (the tool treats 1 ml as 1 g) and the ratio as the N in 1:N, coffee to water by weight. The formulas are coffee (g) = water ÷ N, tablespoons = coffee ÷ 5 and servings = water ÷ 240.
The tablespoon figure assumes about 5 g of grounds per tablespoon, which varies with grind size and how heaped the spoon is, so a scale is more accurate. A serving is taken as 240 ml of water, not of finished drink; if you dilute a concentrate, the number of glasses you end up with is larger. Coffee grams are rounded to a whole number, and both water and ratio must be greater than zero.
Worked example
You want to brew 1000 ml of water at a 1:8 ratio.
Coffee: 1000 ÷ 8 = 125 g. Tablespoons: 125 ÷ 5 = 25.0 tbsp. Servings: 1000 ÷ 240 = 4.2. So 125 g of coarse grounds steeped in a litre of water makes a strong concentrate you can dilute to taste.
Common mistakes
- Entering the ratio as 8:1 or as 0.125. The field expects the N of 1:N, so 8 means one part coffee to eight parts water.
- Entering the amount of finished drink instead of the water you add. The grounds absorb some water, and a concentrate is diluted later.
- Trusting the tablespoon figure for precision. Five grams per spoon is an approximation; weigh the grounds if you want repeatable results.
- Reading servings as cups of drink. It is simply water divided by 240 ml, before dilution or absorption.
About this calculator
Cold brew coffee is made by steeping coarsely ground coffee in room-temperature or cold water for 12–24 hours rather than using heat and pressure, and the result is governed almost entirely by the coffee-to-water ratio — commonly 1:4 to 1:8 by weight for a concentrate meant to be diluted, or closer to 1:15 for ready-to-drink strength — since cold extraction pulls out flavor compounds far more slowly than hot brewing.
Because there's no heat to speed up extraction, ratio is the primary lever cold brew makers have to control strength and bitterness: a tighter ratio (more coffee per water) yields a concentrated syrup diluted later with water, milk, or ice, while a looser ratio produces a brew that's ready to drink straight from the fridge.
Home coffee enthusiasts dialing in their cold brew, coffee shops standardizing a house recipe, and coffee equipment guides all reference specific coffee-to-water ratios like this because, unlike hot brewing, temperature and time are less forgiving levers for cold extraction — ratio does most of the work.
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