How much coffee per cup?
The short answer: about 15–16 g of coffee for a standard 250 ml mug. The useful answer depends on your cup size, method, and how strong you like it.
Last updated February 2026
A simple rule of thumb
Use roughly 1 gram of coffee for every 16 grams of water. A typical mug holds about 250 ml (250 g) of water, so that's around 15–16 g of coffee, or about 3 level tablespoons. Scale it up linearly: two mugs need about 30 g, three need about 45 g.
By cup size
- Small cup (180 ml): about 11 g of coffee (~2 tbsp).
- Standard mug (250 ml): about 15–16 g of coffee (~3 tbsp).
- Large mug (350 ml): about 22 g of coffee (~4 tbsp).
These assume a balanced 1:16 ratio. If you like a bolder cup, nudge toward 1:15; for something lighter, try 1:17.
Does the brew method change it?
A little. French press is usually brewed slightly stronger (around 1:15), while pour over and drip sit near 1:16. Espresso is a different world entirely — roughly 1:2 coffee to water — and cold brew concentrate uses far more coffee, around 1:5. The coffee amount calculator adjusts automatically when you pick a method.
Why weighing beats scooping
A tablespoon of light-roast beans weighs less than the same scoop of oily dark roast, and ground coffee packs differently than whole beans. That variation is enough to shift a cup from balanced to weak. If you want repeatable results, weigh your coffee — it takes seconds and removes the guesswork.
Dial it in
Start with the numbers above, taste, and adjust by a gram or two. Once you find your sweet spot, note the ratio and reuse it every time with the ratio calculator.