What ratio for V60 brewing?

Standard V60 ratio is 1:16 to 1:17 — 15 g of coffee to 240 ml of water, or 60 g of coffee to 1 litre. That ratio targets a cup TDS of 1.25-1.45 % and an extraction yield of 18-22 %, landing squarely in the 'Golden Cup' window defined by the SCA. You then fine-tune it by roast level, bean density and personal taste preference.

V60 ratio sits inside the Golden Cup zone defined by the Specialty Coffee Association — a balance window where coffee extracts cleanly (18-22 % extraction yield, meaning the percentage of mass dissolved into the liquid compared with the dry dose) and concentrates cleanly (TDS 1.15-1.45 %). A 1:15 ratio (66 g/L) yields a stronger, fuller cup leaning on body and sweetness; 1:17 (59 g/L) yields a lighter, more aromatic cup that lets floral and fruity notes breathe on light coffees; 1:18 (56 g/L) starts to feel diluted for most origins, with loss of definition. 1:16 is the most common compromise among filter baristas.

In practice, with a 0.1 g precision scale, weigh the coffee and multiply by 16 (or 15 or 17 by preference) to get the water. 15 g × 16 = 240 ml for one cup; 20 g × 16 = 320 ml for a larger cup; 30 g × 16 = 480 ml for two cups or a thermos; 60 g × 16 = 960 ml for a Chemex or a small group pourover. Gram accuracy matters: a 2 g drift on a 15 g / 240 ml recipe is 13 % variation on dose, which shifts the cup audibly toward sour or bitter.

Ratio choice also depends on the bean. A washed Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, delicate and floral, opens best on 1:17, where the profile breathes and jasmine and bergamot notes can ring out. A chocolate-hazelnut washed Colombia Huila pairs better with 1:15, which densifies body and rounds sweetness. A Kenya AA, with intense malic acidity and a syrupy body, holds well at a neutral 1:16. Darker roasts (rare on V60 in specialty) want a more open ratio, 1:17 or 1:18, to soften bitterness.

A subtlety worth knowing: ratio is usually net — the 240 ml is the water poured into the cone, not the final cup volume. Ground coffee absorbs around 2 ml of water per gram, i.e. 30 ml for a 15 g recipe. The cup then holds roughly 210 effective ml (240 - 30). That 'loss' drifts slightly with grind (finer = more absorbent) and freshness (fresher coffee holds more water because of CO₂). In Belgium, specialty shops in Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp and Liège almost always put their V60 recipe on a chalkboard — dose, water, time, sometimes TDS — in a transparency-and-reproducibility spirit that has firmly settled into the Belgian scene since the mid-2010s.

V60 ratios — conversion table