Espresso Ratio Calculator

How to Use This Calculator

1. Enter your dose — the weight of ground coffee in the basket, in grams.
2. Enter your yield — the weight of espresso in the cup. The ratio updates as you type.
3. Add the shot time if you have it. The calculator turns it into a flow rate in grams per second.
4. Or choose a style — Ristretto, Normale, or Lungo sets a ratio and works out the yield for your dose.

The calculator holds the ratio when you change the dose, so a recipe scales with the basket: 18 g at 1:2 becomes 20 g at 1:2 without you doing the arithmetic. Once you have touched it, the address bar carries the recipe, so a link to this page is a link to the shot.

Understanding Espresso Ratios

An espresso brew ratio is dose to yield by weight, written 1:x. Eighteen grams in and thirty-six out is 1:2, which is where most bars start and where we start too. Filter ratios like the ones in ourChemex calculator count the water going in; espresso ratios count the coffee coming out, because so much water stays behind in the puck.

The names are ranges, not rules:

• Ristretto — under 1:1.5. Short, syrupy, and sweet when it works, sour when it doesn't.
• Normale — 1:1.5 to 1:2.5. The everyday shot, and the one to dial in first.
• Lungo — over 1:2.5. Longer and lighter in body, with more of the coffee's acidity and clarity.

Dialing In With the Ratio

Change the yield and the ratio follows, which is how a shot gets dialed in. If it tastes sour and thin, let it run longer or grind finer. If it tastes bitter and hollow, stop it sooner or grind coarser. Time is optional, but the flow rate it gives you is a useful second opinion: a shot that reaches its yield in a hurry usually wants a finer grind before it wants a different ratio, and a shot that sprays and spits is channeling, not running long.

Nothing here is a verdict. Taste decides. The number is only there so that a good shot can be repeated tomorrow.