The French press ratio to start with
The National Coffee Association gives a French press range of "1 gram of coffee to 10 to 16 grams of water". Stumptown's French press recipe uses 56 g of coffee and 850 g of water in an 8-cup press, which is about 1:15. We use 1:15 as the middle, 1:17 for lighter and 1:13 for stronger. Open the coffee ratio calculator on French press to set your cup size.
Amounts by press size
| Press / amount | Water | Coffee (g) | Coffee in tablespoons (≈ 6 g) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup (8 fl oz) | 237 ml | 16 g | ≈ 2.5 tbsp |
| 2 cups (16 fl oz) | 473 ml | 32 g | ≈ 5 tbsp |
| Small press (350 ml) | 350 ml | 23 g | ≈ 4 tbsp |
| Large press (850 g, Stumptown) | 850 g | 56 g | 8 tbsp (Stumptown) |
Grams = water in ml ÷ 15. Tablespoons are approximate, because a level tablespoon of ground coffee weighs about 5 to 7 g; see tablespoons of coffee per cup.
Brew it in 4 steps
- Weigh and grind. Grind coarse, like breadcrumbs (Stumptown) or rock salt (National Coffee Association).
- Add water just off the boil. About 205 °F (Stumptown) or 93 ± 3 °C (NCA). Pour to saturate the grounds.
- Stir and steep. Stumptown stirs at 1:00 and presses at 4:00 total.
- Press and pour at once. Pour any coffee you won't serve right away into a carafe, so it doesn't keep extracting.
French press grind size
Both sources say coarse: "coarse like breadcrumbs" (Stumptown) and "coarse (like rock salt)" (National Coffee Association). A fine grind slips through the metal filter and makes a muddy, bitter cup and a hard press. If your cup is thin and sour, grind a touch finer; if it is bitter and silty, coarser. Our grind size chart shows it next to the other methods.
Grams per cup across drip, pour over and French press
| Water | Drip (1:14 to 1:18) | Pour over (1:14 to 1:17) | French press (1:13 to 1:17) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 fl oz (177 ml) | 13–10 g | 13–10 g | 14–10 g |
| 8 fl oz (237 ml) | 17–13 g | 17–14 g | 18–14 g |
| 10 fl oz (296 ml) | 21–16 g | 21–17 g | 23–17 g |
| 12 fl oz (355 ml) | 25–20 g | 25–21 g | 27–21 g |
Grams = water in ml ÷ ratio, from the strong to the mild end of each method's range in our ratio data. Last checked 2026-11-04.