How-to · beginners

Coffee brewing basics

Good coffee at home comes down to four variables you can control: how much coffee you use for a given amount of water, how hot the water is, how fine the grounds are, and how long they stay in contact. Get those roughly right and almost any brewer will make a decent cup.

The National Coffee Association (NCA) puts it simply: the best brewing method is the one that makes the coffee you like to drink, and how you brew affects flavor as much as the bean and the roast. The figures below are its published starting points — adjust from there.

1. The ratio

The ratio is the single biggest lever. The NCA’s “Golden Ratio” for drip coffee is 1 to 2 tablespoons of ground coffee for every 6 ounces of water. If you own a kitchen scale, ratios by weight are more consistent: the NCA gives 1 gram of coffee to 13–16 grams of water for pour-over, and 1:10 to 1:16 for French press. Water weighs about one gram per milliliter, so a 1:15 ratio means 20 g of coffee for 300 ml of water.

2. The water

Start with cold water, filtered if possible, and avoid distilled or softened water, the NCA advises. For pour-over and French press it gives a brewing temperature of 93 ± 3 °C — roughly 194–205 °F. You don’t need a thermometer: let just-boiled water rest about a minute before pouring for pour-over, or about 30 seconds for French press.

3. The grind

Finer grounds extract faster; coarser grounds extract slower, so the grind has to match the contact time. The NCA recommends buying whole beans and grinding just before brewing — ground coffee goes stale in days rather than weeks because of its much larger surface area — ideally with a burr grinder.

Method cheat sheet

Source: National Coffee Association method pages, checked October 2026.

Pour-over, step by step

1. Heat water to about 93 °C (let it rest a minute off the boil).
2. Put the filter in the brewer, rinse it with hot water to remove any papery taste, and discard the rinse water.
3. Add the ground coffee and level the bed.
4. Bloom: pour about twice the coffee’s weight in water (30 g for 15 g of coffee) and wait 30–45 seconds, until the bubbling stops.
5. Pour the rest slowly and steadily, starting in the center and spiraling outward, until you reach your total water and time.
6. Remove the brewer and serve.

French press, step by step

1. Boil water and let it rest about 30 seconds.
2. Add coarse grounds to the carafe and pour in the water.
3. After about a minute a crust forms; stir gently to break it.
4. Put the lid on with the plunger raised and steep about three more minutes.
5. Press slowly and pour immediately — coffee left in the press turns bitter.

Fixing a cup you don’t like

Keep the gear clean

Wash the brewer, carafe and mug after each use to stop oil building up. For drip machines, rinse the brew basket and any reusable filter after each use, wipe the warming plate once it cools (baking soda on a damp sponge lifts burnt-on stains), and descale every three to six months — with a vinegar-and-water solution followed by several plain-water cycles if your machine allows it, or the maker’s descaler if not. Cloth pour-over filters should be boiled for 10 minutes every 6–8 weeks.

Next: choose what goes in the grinder on beans and roast levels.