French Press and AeroPress Ratios
The standard French press ratio is 1:15 by weight — 30g of coffee for a 450g (15oz) brew. The AeroPress has no single standard ratio; it ranges from 1:6 (espresso-style concentrate) to 1:17 (filter-style) depending on the recipe. Both brewers are best dosed by weight, and both reward slightly different ratios than pour-over because of how they extract.
That's the short answer. The longer version is more useful, because both these brewers carry recipe baggage that the numbers don't capture.
French Press: 1:15 Is the Default
A French press is a full-immersion brewer. The grounds sit in water for the entire brew time, the metal mesh filter lets fine particles and oils through, and the cup ends up heavier-bodied than any paper-filtered method.
The default ratio is 1:15 — slightly stronger than the 1:16 to 1:17 you'd use in a V60 — for a specific reason. Long immersion extracts more efficiently per gram of coffee, but the heavier body and small amount of fine sediment in the cup tolerate (and reward) a stronger ratio. At 1:17 a French press tastes underwhelming. At 1:14 it tips into muddy. 1:15 is the center of the working range.
Recipe sheet:
- Small French press (350g brew): 23g coffee at 1:15
- Standard 8-cup press (1000g brew, real-world fill): 67g coffee at 1:15
- Half-fill of a standard press (500g brew): 33g coffee at 1:15
The classic full pot using 1000g of water and 67g of coffee is the James Hoffmann French press recipe, more or less — paired with a coarse grind, a 4-minute steep, a stir to break the crust, skim the foam, then 5 minutes' rest before pouring. Full method in the French press brewing guide.
When to Adjust French Press Ratio
Stronger (1:14 to 1:14.5): If your roast is very dark and you want body without astringency, a stronger ratio works because the brew time stays the same and the coffee is mostly already extracted. Tread carefully — at 1:13 the press tips muddy on most coffees.
Weaker (1:16 to 1:17): Light Nordic-style roasts brewed in a French press can taste over-bodied at 1:15. Move to 1:16 to keep the body but ease the concentration.
Same ratio, longer brew: Tim Wendelboe's approach is 1:15 at a 4-minute brew with a fine-to-medium grind, plunged at the end. Other modern recipes (Scott Rao) use the same ratio but skim the crust at 4 minutes and let the press rest 5 more minutes before plunging — clearer cup, same ratio.
AeroPress: A Recipe, Not a Ratio
The AeroPress brewer is the one device where a "standard ratio" is genuinely misleading. The brewer's inventor, Alan Adler, designed it as a one-cup concentrate maker. His original recipe is 14g of coffee into 100g of water — about 1:7 — drunk diluted with hot water to taste. That's an espresso-adjacent concentrate.
Modern competition recipes are completely different. Tim Wendelboe brews 1:14 with a fine grind, short steep, gentle press. James Hoffmann's "ultimate" AeroPress recipe is 11g into 200g — about 1:18 — with the brewer inverted, longer steep, slow press, no dilution. World AeroPress Championship winners have used ratios from 1:8 to 1:20.
There is no single right ratio. There are families of recipes, each internally coherent:
- Concentrate / dilution-style (1:6 to 1:10): Brewed strong, drunk diluted with hot water or milk. Closest to the original.
- Modified-filter style (1:12 to 1:15): Brewed at a French-press-like ratio with finer grind and pressure assist. Heavier body than pour-over but cleaner than press.
- Filter-style (1:15 to 1:18): Brewed at pour-over-like ratios, often inverted, drunk without dilution. The Hoffmann approach.
The mistake is mixing recipes. If you start at 1:8 (a concentrate recipe) and brew for 3 minutes (a filter-style time) with a medium-fine grind (a filter-style grind), you'll get something neither concentrated nor balanced. Pick a recipe, follow it precisely, then adjust within the recipe's framework. The full breakdown is in the AeroPress brewing guide.
Picking an AeroPress Recipe
For most home brewers, three recipes cover the field:
1. The Hoffmann recipe (1:16.7): 11g coffee, 200g water at 90°C, inverted, 2-minute steep with a 30-second swirl, 30-second slow press. Clean, filter-like cup. Forgiving with most coffees. 2. The Wendelboe recipe (1:14): 14g coffee, 200g water, upright, fine grind, short steep, gentle press. Heavier body, more intense flavor concentration. 3. The Adler recipe (1:7): 14g coffee, 100g water, short steep, press, dilute with 100g hot water to drink. Closest to a flat white in body and intensity, served black.
You can spend a year exploring AeroPress recipes and never reach the bottom. That's part of the appeal — and part of why ratio talk alone doesn't capture the brewer.
Grind Size and Ratio Interact
Both these brewers depend on grind matching the brew time and ratio.
- French press at 1:15: Coarse grind, 4-minute brew. If you grind too fine, the cup becomes bitter and the plunger sticks.
- AeroPress at 1:14 (Wendelboe-style): Fine to medium-fine grind, 1-minute steep, gentle press.
- AeroPress at 1:17 (Hoffmann-style): Medium grind, 2-minute steep, slow press.
If you change ratio significantly, the grind probably needs to change too. The coffee-to-water ratio master guide explains how these variables interact across all methods.
Common Mistakes
"My French press tastes muddy." Ratio is probably right; grind is probably too fine. Coarsen the grind. If it still tastes muddy, skim the crust at 4 minutes and let it rest 5 more before plunging — most fines settle to the bottom.
"My AeroPress changes every time." Almost always: you're not following a single recipe. Lock in one recipe (ratio + grind + time + technique), brew it for a week, only then start changing one variable at a time.
"My French press is bitter at the bottom of the pot." Coffee continues extracting in the press after plunging. Decant into a server (or cups) immediately after brewing. Don't leave the brew sitting on the grounds.
FAQ
What is the best French press ratio?
1:15 by weight is the standard — 30g of coffee for 450g of water, or 67g of coffee for a full 1L brew. Stronger ratios (1:14) work for dark roasts; weaker ratios (1:16) suit very light roasts.
What's the best AeroPress ratio?
There isn't one. The Hoffmann ultimate recipe at 1:16.7 (11g into 200g) is a forgiving starting point. The Wendelboe-style 1:14 recipe gives heavier body. The original Adler-style 1:7 recipe gives a concentrate for dilution. All three are correct; pick one and stick with it for a month.
Can I use the same ratio for French press and AeroPress?
You can — 1:15 works in both brewers — but the cups will taste different because the AeroPress filters out oils and fines that the French press lets through. The AeroPress at 1:15 will taste cleaner and brighter; the French press at 1:15 will taste heavier and more textured.
How much coffee for a 4-cup French press?
A "4-cup" French press typically holds about 500ml of water. At 1:15 that's 33g of coffee. Press sizing varies by manufacturer — measure the actual water volume your press holds before relying on the cup count.
Does grind matter more than ratio?
For French press and AeroPress, yes. Get the grind wrong and no ratio will save the cup. Get the ratio wrong but the grind right and the cup is still drinkable. Both matter; if you only optimize one, optimize grind first.
The Bean Underneath
No brewer rescues a bad bean. A French press built around a four-minute steep can't hide the staleness of coffee roasted three months ago, and the AeroPress — for all its versatility — just amplifies whatever's in the cup. The roasters at the top of their craft are, almost without exception, the ones winning at the major blind-judged competitions — the US Coffee Championships, the Golden Bean, the Good Food Awards. Podium Coffee Club ships exactly that coffee: competition-winning beans, curated by people who track the results so you don't have to.
Podium Gold is $24.50/month for a 300g bag of whole-bean coffee from the roasters with the strongest recent competition results. Podium Platinum is $29.50/month — same 300g bag, more adventurous picks. Both ship within 24 hours of roasting. If you want to see how we compare to the broader field, our guide to the best coffee subscriptions covers the landscape honestly.
