I bought a coffee machine recently. Somehow, I made a serious miscalculation regarding how many cups of coffee I'd be able to yield per bag of beans. But let's not get into that. But at the current rate, a 10oz bag ($20!) is only lasting about a week.

At this point, following the recommended amount of beans and water per cup of coffee, the cost per cup is much higher than expected (let's say $2/cup vs $0.90 per Nespresso). So, I'm asking for some help in how to squeeze more coffee per gram of bean.

Let's say I'm using about 15g of beans per cup (let's call this cup about 1/4L). I then discard the ground beans after making a cup of coffee.

I want to try to make more cups per 15g of beans while minimizing the sacrifice to taste and flavor. What's the best way to do this?

1. Just use more water (reduce the bean : water ratio; 15g of beans and 1/2L water, for example). Seems like this would just result in diluted, weak coffee. Blech?
2. Use a finer grind and using more water; perhaps dilute the first cup and drink the second cup as-is. Or blend the first and second cups. Just in concept - maybe I could make more cups this way, maybe 15g and 1/2L or 1L of water would work?
3. Use a coarser grind; perhaps no blending required? But each cup would be relatively weak?
4. Use a lighter roast? A darker roast?
5. let the water sit w/ the beans longer before letting the coffee flow to the cup? Longer bloom time?
6. other suggestions? Some combinations of the above?

I'm open to experimenting a bit, looking for some suggestions based on experience.

There is no way. Really.

Optimal extraction occurs with a certain grind-to-water ratio, with a certain water temperature, and at a certain brew rate. Muck with any of those parameters and you end up with a sub-optimal cup.

I get about twenty-five "cups" of coffee per pound. (I brew double shots of espresso and dilute with an equal amount of hot water, for a rather strong Caffè Americano.)

Ok. I’m getting about the same.

So, no way to squeeze out more cups while still having acceptable tasting (but less than ideal) flavor. Such is life.

I guess this isn’t going to save money like I was hoping. But it still does allow more coffee variety which is also part of the original rationalization. Two out of three ain’t bad.

Must be really good coffee! If you’re a Costco member, try their Costa Rica coffee. Two, 3# bags for $38.

Wow. That’s $0.40 per ounce. CR is supposed to be good. Kirkland brand? I’ll go check my local store.

The $20 per 10oz was actually half price on sale too. I wouldn’t pay full price no matter what. So nice to try it.

I don't know how you're making your coffee. I make my coffee using a French press.

I changed one variable at a time starting from the recommended settings until I got to my preferred taste. After I got the first numbers, I then tried one change up and one change down to confirm.

Ground size - I went small enough to get the most coffee but not get too many particles in my coffee.

Amount of coffee vs amount of water. I settled on 49 grams of coffee to 850 ml of water. On the smaller press, I use 32 grams to 550 ml. And yes, the ratios are the same.

I also played with the bloom and brewing times. Bloom time is when you first just barely cover the grounds with hot water. I set this for 2 minutes. Brew is after the bloom is done, you add water and slowly stir up to the final volume. You increase the time and you can get more coffee flavor out.

Um, yeah - imma gunna go with “Buy cheaper coffee”

1 Lb coffee = 454 grams
15g per 8 oz water = 30 cuppa joe per pound

$20/lb = .67/cup
$12/lb = .40/cup


I am no connoisseur, but I have a hard time believing $40/lb coffee is anywhere near twice as good as $20/lb coffee, and in most cases I am A-OK with $12/lb coffee.

For me, it’s not. But it was on sale from $40 per 10 oz. I figured I might as well try it. I wouldn’t buy it again, even on sale.

I’m gonna try Costco.

quote:

I’m gonna try Costco.

In general, it's hard to go wrong with Kirkland Signature anything from Costco.

We use their "Pacific Bold" flavor of K-cups in a Keurig. Fairly strong coffee, flavor that both my wife and I like. I usually have two cups in the morning. My thrifty wife will "recycle" a pod for her second cup, on the smallest (4 oz.) Keurig setting, so she gets 1.5 cups from a single K-cup.

I believe that the normal price is $36.99 for a case of 120 K-cups, 31¢ / cup, but I never buy it at the normal price. It rolls around on sale a couple times a year, five or six bucks off, so I stock up whenever it's on sale -- 27¢ / cup at the sale price. Can't beat that with a stick!

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
Must be really good coffee! If you’re a Costco member, try their Costa Rica coffee. Two, 3# bags for $38.

The BJs Club brand - Wellsley Farms - Sumatra is also surprisingly good and affordable - $20/40 oz bag:

https://www.bjs.com/product/we.../3000000000000263617

According to a coffee site I visit, the best way to get the best tasting "thinner" coffee is to brew it according to the ratio recommended by Moccamaster. 55 grams of coffee to 1 liter of water which gets maximum extraction, then add hot water to get to the level of flavor intensity that you desire. The classic Americano in espresso speak. In other words to get the best flavor, you want full extraction but not over extraction which can bring out acidic or other off flavors.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
The $20 per 10oz was actually half price on sale too

$2/ounce coffee is overpriced for everyday coffee... And $4/ounce coffee is ridiculously overpriced. For comparison, I typically rotate between two different "every day" whole bean coffee options:

Cameron's Scandinavian Blend: $0.36 per oz

Peet's Major Dickason: $0.53 per oz

I then occasionally splurge on some locally roasted small batch beans that are more like $1.50 per oz, but honestly, while they're better quality, they're 3-5x the cost but not 3-5x better.

Back in 2002 (when Scientific American was far less political, and actually readable) they did an eye-opening (at least for me) article about coffee which explained a lot about why/how the different details (method, water temperature, duration, etc.) of the brewing matter, as well as the various sources of beans, roasting, etc.

Unlocked link - "The Complexity of Coffee"
Well worth the read, for those interested in experimenting with alternative brewing duration/blends/sources/roasting etc.

As an example, here's a chart explaining the chemistry of why/how over-extraction of espresso past the 'official duration' of 30 seconds gets more undesirable flavoring agents in:

Don't forget to take into account the actual volume of a "cup of coffee". We know a cup of water is 8 oz. But a cup of coffee is less than that, being either 6 oz or 5 oz. The 6 oz quantity is more recent, less commonly recognized, and the 5 oz quantity is the classic old school measure.

For the heck of it, take any coffee carafe you have, that is marked with cup levels, and fill it to one of the levels with tap water. Then measure out the water. If you fill it to the 6 oz level, for instance, you'll find that comes to a total of 30 oz.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
My thrifty wife will "recycle" a pod for her second cup, on the smallest (4 oz.) Keurig setting, so she gets 1.5 cups from a single K-cup.

On the rare occasions when I drink coffee, I usually only brew one cup at a time. I found I can leave the grounds in the basket and then cycle a 2nd cup's worth of water through them. I'll toss the grounds after the 2nd cup. I'm no coffee connoisseur, but I don't notice any difference in taste between the 1st and 2nd cups.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
So, I'm asking for some help in how to squeeze more coffee per gram of bean.

Let's say I'm using about 15g of beans per cup (let's call this cup about 1/4L). I then discard the ground beans after making a cup of coffee.

I want to try to make more cups per 15g of beans while minimizing the sacrifice to taste and flavor. What's the best way to do this?

I'm open to experimenting a bit, looking for some suggestions based on experience.

^^^ I can see your concern but squeeze too much and you may not like it too much.

Try to cheat the brew - you could be sacrificing the flavor, all depends on what is important to you.

I might attack the expense problem externally with price shopping, or drinking less.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
There is no way. Really.

Optimal extraction occurs with a certain grind-to-water ratio, with a certain water temperature, and at a certain brew rate. Muck with any of those parameters and you end up with a sub-optimal cup.

^^ I agree 100%

You can play with the ratio but you will also play with the taste.
I use a 17:1 ratio which I find optimum.
I usually just make a large single cup - 21gms - pour over every AM.
Other time - French Press 950gms water - 57gms coffee >>>> makes the best pot.
Weekend the wife fires up the Bonavita - don't know how much she uses but it is weaker than my brew.

quote:

Originally posted by sse:
Don't forget to take into account the actual volume of a "cup of coffee". We know a cup of water is 8 oz. But a cup of coffee is less than that, being either 6 oz or 5 oz. The 6 oz quantity is more recent, less commonly recognized, and the 5 oz quantity is the classic old school measure.

For the heck of it, take any coffee carafe you have, that is marked with cup levels, and fill it to one of the levels with tap water. Then measure out the water. If you fill it to the 6 oz level, for instance, you'll find that comes to a total of 30 oz.

My Moccamaster is designed to brew a maximum of 40 oz at a time. The settings on the water tank go from 2 to 10 so they may consider 4 ounces a cup, although obviously it’s however much you pour yourself. It also shows liters as well.

quote:

Originally posted by tsmccull:

My Moccamaster is designed to brew a maximum of 40 oz at a time. The settings on the water tank go from 2 to 10 so they may consider 4 ounces a cup, although obviously it’s however much you pour yourself. It also shows liters as well.

I just got a Moccamaster, and yes - the documentation says they use the “European” standard of 4 oz cup

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:
I just got a Moccamaster, and yes - the documentation says they use the “European” standard of 4 oz cup

4 ounce coffee cups... Y'know, the kind that you're supposed to take tiny sips from with your pinkie out.



(Thank the lord for my 16 and 30 ounce coffee cups. I'd have to be downing ~8 of those tiny little European cups per morning just to get myself going!)

That just sounds like a LOT of beans. I use 2 - 1/8 cup (mounded) scoops for my 60 oz moccamaster (small office model with the insulated stainless steel carafe). I just weighed the grinds, each 1/8 cup mounded scoop is about 16 grams. So that's 32 grams of coffee grinds for 60 ounces of coffee, dark roast.