How Much Coffee Per Litre? The Wilfa Dosing Guide

More people are disappointed by their coffee maker because of the dose than for any other reason. The machine is fine, the beans are fine — there just isn't enough coffee in the basket.

Use 60 grams of ground coffee per litre of water. That's 75g for a full 1.25-litre pot, 60g for a litre, 45g for 0.75 litres and 30g for half a litre. It works out at roughly a 1:17 ratio of coffee to water, and it's the dose Wilfa's machines are designed and certified around.

The Wilfa dosing chart

Every Wilfa coffee maker is built to this ratio, and the water tank is marked with the grams of coffee that go with each water level so you don't have to remember it.

Those are the figures to start from. Once you've brewed a pot at 60g per litre and know what it tastes like, you have a reference point to move from — and moving from a known point is the whole trick.

How many grams is a coffee scoop?

A heaped Wilfa scoop holds roughly 7 grams. That's why the older manuals say eight scoops to a litre — eight heaped scoops is about 56g, which lands just under the 60g target.

The problem with scoops isn't the maths, it's the word "heaped". One person's heaped scoop is another person's level one, and the difference across eight scoops is enough to change the cup noticeably. A finely ground coffee also packs into a scoop more densely than a coarse one, so the same scoop can hold meaningfully different amounts of coffee on different mornings.

Weighing removes all of that. A Uni Mini Coffee Scale is £50 and does nothing but this, very accurately. The Uniform & Kitchen Scale at £84.99 does the same job and doubles as a kitchen scale, which makes it easier to justify a place on the worktop.

Why 60 grams per litre and not more?

It isn't a house preference. It's the dose that sits at the centre of the brewing standard Wilfa's machines are certified against by the European Coffee Brewing Centre, alongside a brew temperature of 92–96°C and a controlled contact time between water and coffee.

Those three variables work together. Get the dose right and the machine handles the other two for you. Get the dose wrong and there's nothing the machine can do about it:

• Too little coffee: The water over-extracts what's there — pulling out the bitter, papery compounds as well as the good ones. Weak and harsh, which is a combination most people don't expect.
• Too much coffee: The water can't extract properly from all of it. The result is heavy, muddy and often sour, with a lot of coffee wasted.

If you want to read more about what that certification actually guarantees, we've written about what ECBC approval means.

Match the filter holder setting to the water

This is the step people skip, and it's the reason filter holders overflow.

Wilfa's Performance and Precision machines have a flow control on the filter holder marked with water volumes. That number has to match the amount of water you've put in the tank:

The setting controls how long the water and the coffee stay in contact. Set it too low for the volume you're brewing and the basket floods; set it too high and the water runs through before it has taken enough with it.

Brewing small amounts

There's a real difference between the two filter holder types, and it matters if you often brew for one.

A manual filter holder — marked M in the model name — will brew as little as 0.25 litres properly. An automatic filter holder with drip stop — marked A — needs at least around 0.5 litres to give its best. Below that there simply isn't enough water passing through to extract evenly.

So if you're usually making one or two cups rather than a pot, an M model is the better machine, and worth knowing before you buy rather than after.

Three more things worth getting right

• Never put whole beans in a coffee maker. It sounds obvious, but it's asked often enough to be in Wilfa's own support notes. Coffee makers brew ground coffee. Beans need a grinder first.
• Rinse the filter paper before you brew. Put the paper in the holder, pour a little hot water through it, and pour that water away before adding the coffee. It removes the papery taste and warms the holder. It's Wilfa's own first tip for better flavour, and it costs you fifteen seconds.
• Use the right grind. Filter coffee wants a medium grind — if it's too fine the basket chokes and overflows, too coarse and the coffee comes out thin no matter how much of it you've used. Our guide to finding your grind setting covers how to tell which way to move.

Frequently asked questions

How much coffee do I use for 1 litre of water?
Use 60 grams of ground coffee per litre of water. For a full 1.25-litre pot use 75g, for 0.75 litres use 45g, and for half a litre use 30g.

How many grams is a heaped coffee scoop?
Roughly 7 grams. Eight heaped scoops comes to around 56g, which is just under the recommended 60g for a litre of water. Weighing your coffee on a scale is more consistent, because how heaped a scoop is varies from person to person and from grind to grind.

What is the coffee to water ratio for filter coffee?
Sixty grams per litre works out at approximately 1:17 — one gram of coffee to seventeen grams of water. This is the ratio Wilfa's machines are designed and ECBC-certified around.

Why does the filter holder setting need to match the water volume?
The flow control on the filter holder sets how long water and coffee stay in contact. If the setting is lower than the volume of water you're brewing, the basket floods and overflows. If it's higher, the water passes through too quickly and the coffee is under-extracted.

Can I put whole coffee beans in a Wilfa coffee maker?
No. Wilfa coffee makers brew ground coffee only. Beans need to be ground first, ideally just before brewing.

Get the dose right first

Of everything that affects how your coffee tastes, the dose is the easiest to fix and the one that makes the biggest difference. Weigh it once and you'll know within a pot whether the rest needs adjusting at all.

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