Tool
Espresso dose and yield calculator
Espresso is measured dose to yield, both by weight. Three directions, with the terminology explained rather than enforced.
Target yield
36 g
At 1:2.0 that is in the range most people mean by a standard espresso.
How this was worked out
Yield = dose × ratio
18 × 2 = 36 g
Stop the shot when the scale under the cup reads this.
Exact arithmetic on your numbers
How it works
Yield is the dose multiplied by the ratio; dose is the yield divided by the ratio; and the actual ratio of a shot you have pulled is the yield divided by the dose. Every number here is a mass in grams, including the yield — espresso volume is unreliable because crema is mostly air and varies with how fresh the coffee is.
What the inputs mean
- Dose
- The dry ground coffee in the basket, weighed before brewing.
- Yield
- The mass of liquid espresso in the cup, weighed on a scale under the portafilter. Not the volume, and not including anything added afterwards.
- Ratio
- Written 1:2, meaning one part dry coffee to two parts liquid espresso by weight. This is a different measurement from the filter coffee-to-water ratio and the two numbers are not comparable.
Worked examples
A standard double
- Dose 18 g
- Ratio 1:2
Result: Stop the shot at 36 g in the cup.
Checking a shot that ran long
- Dose 18 g
- Yield 52 g
Result: 1:2.9 — towards lungo territory, which will taste thinner and may taste harsh.
Common mistakes
Measuring yield by volume
Crema is mostly gas and its volume varies with the coffee's age, so two shots of identical mass can fill visibly different amounts of a cup.
Comparing an espresso ratio to a filter ratio
1:2 and 1:16 measure different things. Filter counts all the brew water; espresso counts only what reaches the cup.
Changing the ratio when the shot tastes sour
A longer ratio extracts more and will mask it, but the usual cause is the grind. Change one thing, and start with the grind.
What the result does not mean
- Hitting a target ratio does not mean the shot was good. Ratio says nothing about whether the puck extracted evenly.
- The ristretto, espresso and lungo labels describe where a ratio sits on a spectrum. They are not drink definitions, and cafés draw the lines in different places.
What this does not account for
- Espresso ratio here means dose-to-liquid-yield, not the coffee-to-water ratio used for filter brewing.
- Does not account for grind, distribution, tamp or machine pressure — ratio is one variable among several.
- Style labels are descriptive conventions with fuzzy edges, not definitions.