You’ve chosen a great brewing method, bought the right equipment, found a bag of fresh, gourmet coffee beans. You’re ready to brew! It may be tempting to throw coffee in and start the process. But you’ll want to consider one more thing: what’s the best coffee-to-water ratio?

Getting the coffee-water ratio right is the key to a great cup of coffee. But coffee measurement is a confusing topic, and “how much ground coffee per cup” doesn’t have a simple answer. Grams to milliliters? How many scoops of coffee? What if I like it strong? Do I need a scale? How much ground coffee do you need per cup? It all depends on your brewing method.

Some methods, like Cold Brew and French Press, leave the coffee in contact with the water for longer, meaning that you’ll need less coffee for each ounce of water. Other methods, like espresso machines, work quickly and at high pressure, so you’ll need much more coffee for each ounce of water. If this sounds complicated, don’t worry: you won’t have to do any math. We’ve put together this simple coffee calculator to help you figure out the right coffee ratio.