The amount of dry coffee — measured by weight in grams — that you put into the brewer for a single brew. The starting point of every recipe. "Use a 15 g dose" means you'll grind 15 grams of beans before water touches anything.
Why grams, not scoops
A scoop measures volume; coffee beans vary in volume per gram by roast level (denser when light, more porous when dark) and by variety. Two scoops of a Brazilian dark roast and two scoops of a Kenyan light roast can differ by 3-4 grams of actual coffee mass. That's a 20% recipe error before you've even started.
Weighing the dose makes the recipe deterministic. Every barista cookbook, every World Brewers Cup recipe, and every credible online guide states dose in grams.
Standard dose ranges
For filter coffee, dose pairs with brewer size and water volume:
- Single cup (~250 ml): 14–18 g dose, 1:15 to 1:17 ratio.
- Two-cup (~500 ml): 28–32 g dose.
- Chemex 6/8 cup (~750–1000 ml): 42–55 g dose.
- Espresso single shot: 7–10 g dose.
- Espresso double shot: 14–22 g dose (modern specialty leans toward 18 g+).
Dose-related decisions
Two cups feel weak: increase the dose, hold ratio constant. Two cups too strong: decrease the dose. Cup balanced but extraction off: hold dose, change grind. Dose is the quantity lever; grind is the quality lever. Confusing them is the most common diagnostic error in home brewing.
A reliable scale is the cheapest meaningful upgrade you can make to your home setup. ±0.1 g resolution costs $20-30. Brewing without one is brewing in the dark.