The invention relates to a microporous and mesoporous carbon xerogel and organic precursors thereof based on a phenol-formaldehyde xerogel. A characteristic parameter common to carbon xerogels is a peak in the mesopore size distribution determined by the BJH method (Barrett-Joyner-Halenda) from nitrogen absorption measurements at 77 K in the range from 3.5 nm to 4 nm. The production process is characterized firstly by the low starting material costs (use of phenol instead of resorcinol) and secondly by very simple and cost-effective processing; convective drying without solvent exchange instead of supercritical drying or freeze drying. The carbon xerogels and their organic phenol-formaldehyde xerogel precursors have densities of corresponding to a porosity of up to 89%, and the xerogels can also have a relevant mesopore volume. The carbon xerogels obtained from the phenol-formaldehyde xerogels are also microporous.