How Much Coffee Per Cup: How To Measure A Cup Of Coffee

If you are trying to measure out how much coffee per cup you should be using when making your morning coffee, the answer may be quite complicated. Especially if you are not using the best home coffee maker, capable of measuring for you.

First, you need to decide how much coffee you want to brew. This naturally leads many confused, as they look at the lines on their coffee pot, wondering how many ounces in a cup of coffee.

So, before we can answer these questions, let's dive into how many ounces in a coffee cup and what the best coffee ratio is for making good coffee. Just to warn you, every country measures a cup of coffee differently, so the lines on your coffee pot may mean different things depending on the manufacturer of your coffee pot. Confusing, right?

How Much Coffee Per Cup

You wake up, stumble to your coffee pot and choose your favorite coffee beans. Through hazy and half opened eyes, you look at the side of your coffee carafe and do some quick math before dumping in a heaping pile of ground coffee. Before you finish your first cup of coffee, you wonder to yourself if you are using the correct amount of coffee.

If you are just looking for a quick answer on how much coffee per cup, the general rule of thumb for brewing the best coffee is to use one to two tablespoons per six ounces of water. If you don't have a coffee maker with a built-in coffee grinder to automate the process, you may want to look into getting one!

For the best coffee brew, we recommend 1-2 tablespoons of freshly ground coffee for every 6 ounces of water.

If you are someone that does a pour over coffee, the standard "golden" ratio, is one gram of coffee to 16 grams of water. The best part about coffee, and taste in general, is that it is all subjective. Even if there is a golden ratio for the recommended coffee to water ratio, at the end of the day, do what tastes best to YOU.

If you just don't have the time to learn and want a coffee maker that will do everything for you, we recommend taking a look at the list above and consider buying an automatic coffee maker with a built-in coffee grinder. However, if you are up for a challenge, want to learn more about coffee and would like to have fun brewing a cup of coffee, you'll want to keep reading.

How Many Ounces in a Cup of Coffee

Whether you use the metric system, or the imperial system, when it comes to measuring coffee, you have probably wondered how many ounces in a cup of coffee. Each country has a different meaning and conversion when it comes to the word "cup", so it can be quite a battle figuring out how to make coffee in that new coffee maker you bought.

Not only does it make things complicated that every country does things differently, but it adds fuel to the fire when manufacturers from one country, try to meet in the middle by offering different product versions, or simply by going against their own countries standard unit of measurement.

There is roughly 6 ounces of water in a standard cup of coffee

For our US readers that are trying to figure out how many ounces in a cup of coffee, despite the imperial cup equaling roughly eight fluid ounces, the standard serving size in the US is six fluid ounces for a cup of coffee.

It gets a bit more complicated in other countries where a metric cup equals 8.45 fluid ounces, in Japan, a cup of coffee equals 6.7 ounces, and in Canada, a coffee cup equals 7.6 ounces. So, if six fluid ounces is a cup of coffee, how much coffee per cup should you use?

Measuring Coffee

Now that we know there are six ounces in a cup of coffee, it is recommended that you use one to two tablespoons of ground coffee depending on your preferred brew strength. It is typically recommend that people use less for darker coffee, as the slight bitterness may be a bit overpowering. If you want a lot of flavor in your cup of coffee, try using two tablespoons for a wonderful and strong cup of coffee.

Best Coffee Scale: Hario V60 Drip Coffee Scale

We touched briefly on the Golden Ratio, and although the ratio may differ for some, it is a great place to start. Additionally, getting into the practice of weighing out your coffee grounds will guarantee a consistent extraction. 

We often find people stressing over how much coffee or water to use when they adjust the amount that they make, but this doesn't happen to the coffee enthusiast that is brewing a delicious cup using a scale, as the scale tells them how much to pour.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, only you know what you like. If you brew a cup of coffee that is a bit too strong, simply add a little bit of water and take note of where you went wrong. If the brew isn't quite strong enough, make sure to correct that upon the next extraction.

As much as coffee enthusiasts like to defend their methodology for proper coffee extraction and taste, don't let them take away from your experience. Only you know what you like, so at the end of the day, go with what tastes best for you. Most importantly, have fun with it!