Cup Chaos: Navigating the Baffling World of Coffee Measurements

The Perplexing World of Coffee 'Cups'

I’ve been confused about the ‘cup’ of coffee for a very long time. It’s not a topic discussed often because it doesn’t serve a purpose beyond confirming the volume differences. What am I talking about??

If you’ve bought an automatic drip coffee maker, they’re sold as a 10 cup, 12 cup, 2 cup, 1 cup, 5 cup coffee makers. I was born, raised and still reside in Canada where a metric cup is 250ml. I'm perplexed by how my 12 cup coffee maker doesn’t make 3 liters of coffee. It’s been confounding me forever.

The Many Measures of a Cup

Digging into the ‘cup’ further, here are other ‘cup’ measurements:

• 1 US Customary Cup = 236.6 mL(baking, etc.)

• 1 US Legal Cup = 240 mL (Defined for nutrition labelling)

• 1 Imperial Cup (UK) = 284.131 mL

• 1 Canadian Cup = 227.3 mL (I didn’t know this was a thing and I live here) The metric cup has taken over. Canada adopted S.I. units in 1971 so the Canadian cup measurement phased out

• 1 Japanese Cup = 200 mL

• 1 Latin American Cup can equal: 200ml, 250ml, US Legal or US customary

• Automatic drip coffee makers decide on their own to designate a cup of coffee between 4.5 and 5.2 oz depending on the manufacturer

• Finally, a “cup” of coffee in the US is usually 4 fluid ounces (118 mL) brewed using 5 fluid oz (148ml) of water

Many 12 cup coffee makers have a 60 oz water reservoirs. These make 12 cups of coffee which amounts to 48oz (1oz of water is ‘lost’ by absorption of the coffee grounds and evaporation). So that’s ~1.4L of coffee if I make 12 cups. Clearly not 3 Liters of coffee.

Commercial Coffee Cup Sizes Unveiled

• Tim Hortons: Extra Small: 236 mL (8oz), Small: 296 mL (10oz),

  Medium: 414 mL (14oz.), Large: 591 mL (20oz.), Extra large: 709mL (24oz)

• Starbucks: Demi. 89 mL (3oz), Short: 236 mL (8oz), Tall: 354 mL (12oz), Grande: 473 mL (16oz), Venti. 591 mL (20oz)

• McDonads’s: Small: 285 mL, Medium: 420 mL, Large: 540 mL,

  Extra Large: 650 mL

• Dunkin Donuts: Small: 296 mL (10oz), Medium: 414 mL (14oz.),

  Large: 591 mL (20oz.), Extra large: 709 mL (24oz)

Why does this matter to me and why I have I gone to so much trouble?

To properly answer: “How many cups of coffee have you had Larry?”

So if I had a medium Tim Hortons, and a Grande Pike, I would have 7.5 cups of coffee. If you had an XL Timmies, and a Venti Blonde, you would have had 11 cups of coffee. I primarily use my own automatic drip machine and I likely consume 7 cups of coffee from that machine. Now that I’m adding in pour-overs and espresso-based drinks, it’s also adds some variety to the mix.

Most people answer, one, two or maybe three cups of coffee as a standard pleasantry answer. If for whatever reason you had 2 XL coffees from Tim Hortons, one would likely say 2 coffees. No one is going to say they’ve had 12 cups of coffee if they drank 2 Extra-Large coffees. Same for a classic Canadian “Medium Double Double”, they’re not going to say they’ve had 3.5 cups of coffee. Even in the Starbucks lingo, 2 Venti’s would be 10 cups of coffee.

See how strange this is!

Navigating Coffee Conversations

What I do now, try to answer in milliliters for greater clarity and transparency in my coffee drinking. If I say I’ve had 7 cups of coffee, which is a regular amount, it sounds high. If I say I’ve had 12 cups of coffee, that sounds insane but also not out of this world when I drop it back into commodity sizes. Really I’ve had between 826 mL and 1.4 L

Perhaps I’m making a mountain out of a mole hill

The complex world of measuring coffee. How a "cup" can vary across different contexts—from the coffee maker on your kitchen counter to your favorite coffee shop. In conversation, precision coffee consumption isn’t on the top 5 things to talk about. What’s far more important is that you enjoy the cup of coffee you’re having.