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Many people need to jump-start their day with multiple cups of coffee that they have to brew in a standard pot that can serve 12 cups of coffee.
However, not all cups have the same amount of coffee and taste delicious. So, how many ounces should be in a 12-cup coffee pot, and how much coffee and water should be in this container?
In this article, you’ll learn more about brewing coffee in different coffee pots and cup sizes for an unforgettable coffee experience.
How Many Ounces in a 12-cup Coffee Pot?
A standard 12-cup coffee pot holds 60 ounces of liquid. That’s twelve 5-ounce cups, which is a standard size for coffee cup measurements.
Many coffee recipes use 6- or 8-ounce serving sizes. At that size, you won’t get a full 12 servings from your 12-cup coffee pot. Instead, you’ll get ten 6-ounce cups or just over seven 8-ounce cups.
Are the numbers on a coffee pot cups or ounces?
The numbers on a coffee pot are cups, but they are generally the 5-ounce cups used by coffee pot manufacturers. This differs from the 8-ounce cups that are commonly used in America.
This is why I generally recommend relying on a measuring cup or a coffee scale for measuring your water. It’s a lot less confusing (and more reliable) than dealing with coffee pot measurements.
How much coffee do you put in a 12-cup pot?
Based on the golden cup guide from Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), you need 18.2 tablespoons or 99.6 grams of ground coffee to make twelve 5-ounce cups of good coffee.
How Many Ounces in a Cup of Coffee?
A standard coffee cup is 5 ounces, but unfortunately that standard isn’t used everywhere. You’ll often see 6-ounce coffee cups, and in rare cases, you may see coffee cup measurements anywhere from 4–12 ounces.
Why is a cup of coffee not 8 ounces?
A cup of coffee is not eight ounces. In America, a cup is 8 ounces, but our measurement isn’t standard across the world. Other countries do not follow the 8-ounce cup size, including many of the countries where coffee originated and where coffee makers are manufactured.
For instance, while a cup is 8 ounces in the U.S, a regular-sized cup in Canada is 7.6 ounces. In Japan, a cup is 6.7 ounces, while coffee drinks in Italy and Australia are usually served in 6-ounce cups.
How much coffee is in a cup?
If you’re going to measure ground coffee in tablespoons, you’ll need:
- 2 tbsp of ground coffee and 8 fl oz water for an 8-ounce cup
- 2 1/2 tbsp and 10 fl oz water for a 10-ounce cup
- 3 tbsp and 10 fl oz water for a 12-ounce cup
If you have a digital scale, you can measure your ground coffee in grams:
- 28.3 grams of coffee for an 8-ounce cup
- 37.5 grams of coffee for a 10-ounce cup
- 42.52 grams of coffee for a 12-ounce cup
Overall, the amount of coffee in your cup still depends on you. You can always add or reduce the quantity of coffee and water based on your preference.
How Many Ounces Is a 10-cup Coffee Pot?
A typical 10-cup coffee pot is 56 ounces. Therefore, each cup is 5.6 ounces, which is slightly larger than a cup from a 12-cup pot.
I know this seems confusing, and that’s because it is. In a perfect world, the serving size used in a 10-cup coffee maker would be the same as the one used in a 12-cup coffee maker, but it just isn’t.
If we were using the standard American cup size, a 10-cup pot would hold 80 fluid ounces of coffee, but even American-made coffee makers don’t typically use that scale.
How Many Ounces Is an 8-cup Coffee Pot?
An 8-cup coffee pot is 44 ounces, which means they use about a 5.5-ounce coffee cup size. That also means you’ll need about 67 grams of coffee for brewing in this smaller pot.
If you choose to pour coffee in a 6-ounce cup, you can only serve 7 cups of coffee from an 8-cup coffee maker. And you’d get less than six 8-ounce cups.
What’s Next?
The recommended ratio is six ounces of water to one tablespoon of coffee, but you can always adjust the ratio. After all, it will still depend on your preferences.
These measurements can be confusing, so I suggest using a coffee-to-water ratio calculator to check the ounces in espresso shots and drip coffee. Keep all of this in mind when considering the cost of your cup of coffee.
