Pet Peeve: What is the true size of a cup of coffee?

[AllardChardon]

How many different sizes of coffee does there need to be?

A true cup is 8 ounces. But no coffee maker or seller gauges a cup on 8 ounces. It is 6 ounces sometimes and in Mr. Coffee it is 5 ounces.

Coffee cups have gotten larger. They are no longer 8 ounces either. My Starbucks cup is 16 ounces. How many cups is that? Two? Oh no, in coffee terms, it is three!

Anyone else perturbed by this nonsense?

 

[Carnevil9]

Yet Congress continues to do nothing! It's shameful.

 

[glynndah]

It ranks right up there with the "drink 8 glasses of water" rule. Nobody ever says what size glass to use.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

On the right is a standard 16 oz coffee cup. In the middle a regular 12 oz can of Coka Cola Classic. On the left... It's a beast of a coffee cup...
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c65/theegoatpig/coffeecup.jpg

 

[Belegon]

4 0r 5 days in september, mostly spent carrying other players luggage and hoping against hope for an at bat...

oh wait. You aren't talking baseball.

Sorry.

seriously, I sold housewares once upon a time and the majority of the manufacturers use the 6 oz. size.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Ah, but you have to take into account that a coffee cup in a set of china is 6 ounces at best. I figure a coffee "cup" is 6 ounces and a coffee "mug" is 8 ounces.

 

[Carnevil9]

My guess would be that the coffee-maker manufacturers assume you don't fill it quite to the rim. Hence a 6-oz. cup would contain about 5 oz. of coffee for each fillup.....Carney

 

[AllardChardon]

For the record, a pet peeve is some little thing that annoys you. A soap box issue is congress being inefficient. I know this is inane but it is just another example of how confusing little things like this have become. Don't get me started on our shitty calendar and what the fuck day it is. But that is another of my pet peeves.

 

[MagicaPractica]

For the record, a pet peeve is some little thing that annoys you. A soap box issue is congress being inefficient. I know this is inane but it is just another example of how confusing little things like this have become. Don't get me started on our shitty calendar and what the fuck day it is. But that is another of my pet peeves.

And that's why it's fun to discuss rather than being angst making.

 

[john-the-author]

How many different sizes of coffee does there need to be?

A true cup is 8 ounces. But no coffee maker or seller gauges a cup on 8 ounces. It is 6 ounces sometimes and in Mr. Coffee it is 5 ounces.

Coffee cups have gotten larger. They are no longer 8 ounces either. My Starbucks cup is 16 ounces. How many cups is that? Two? Oh no, in coffee terms, it is three!

Anyone else perturbed by this nonsense?

Yes. The smallest coffee cup we've got in the house is a 12-oz cup--the standard size< I think that is--and I use those only when the 24-oz, 20-oz, and 16-oz cups aren't available because a 12-oz cup is too damn small. I can drain it quickly. It gets cold faster. What's the point?

 

[Salvor-Hardon]

Oddly enough this is one area where I go with kinesthetics and ergonomics more so than numbers and math. I find a mug that feels good in my hand, sits well on my desk and is easy to carry (I often have to walk between buildings and rooms during my first cup to deal with emergencies and then settle in for the more leisurely second cup.) without spilling.

I never considered how much it holds, so long as it feels good and doesn't give me dribble lips.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Oddly enough this is one area where I go with kinesthetics and ergonomics more so than numbers and math. I find a mug that feels good in my hand, sits well on my desk and is easy to carry (I often have to walk between buildings and rooms during my first cup to deal with emergencies and then settle in for the more leisurely second cup.) without spilling.

I never considered how much it holds, so long as it feels good and doesn't give me dribble lips.

Years ago my beloved MIL gave me an espresso maker one Christmas. I love the drink but the serving size is absurd so I always make a double batch. That's 8 oz. Unfortunately, however much my palate and brain love uncut espresso, my digestive tract is passive agressive and refuses to cooperate unless the espresso is cut 50-50 with milk, i.e. latte'. Therefore, my morning cup (and I rarely drink more than one) has to hold the entire 16 oz. Therefore in response to the original thread question, a coffee cup is a two-cup measure.

Wah-hey!

 

[3113]

I drink tea.

And J. Alfred Prufrock measured his life in coffee spoons, not cups. Let's get back to being literary here.

 

[Weird Harold]

How many different sizes of coffee does there need to be?

A true cup is 8 ounces. But no coffee maker or seller gauges a cup on 8 ounces. It is 6 ounces sometimes and in Mr. Coffee it is 5 ounces.

Coffee cups have gotten larger. They are no longer 8 ounces either. My Starbucks cup is 16 ounces. How many cups is that? Two? Oh no, in coffee terms, it is three!

Anyone else perturbed by this nonsense?

I'll just have a half a cup, thank you:

http://static.zooomr.com/images/748204_344ab7230b.jpg
http://static.zooomr.com/images/748204_344ab7230b.jpg

(My uncle had a similar cup when I was young that held just over one US Quart (32oz) of liquid.)

 

[OzoneRed]

Irrates me also. I bought a 12-cup coffee maker, only later noticing the fine print.

MAKES 12
6 0z.
CUPS OF COFFEE

If I'd seen the fine print before I left the store, I'd have paid for it with 75-cent dollars.

 

[Belegon]

For the record, a pet peeve is some little thing that annoys you. A soap box issue is congress being inefficient. I know this is inane but it is just another example of how confusing little things like this have become. Don't get me started on our shitty calendar and what the fuck day it is. But that is another of my pet peeves.

yeah, I get that... but if you start a whole thread on a pet peeve, we are so tangent-addicted around here that it will go off either with a list of other peoples pet peeves or we will start over-analyzing something about the original post.

I write, therefore I procrastinate... or something like that...

 

[TxRad]

Out here in the oil fields a twelve cup coffee pot ends up being three cups

 

[TE999]

I have a 20 oz cup that does me just fine. As far as coffee makers go, I have a Bunn restaurant model with a hot water reservoir that makes 10 'cups' immediately--which works out to just under 3 of my cup. Plus I can brew another pot in minutes.

Did I mention I love coffee?

 

[AllardChardon]

And no one has ragged on Starbucks for their silly size names. Grande, Venti and I can't remember the third one. Truly confusing for the novice.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Well, this morning's cup of coffee was half its normal size-- the rest of it went all over my sofa, and my arse.

I like those big round cups-- almost like a bowl with a handle. They hold 24 oz to the rim... And they are sometimes difficult to find.

We use a stovetop pot espresso pot, and whisk the milk by hand-- good upper-arm exercise The way those pots are made, you can buy; two cups(each 'cup' is about four ounces) and the next one up is not four cops as you'd expect, but six. Therefore we drink a triple espresso apeice, with milk and foam in the mornings. It can take me an hour to finish it.

But not this morning.

 

[AllardChardon]

This all started because I use a Mr. Coffee pot to drip, the Melita Way, my Starbuck's Italian Roast. I have been trying to make enough for two adults at about 20 ounces of black coffee each. I mix my 20 ounces with almost as much soy milk. No dairy for me. I calculated incorrectly at 6 ounces per coffee cup. Mr. Coffee only counts 5 ounces, so we were short every morning. Now I have it figured out. Finally. Thanks for the support on my pet peeve. I was sure I was not alone in this one.

 

[3113]

And no one has ragged on Starbucks for their silly size names. Grande, Venti and I can't remember the third one.

"Tall." Clever of them to make the smallest one sound like it's large. Are we fooled yet?

 

[CharleyH]

How many different sizes of coffee does there need to be?

A true cup is 8 ounces. But no coffee maker or seller gauges a cup on 8 ounces. It is 6 ounces sometimes and in Mr. Coffee it is 5 ounces.

Coffee cups have gotten larger. They are no longer 8 ounces either. My Starbucks cup is 16 ounces. How many cups is that? Two? Oh no, in coffee terms, it is three!

Anyone else perturbed by this nonsense?

It is not much different than men's cock. I am told most are 9 inches. Not sure of the ounce factor, but men do prefer to say they'd have a grande rather than a tall.

 

[Guest]

I never considered how much it holds, so long as it feels good and doesn't give me dribble lips.

Hmm, that is an image. Not always a bad thing.

Maharat

 

[AllardChardon]

Tall for the smallest choice. Now that is marketing. Lousy marketing, I should say.