When Grinding Coffee Beans, How Much Should I Use Per Cup?

How to measure coffee

Coffee beans come in a huge range of varieties from growing regions across the world, and they range widely in weight and density. This has a significant effect on their flavour.

The strength and intensity of a cup of coffee depend upon the ratio of beans to water, and on the size of the grind – the smaller the ground coffee particles, the stronger the coffee will taste. This is because there is more surface area in contact with the water.

The best way to measure coffee for the perfect brew is to use a coffee scale, rather than measuring by volume. And the most accurate measure of coffee is to weigh the beans before they are ground and brewed.

Measuring with a scale

For one 6-ounce cup of coffee, about the same capacity as a teacup, the ideal amount is generally considered to be 0.38 ounces or 10.6 grams of ground coffee beans. This equates to roughly 2 tablespoons of ground coffee.

To get these precise weights, it’s a good idea to use a digital kitchen scale or a coffee scale.

Our recommended coffee scale

The Rhino Digital Dose Scale is built with 0.1g increments to ensure precise and reliable measurements. This scale is your key for the perfect measurement of ground coffee to ensure a delicious cup of your favourite coffee.

Measuring without a scale

If you don’t have a digital scale, it is still possible to measure quite accurately. First, add four tablespoons of coffee beans to your grinder.

See our recommendations for the best coffee grinders here.

Once they're ground, measure out two even tablespoons of ground coffee for each cup required. Grind more beans until you have the right amount and keep note of how many tablespoons of beans you have used. This way you will be able to work out how many tablespoons of beans to use in future without having to remeasure.

Remember that different beans vary in weight, so you’ll probably need to recalculate if you are using a different variety of beans.

The high-tech option

Modern high-spec coffee grinders contain accurate digital scales.

We are very excited about the Baratza Grinder Sette 270WI which uses Acaia weighing technology – an intelligent self-adjusting, self-calibrating digital scale that recalculates depending on coffee bean variety or grind size. It is also Bluetooth-enabled and pairs with an Acaia app. This is the connoisseur’s grinder – one for the tech-heads!

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