Ever wondered ‘How many coffee beans per cup?’ 

This way you can easily estimate how cups of coffee you can make with the coffee pack you have. Stick around in this article I’m going to spill the beans on how much coffee you need per cup and how this amount translates into coffee beans. Brewing tips are also shared along the way.

Let’s jump straight into it. 

How many coffee beans per cup?

For a 6oz (180ml) cup of coffee, you need 0.38oz or 10.5 grams of ground coffee. Each coffee bean produces roughly ⅛ or 0.125 grams of coffee grinds, meaning that 80 coffee beans are needed for each 6oz cup of coffee.

Do all coffee beans weigh the same? 

The short answer is: no

It really depends on the coffee type, its roast and the country it grows. 

Water clearly affects the weight of coffee beans, and as you might have guessed it the more water coffee beans contain the higher they weigh. 

For example, 1 green coffee bean (those that haven’t been roasted) weighs around 170 mgr while a dark roasted coffee bean close to 120mgr. 

So the longer the beans are roasted the more moisture and water they lose and obviously are going to weigh less than light and medium roasts.  

How to measure coffee

Let’s go over ways you can measure coffee with or without a scale. 

Measuring with a scale

It’s fairly easy to measure coffee with a scale…

All you need to do is put your coffee grinds on the scale and it’s going to show you how close you’re to the 10.5 gr you need for a cup of coffee. 

The good news is that buying a scale is affordable; you can get a decent one for $15-$25. Plus, they typically last for at least 4-5 years, so you won’t need to fork out money on a scale frequently.

But do you really need a scale? 

If I’m honest with you you probably need so you’ll be able to measure the exact amount of coffee you’re going to use each time. Otherwise, the taste of your coffee is going to vary, sometimes it’s going to be weak (not enough coffee grinds were used) whereas others are too strong (more coffee than recommended was used). 

But it’s entirely up to you to make your decision and make coffee the way that works for you.

Measuring without a scale 

Is there a way you can measure coffee without a scale? 

The short answer is: yes

As a rule of thumb, you need 2 tbsp of coffee grounds. Simply Add 2 tbsps of coffee beans to your grinder and once you’re done with grinding use a tablespoon to measure the amount of coffee you have; you should have 2 even tbsps full of coffee grinds. If not, just add half tbsp to your grinder and repeat the process until you have 2 even tbsps of coffee grinds. 

It’s also key to make a note of how many beans you used, so you know for the next time. 

Measuring with coffee/water ratio

This is another effective way of measuring the coffee beans you need for your brew. 

The most popular ratio is 1:18 which means you need 1gr of coffee for 18ml of water. This practically translates to 8 coffee beans for 18ml of water. 

But here’s the thing: 

Some of us want our coffee to be stronger than most people have it, while others prefer less strong coffee than usual. 

Let’s go over a bunch of other ratios: 

• 1:15 → coffee is strong and its colour is bright
• 1:16 → similar to the one above but slightly weaker
• 1:17 → coffee tastes smooth and pretty similar to the most popular ratio

How many coffee beans for different brewing methods? 

Let’s talk about different brewing methods and how many coffee beans you need for each. 

Coffee beans for a Moka pot

A typical Moka pot makes 4 espresso shots and since you need 15-17 gr (around 2.5 tbsp) of coffee grinds, you’ll need 120-136 coffee beans for your brewing. But obviously, it all depends on the Moka pot you use, if it’s larger than a typical 4-shot Moka (you guessed it) you’ll need more coffee beans. 

Coffee beans for a French press

For a 4-cup French press, you need 30gr of coffee which translates to 240 coffee beans for brewing. Ideally, you want your coffee grinds to be coarse which is what works best with a French press. 

Coffee beans for a Pour-over 

In this case, you need 29gr of coffee, pretty similar to what you need for a French press. The exact amount of coffee beans for a pour over is 232 coffee beans. 

Let’s wrap it up

Since you made it to the end of this article, I believe you have a pretty good idea of how many coffee beans are per cup and this will help you to buy the exact amount of coffee you need. Stay tuned, I’m going to be writing more articles on coffee beans and brewing to help you make better bevvies. 

FAQ

Have a burning question? In this section, I go over some of them to help you understand more about the topic. 

Why do some coffee beans weigh more than others?

As mentioned earlier it has to do with moisture and water, the more water your coffee beans contain the higher they’re going to weigh. Another factor is the density which is often varies depending on the country of origin. 

How many Litres is 1kg of coffee beans?

As you might have guessed, you need a huge amount of water to produce 1kg of coffee beans, and more specifically, 18,900 is the amount of water – be prepared to use a lot of water. 

Are lighter coffee beans stronger?

The short answer is: no

Roasting doesn’t really change the amount of caffeine coffee beans contain. People might think that lighter roasts taste more like tangy and sour are stronger, but they don’t as roasting only changes the taste of coffee. 

Do whole coffee beans weigh more than ground?

The short answer is: no

They pretty much weigh the same, coffee grounds might way less but the difference between the 2 is so minor that you won’t notice it.