Check your Coffee Pot

[Maille Man]

I used my 10 cup coffee pot - used primarily only when I have company - to make some tea (a cup of hot this morning, the rest for iced later). When the tea finished brewing, I poured it into a 2 quart container (8 cups), figuring those extra 2 cups would be drunk right away.

Imagine my surprise when 10 cups (measured on the coffee machine) did not fill the 2 quart container...

Now I'm curious. Break out the measuring cups, and what do I find? My '10 cup' coffee machine only makes seven and a half cups!

I understand invisible inflation (shrinking amount of product for same price, ie; half gallon of ice cream is no longer a half gallon, a 2x4 is no longer 2" x 4"), but making me believe I'm making 10 cups of coffee (or tea) that yields an actual 7.5 (which only fills 4 mugs) is ridiculous!

I suppose if I were a violent person, I'd have slammed the lid closed on this plastic piece of misinformation. But I didn't. I just shook my head in depressed, confused disgust.

Hindsight being, well, you know... I probably should've known when I bought it - it being that 'evil' black, having a detachable reservoir and semi-automatic dispenser...

[VirginiaJim]

Haven't used a pot  in years.  Only use Keurig stuff now.

[gPink]

  is that legal outside Colorado?

[MAN OF BLUES]

Bet that was some strong tea, if you used enough to make 80 oz. (10 x 8 oz.)

Than Mr. Coffee for the "new" cup....

[Maille Man]

Haven't used a pot  in years.  Only use Keurig stuff now.

I use my espresso machine to make single mugs of coffee.  Figured out, a long time ago, the right ratio of water to grounds to get a nice, rich coffee.

Bet that was some strong tea, if you used enough to make 80 oz. (10 x 8 oz.)

Nah, three tablespoons of tea makes a perfect pot o' tea in that machine.

Still feeling duped, that in this machine, a cup isn't a cup.

[VirginiaJim]

How is 'cup' defined?  A cup like in the actual measure or a cup loosely defined by the manufacturer?

[twowheeladdict]

A cup of coffee has always been 6 oz.  That is the serving size not the 8oz 'measuring cup'. 

So, when you are drinking a 12 oz coffee, you are having two 'cups' of coffee.  That is also how the caffeine level is measured for those watching their caffeine intake.

[Maille Man]

Well, that explains that.  I don't feel so slighted, now...

[B.D.F.]

Yeah, US gallons are a LOT smaller than UK gallons too. The basic problem is the definition of 'cup'. Like a "beer by the glass", it is basically whatever the supplier decides to call a 'glass'. The exact same thing happens with a box of wine by the way, where the package of a 5 liter bladder (Easy Boys!) claims to contain something like 55 glasses of wine. Which is no doubt true.... as long as the wine glass is the size of a shot glass....

The coffee situation gets even worse when using coffee mugs instead of anything like a formal coffee cut and saucer.

Then again, most coffee is sold by the 13 oz. container (who conjured up that one?) and a "pound of pasta" is often 12 ounces these days.

It is probably best not to think about or look too closely 'cause it can all be annoying....

Brian

<snip>

Now I'm curious. Break out the measuring cups, and what do I find? My '10 cup' coffee machine only makes seven and a half cups!

I understand invisible inflation (shrinking amount of product for same price, ie; half gallon of ice cream is no longer a half gallon, a 2x4 is no longer 2" x 4"), but making me believe I'm making 10 cups of coffee (or tea) that yields an actual 7.5 (which only fills 4 mugs) is ridiculous!

I suppose if I were a violent person, I'd have slammed the lid closed on this plastic piece of misinformation. But I didn't. I just shook my head in depressed, confused disgust.

Hindsight being, well, you know... I probably should've known when I bought it - it being that 'evil' black, having a detachable reservoir and semi-automatic dispenser...

[MAN OF BLUES]

Buy a cup of coffee from a machine.. anytime over the last 35 yeaars... that paper cup MAY hold 6 oz, overflowing...
Styro coffeecups hold 7 oz, but if you put more than 5.5 in, youll spill...
When I was working at Mr. Coffee, and designed the "personal iced tea pot" w/patent, I had every coffeemaker in the world, sitting in front of me.. and yeah, a cup in coffee terms is 6 oz.
I had the best coffee beans in the world at my beck and call, I could re-roast anything I wanted, I could brew what I wanted... all because, they simply had it there.. I gotta say, I developed a quick coffee addiction, but luckily right next door was a place called the "Winking Lizard", a bar I started doing beer tours in
 I could call over, order my lunch, walk there and have lunch, and 3 beers on my "list", and repeat after work... did a record tour of 68 iirc, beers, in 20 days, but total elapsed time was 23 hours.... I have 6 different tour jackets from them.... 6 tours, 6 jackets, about $1000... coffe is good..
Like I say, thank Mr. Coffee.. he redifinedthe cup.... not the Eurotrash, Mr. Coffee....

[T Cro ®]

Like I say, thank Mr. Coffee.. he redifinedthe cup.... not the Eurotrash, Mr. Coffee....

I'll stick with Bunn......

[Leo]

My wife thinks I have lost my mind.  I have just measured mine.  I actually knelt on the floor to be sure I got the level right exactly on the line.

 My Proctor Silex "12 cup" machine only makes 60 oz.   60!  No wonder a pot does not seem to last very long.  1/12th of a pot is only 5oz.  You cannot believe anything anymore! 

I really like the taste of Chase and Sanborn regular in that coffeemaker.  Yesterday, I was really happy and satisfied.  Now I am angry.   I guess ignorance IS bliss.

[twowheeladdict]

Our cheapest coffee maker Walmart sells makes four mugs of coffee with a little left over for a warm up.  Perfect amount of coffee for my wife and I.  We unplug it between uses because small appliances are dangerous when left plugged in.  Many house fires start with faulty small appliances.

[Rhino]

Yeah, US gallons are a LOT smaller than UK gallons too. The basic problem is the definition of 'cup'. Like a "beer by the glass", it is basically whatever the supplier decides to call a 'glass'. The exact same thing happens with a box of wine by the way, where the package of a 5 liter bladder (Easy Boys!) claims to contain something like 55 glasses of wine. Which is no doubt true.... as long as the wine glass is the size of a shot glass....

The coffee situation gets even worse when using coffee mugs instead of anything like a formal coffee cut and saucer.

Then again, most coffee is sold by the 13 oz. container (who conjured up that one?) and a "pound of pasta" is often 12 ounces these days.

It is probably best not to think about or look too closely 'cause it can all be annoying....

Brian

In Germany, any glass of beer from a restaurant or bar must be marked for volume so you know exactly how much your getting. They take their beer much more seriously there. 

[T Cro ®]

In Germany, any glass of beer from a restaurant or bar must be marked for volume so you know exactly how much your getting. They take their beer much more seriously there. 

As we all should....   

Was a news article some time ago about a stink raised about selling by the "pint" when it was found that the glasses being used would not properly hold an actual pint.....

[Cholla]

When you go out and drink draft beer ask for it in a Stella Artois glass. They are matked for 16 oz but usually the barkeep fills it to the brim. You get about 2 oz more!
I always thought cups were meaured in letters...

[gPink]

When you go out and drink draft beer ask for it in a Stella Artois glass. They are matked for 16 oz but usually the barkeep fills it to the brim. You get about 2 oz more!
I always thought cups were meaured in letters...

[Conrad]

When you go out and drink draft beer ask for it in a Stella Artois glass. They are matked for 16 oz but usually the barkeep fills it to the brim. You get about 2 oz more!
I always thought cups were meaured in letters...