How to measure coffee to get just the strength of coffee you want.

It isn't always easy to measure coffee and get the proportion of coffee to water exactly right.

To further complicate things, some of the instructions provided by coffee experts go something like this:

"Add .36 oz of ground coffee per 6 oz cup."

And what, one might ask, does .36 oz of ground coffee look like? And what is a 6 oz cup?

So let's start with a simple review of cup and mug sizes.

A coffee CUP (same size as a tea cup) is about 6 ounces.

A coffee MUG contains closer to 8 or 9 ounces.

As for measuring 0.36 oz of coffee, my strong recommendation is that you get yourself a standard coffee scoop.

You probably got one with the last brewer you purchased. If not, buy one.

A coffee scoop filled level contains two tablespoons of coffee. And two tablespoons is what you need for a 6 ounce cup of coffee.

But...tablespoons seem to come in a variety of different sizes. Which is why I recommend people get a coffee scoop.

Once you have your coffee scoop, you'll always know you are measuring the same amount.

So you add...

1 coffee scoop of ground coffee for every 6 ounces of water (for cups)

Or

1 1/3 coffee scoops for every 8-9 ounces of water (for mugs)

This means that if you have an 8-cup coffee maker, you want to pour 8 x 6 ounce cups of water in the reservoir and 8 level scoops of coffee to the filter basket.

And so on.

If you like your coffee a little stronger, you'll soon figure out how much more coffee to add for each brew.

For instance, if you like strong coffee and make enough for 8 x 6 ounce cups, you might end up using ten 10 or 12 scoops instead of 8.

Experiment a little and see what suits your taste the best.

Just keep that coffee scoop close by. It makes it a lot easier to measure coffee, whether you are making one cup or a whole pot.

More on how to make coffee...