Cup (unit)#Using volume measures to estimate mass

File:Gradiations on Coffee Carafe.jpg

In the United States, the customary cup is half of a US liquid pint.

{{anchor|US legal cup|United States legal cup}}

The cup currently used in the United States for nutrition labelling is defined in United States law as 240 ml.(21 CFR 101.9 (b) (5) (viii)[http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&rgn=div8&view=text&node=21:2.0.1.1.2.1.1.6&idno=21 US Government Printing Office—Electronic Code of Federal Regulations] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090813113845/http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=77734a162c4f7ddd997233b4d623c029&rgn=div8&view=text&node=21%3A2.0.1.1.2.1.1.6&idno=21 |date=2009-08-13 }}[https://www.fda.gov/food/guidanceregulation/guidancedocumentsregulatoryinformation/ucm063102.htm U.S. Food and Drug Administration—Guidelines for Determining Metric Equivalents of Household Measures]{{dead link|date=May 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

The following information is describing that how to measure US legal cup in different ways.{{cite web |url=https://thenewsengine.com/how-many-ounces-of-water-in-a-gallon-convert-gallon-to-oz |title=US Legal Cup Measures |date=16 November 2020 |access-date=17 November 2020 |archive-date=19 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119092848/https://thenewsengine.com/how-many-ounces-of-water-in-a-gallon-convert-gallon-to-oz |url-status=dead }}

A "cup" of coffee in the US is usually 4 fluid ounces (118 ml), brewed using 5 fluid ounces (148 ml) of water. Coffee carafes used with drip coffee makers, e.g. Black and Decker models, have markings for both water and brewed coffee as the carafe is also used for measuring water prior to brewing.{{cite web |url=http://www.blackanddeckerappliances.com/products/coffee-and-tea/coffee-and-tea-accessories/replacement-carafe-gc3000b.aspx |title=Black and Decker Replacement Carafe |access-date=2016-12-30 |archive-date=2016-12-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161231074520/http://www.blackanddeckerappliances.com/products/coffee-and-tea/coffee-and-tea-accessories/replacement-carafe-gc3000b.aspx |url-status=dead }} A 12-cup carafe, for example, has markings for 4, 6, 8, 10, and {{not a typo|12 cups}} of water or coffee, which correspond to 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 US fluid ounces (0.59, 0.89, 1.18, 1.48, and 1.77 litres) of water or 16, 24, 32, 40, and 48 US fluid ounces (0.47, 0.71, 0.95, 1.18, and 1.42 litres) of brewed coffee respectively, the difference being the volume absorbed by the coffee grounds and lost to evaporation during brewing.

Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and some other members of the Commonwealth of Nations, being former British colonies that have since metricated, employ a "metric cup" of 250{{nbsp}}millilitres.{{cite web|url=http://allrecipes.com.au/how-to/17/standard-australian-cooking-measurements.aspx |title=Standard Australian Cooking Measurements |access-date=2014-09-24}} Although derived from the metric system, it is not an SI unit.{{cite web|url=http://www.bipm.org/en/si/si_brochure/chapter1/1-4.html |title=coherent units |publisher=BIPM |access-date=2014-05-26}}

A "coffee cup" is 1.5 dL (i.e. 150 millilitres or 5.07 US customary fluid ounces), and is occasionally used in recipes; in older recipes, cup may mean "coffee cup". It is also used in the US to specify coffeemaker sizes (what can be referred to as a Tasse à café). A "12-cup" US coffeemaker makes 57.6 US customary fluid ounces of coffee, which is equal to 6.8 metric cups of coffee.

Canada now usually employs the metric cup of 250{{nbsp}}ml, but its conventional cup was somewhat smaller than both American and imperial units.{{Cite web|url=http://www.firsthealthmag.com/how-many-tablespoons-in-a-cup-easy-conversions|title=How Many Tablespoons in a Cup – Easy Conversions|date=2016-04-28|website=First Health Mag|language=en-US|access-date=2016-05-08 |author1=Rebecca }}{{dead link|date=May 2025}}

British cookery books and recipes, especially those from the days before the UK's partial metrication, commonly called for quantities measured by ordinary drinking vessels, such as a 'tumblerful' of one ingredient and a 'wineglassful' of another one. Unlike the standard US customary cup, these are not precise units; there is no imperial unit⁠–⁠based culinary measuring cup. Today, recipes normally use imperial fluid ounces or millilitres, and recipes referring to 'cups' are generally assumed either to refer to US customary cups or to be an inexact measure.{{cn|reason=Secondary source needed for these claims|date=May 2025}}

The 1894 book Enquire Within Upon Everything states that 1 cup "usually contains about" 6 imperial fluid ounces (fl oz).[https://www.victorianschool.co.uk/ebooks/enquire%20within/10766-h/10766-h.htm#p665 Paragraph 665], page 119, Enquire Within Upon Everything (1894)

The same book also mentions two British culinary measurement units of volume based on drinking vessels: the tumbler ("usually contains about" 10 fl oz, which is {{frac|2}} imp pint)Page 14, [https://public-content.library.mcgill.ca/digitization/978-1-926671-88-8.pdf Good Things in England] (1932) and the wine glass ("usually contains about" 2 fl oz).Page 11, [https://deriv.nls.uk/dcn23/1262/7738/126277384.23.pdf The Feill Cookery Book] (1907) The 'wine glass' here refers to a small glass for serving liquor, not a typical wine glass. Since the UK is not a major producer of wine, typical wine‑glass sizes are those used by the biggest suppliers of wine, especially EU producers, who exclusively use metric measurements. Common wine‑glass sizes are 125 ml (about 4.4 UK fluid ounces or 4.23 US fluid ounces) and 250 ml (about 8.8 UK fluid ounces or 8.45 US fluid ounces), corresponding to {{frac|6}} and {{frac|3}}, respectively, of a standard wine bottle (750 ml; about 26.4 UK fluid ounces or 25.36 US fluid ounces), but these are not generally used as units.

The cookery writer Elizabeth David, writing in The Spectator, referred to the other three British culinary measurement units of volume based on drinking vessels and gave their typical capacities, in contrast to the exact US measure: the breakfast cup (8 fl oz),{{cite magazine |url=http://spprd.insec.netcopy.thompsonjames.co.uk/article/15th-march-1963/29/consuming-interest |title=Measure for Measure |first=Elizabeth |last=David |author-link=Elizabeth David |magazine=The Spectator |date=15 March 1963}}"Tea Making, My Experiments [1859]". In Pearson, Karl (1930). [https://galton.org/pearson/vol3/new/pearson-vol3b-ch17-1.pdf Chapter XVII], page 456, volume IIIB, The Life, Letters and Labours of Francis Galton. Cambridge University Press. the teacup (5 fl oz), and the coffee cup (2{{sfrac|1|2}} fl oz).

Of these, the breakfast cup is the most similar in size to the standard US customary cup and metric cup. It is slightly smaller than the US customary cup since the US fluid ounce is slightly larger than the UK fluid ounce. There is division of labour between these six units of volume, like the tablespoon and the teaspoon.

Similar units in other languages and cultures are sometimes translated "cup", usually with various values around {{frac|5}} to {{frac|4}} of a litre.

In Latin America, the amount of a "cup" ({{langx|es|link=no|taza}}) varies from country to country, using a cup of 200{{nbsp}}ml (about 7.04 British imperial fluid ounces or 6.76 US customary fluid ounces), 250{{nbsp}}ml (about 8.80 British imperial fluid ounces or 8.45 US customary fluid ounces), and the US legal or customary amount.

{{hatnote|See also: Gō}}

The traditional Japanese unit equated with a "cup" size is the gō, legally equated with {{sfrac|2,401|13,310}}{{nbsp}}litre (≈ 180.4 ml/6.35 British imperial fluid ounces/6.1 US customary fluid ounces) in 1891, and is still used for reckoning amounts of rice and sake. The legacy of this is that the rough metric equivalent of the gō, 180 ml, is used for the cups that are sold with rice cookers throughout East Asia, Europe and the United States.

The Japanese later defined a "cup" as 200 ml.

The traditional Russian measurement system included two cup sizes: the "charka" (cup proper) and the "stakan" ("glass"). The charka was usually used for alcoholic drinks and is 123mL (about 4.33 British imperial fluid ounces or 4.16 US customary fluid ounces), while the stakan, used for other liquids, was twice as big and is 246mL (about 8.66 British imperial fluid ounces or 8.32 US customary fluid ounces).

Since metrication, the charka was informally redefined as 100 ml (about 3.52 British imperial fluid ounces or 3.38 US customary fluid ounces), acquiring a new name of "stopka" (related to the traditional Russian measurement unit "stopa"{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}), while there are currently two widely used glass sizes of 250mL (about 8.80 British imperial fluid ounces or 8.45 US customary fluid ounces) and 200 ml (about 7.04 British imperial fluid ounces or 6.76 US customary fluid ounces).

In The Netherlands, traditionally a "cup" (Dutch: kopje) amounts to 150 ml (about 5.28 British imperial fluid ounces or 5.07 US customary fluid ounces). However, in modern recipes, the US legal cup of 240 ml (about 8.45 British imperial fluid ounces or 8.12 US customary fluid ounces) is more commonly used.

In Europe, recipes normally weigh non-liquid ingredients in grams rather than measuring volume. For example, where an American recipe might specify "{{not a typo|1 cup}} of sugar and {{not a typo|2 cups}} of milk", a European recipe might specify "200 g sugar and 500 ml of milk". A precise conversion between the two measures takes into account the density of the ingredients, and some recipes specify both weight and volume to facilitate this conversion. Many European measuring cups have markings that indicate the weight of common ingredients for a given volume.

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