3

Note: I am not asking about the yield of brewed coffee.

Edit: I'm asking how many cups (dry measure) of grounds are in a 1lb bag of ground coffee? Or does it vary by the type of coffee?

1

4 Answers 4

5
  • In case the question is relevant to the coffee beverage:

The well-known recipe for the ground coffee to coffee beverage ratio is around 1:20.

One pound is equivalent of 453.6 grams. Therefore; you may expect to have 9072 grams of brewed beverage. When you assume that a cm3 coffee beverage is around 1 grams, yo should have a bit more than 9 liters of beverage. Again, this makes around 320 oz. beverage. If you assume that your cups are 10 oz, you should end up with 32 cups of beverage from 1 pound of ground coffee.

I admit that, using such a unit system makes it way harder than stating "1 kg coffee ends up two hundred 100 ml cups", at once.

  • In case the question is relevant to the density of coffee:

(Updated after Paul's comment)

The solution is simpler as it depends solely on the density of coffee. Still, we may require a series of unit conversions.

The density of ground coffee is around 0.32 gr/cm3. This means, 453.6 grams (one pound) of coffee has a volume around 1.42 l. This volume is roughly 50 oz. Finally, a cup is 8 to 12 oz, let's say 10 oz on average. Therefore, a pound of coffee should be more or less 5 cups of coffee.

Note: This density is for ground beans. Green coffee beans has a density around 0.56 gr/cm3.

6
  • 1
    thanks for the detailed answer! The amount of brewed coffee isn't what I was trying to figure out though. I use 1 cup (dry measure) of coffee grounds to make a pot of coffee. So the question is about how many cups (dry measure) of grounds comes in a 1lb bag?
    – Paul
    Dec 23, 2019 at 14:20
  • 1
    Not a very mathematical way of looking at it, but isn't it true that the finer the grind, the more ground coffee will fit into a measuring cup? I know this holds true for salt: 1 tsp kosher (coarse) salt = 1/2 tsp table salt (important to know when cooking or baking!).
    – Arlo
    Dec 25, 2019 at 19:23
  • That's a good point. Maybe I'll just have do the comparison between different coffees with a cup and a scale.
    – Paul
    Dec 25, 2019 at 19:27
  • Density of coffee can vary a bit among bean types. What do you this variance is? Dec 26, 2019 at 3:26
  • @Arlo, your point have been discussed previously. It could be said that the ground coffee has more or less the same volume if not tamped. See: coffee.stackexchange.com/a/2937/1848
    – MTSan
    Dec 26, 2019 at 11:17
3

There are far two many variables for a definitive answer. All of the following will matter: exact type (and possibly batch) of bean, roast grade, grind, degree of compression in the cup, even the humidity on the day you measure. The biggest factors will be grind, bean, and roast - assuming you don't try to "settle" the coffee in the measuring cup.

For what it's worth, it usually is possible to fit ground beans in the same bag that held the whole beans before grinding, with a little shaking to settle the grounds. Assuming you have a practical problem to solve, that might solve it.

0

I did some measuring of my own. I found that 15.9 oz of coffee beans filled a 4-cup measure about 1-1/4 cups left over. So a canister that holds at least 45 fl oz should easily hold 1 lb of beans.

1
  • Or, to answer the question that was asked, 45 ÷ 8 = 5.6 cups per pound. Jun 7, 2022 at 14:37
0

I just vacuum packed a 3 pound can of Kirkland ground coffee. It filled 3 quart jars plus 2 pint jars with about 1 cup left over. (Call it 16.8 cups.)

Vacuum packed

Therefore; 3 pounds ground coffee = 16.8 dry cups. 1 pound ground coffee = 5.6 dry cups. 1 dry cup ground coffee = about 0.178 pounds.

1
  • Or, to answer the question that was asked, 1÷.178 = 5.6 cups per pound. Jun 7, 2022 at 14:35

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.