How Many Scoops of Coffee for 12 Cups? - RecipeFAQ (2024)

Published: January 9, 2023 / Updated: January 10, 2023

Trying to figure out how many scoops of coffee for 12 cups of brewed coffee. The answer is easier than you might think!

If you’re new to brewing your own coffee, or even if you’ve been doing it your whole life, it can sometimes be difficult to know exactly how many scoops you need to make the perfect cup of coffee.

The good news is that figuring it out comes down to some simple math.

What is considered a scoop of coffee?

Now I’ve never been good at math, but the coffee scoops to coffee cup ratio really is easy to remember.

First, let’s take a look at what makes up a scoop of coffee so we have a common starting point. Traditionally, a scoop consists of two tablespoons of ground coffee.

What is considered a cup of coffee?

Now that we know what constitutes a scoop of coffee, how large is a standard cup of coffee?

While your “World’s #1 parent” mug at home may hold around 32 ounces, that’s quite a bit bigger than the normal “cup size” as measured per scoop. The general guideline is that a cup of coffee is considered to be between 6 and 8 fluid ounces.

So, how many scoops do you need to make 12 cups of coffee?

You won’t need your pencils and erasers for this part, because this is where the math is about as easy as it gets.

The golden ratio of ground coffee scoops to cup of brewed coffee is about 1 to 1. That’s right. To brew one cup of coffee, you need one scoop of ground coffee.

Doing some quick calculations here… that means you would need about 12 scoops of ground coffee to make 12 cups. This holds fairly true regardless of the type of coffee beans or pre-ground coffee you use. Of course, you’ll want to grind whole beans before you start brewing your coffee!

Or put another way, since each scoop equals 2 tablespoons of ground coffee, you’d need 24 tablespoons for 12 coffee cups.

If you’re into measuring your coffee in grams, here goes… Two tablespoons equal about 10.6 grams of ground coffee. So, for 12 cups you’d need just over 127 grams of coffee.

Easy right! In fact, it’s so easy, most standard 12-cup coffeemakers include scoops with this ratio already pre-measured.

The scoop pictured below is from my Ninja coffee maker that I use at home. Each level coffee scoop holds 2 tablespoons of ground coffee. And this measurement makes a great cup of coffee.

What if I like stronger coffee?

I hear you saying to yourself, “Sure, one scoop per cup of coffee is fine for the average Joe (see what I did there? 😉), but I like a stronger cup of coffee.”

A general rule of thumb for a standard cup of coffee is to use the 1-to-1 standard ratio noted above as a good starting point.

Then you’ll just change the ratio of coffee to water to make it stronger. Simply boost the number of scoops of coffee grounds to your personal preferences, or don’t use as much water.

For example, to get 12 cups of stronger coffee, you could still use 12 scoops of ground coffee, but instead of adding say 72 fluid ounces of water (remember, a single cup is considered to be 6-8 ounces), you use only 60 ounces in your drip coffee maker. That will yield 12 5-ounce cups of somewhat stronger coffee.

If you like your coffee a little weaker, simply reverse the process. Don’t as much ground coffee to your total cups of water, until you have the right strength of the coffee to suit your taste buds.

What type of water should I use to brew coffee?

This is actually an important question. For best results, use cold, clean tap water. Water with added minerals can add unwanted flavor profiles to your coffee.

For tap water that you feel may be unsafe to drink on its own, use filtered water or boil it first. The coffee brewing process alone doesn’t get the water hot enough to kill unsafe bacteria.

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