Cup (unit)

The cup is a unit of measurement for volume, used in cooking to measure liquids (fluid measurement) and bulk foods such as granulated sugar (dry measurement). It is principally used in the United States, Canada and Liberia where it is a legally defined unit of measurement, and is sometimes found in older recipes in the rest of the world using the metric system, and the meaning can differ significantly. Actual cups used in a household in any country may differ from the cup size used for recipes; standard measuring cups, often calibrated in fluid measure and weights of usual dry ingredients as well as in cups, are available. Using millilitre/decilitre measures is a recommended option to avoid ambiguity.

Some countries in the Commonwealth of Nations, notably Australia, Canada and New Zealand, define a metric cup of 250 millilitres. Units such as metric cups and metric feet are derived from the metric system but are not official metric units

A "coffee cup" is 1.5 dl or 150 millilitres or 5.07 US customary fluid ounces, and is occasionally used in recipes. 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, or 6.8 metric cups of coffee. In older recipes cup may mean "coffee cup".

United States customary cup is defined as half a U.S. pint.

A customary "cup" of coffee in the U.S. is usually defined as 4 fluid ounces, brewed using 5 fluid ounces of water. Coffee carafes used with drip coffee makers, such as Black and Decker models, have markings for both water and brewed coffee, since the carafe is also used for measuring water prior to brewing. A 12-cup carafe, for example, has markings for 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 cups of water or coffee, which correspond to 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 fluid ounces of water or 16, 24, 32, 40, and 48 fluid ounces of brewed coffee, respectively, the difference being the volume lost to evaporation during brewing.

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