![Simple Measuring Cup](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Simple_Measuring_Cup.jpg)
The cup is a
cooking measure of
volume
Volume is a measure of occupied three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch). Th ...
, commonly associated with cooking and
serving size
A serving size or portion size is the amount of a food or drink that is generally served.
A distinction is made between a portion size as determined by an external agent, such as a food manufacturer, chef, or restaurant, and a 'self selected p ...
s. In the US, it is traditionally equal to . Because actual drinking
cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...
s may differ greatly from the size of this unit, standard
measuring cup
A measuring cup is a kitchen utensil used primarily to measure the volume of liquid or bulk solid cooking ingredients such as flour and sugar, especially for volumes from about 50 mL (2 fl oz) upwards. Measuring cups are also use ...
s may be used, with a metric cup being 250
millilitre
The litre (international spelling) or liter (American English spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metre (m3) ...
s.
United States
Customary cup
![Gradiations on Coffee Carafe](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Gradiations_on_Coffee_Carafe.jpg)
In the United States, the customary cup is half of a
liquid pint.
Legal cup
The cup currently used in the United States for nutrition labelling is defined in United States law as 240
ml.
Conversion table to US Legal cup
The following information is describing that how to measure US Legal Cup in different ways.
Coffee cup
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. 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 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.
Commonwealth of Nations
Metric cup
Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and some other members of the
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
, being former
British colonies
A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Counci ...
that have since
metricated, employ a "metric cup" of 250millilitres. Although derived from the
metric system
The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the Decimal, decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in French Revolution, France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the d ...
, it is not an
SI unit
The International System of Units, known by the international abbreviation SI in all languages and sometimes pleonastically as the SI system, is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. E ...
.
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 ''tasse à café'' (, ''coffee cup'') is a cup, generally of white porcelain and of around 120 ml (4 fl oz), in which coffee is served. It is also sometimes used to serve small portions of rich drinks, such as hot chocolate
The ...
''). A "12-cup" US coffeemaker makes 57.6 US customary fluid ounces of coffee, which is equal to 6.8 metric cups of coffee.
Canadian cup
Canada now usually employs the metric cup of 250ml, but its conventional cup was somewhat smaller than both American and imperial units.
1 Canadian cup = 8 imperial fluid ounces = imperial gallon =
1 tablespoon =
1 teaspoon =
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom the standard cup was set at 10
imperial fluid ounces, or half an
imperial pint
The pint (, ; symbol pt, sometimes abbreviated as ''p'') is a unit of volume or capacity in both the imperial and United States customary measurement systems. In both of those systems it is traditionally one eighth of a gallon. The British impe ...
. The cup was rarely used in practice, as historically most kitchens tended to be equipped with scales and ingredients were measured by weight, rather than volume.
[Stobart, Tom (1981).''The Cook's Encyclopedia'', Harper & Row, p.524 ] A related measure, the
gill
A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...
(5 fluid ounces, or half an imperial cup), was commonly used in older cookbooks for liquids, and may still be used (in fractions of 1/4, 1/5 and 1/6) for spirits.
International
Similar units in other languages and cultures are sometimes translated "cup", usually with various values around to of a litre.
Latin American cup
In Latin America, the amount of a "cup" ( es, link=no, taza) varies from country to country, using a cup of 200ml, 250ml, and the US legal or customary amount.
Japanese cup
The traditional
Japanese unit
Traditional Japanese units of measurement or the shakkanhō (, "''shaku–kan'' system") is the traditional system of measurement used by the people of the Japanese archipelago. It is largely based on the Chinese system, which spread to Japan an ...
equated with a "cup" size is the ''
gō'', legally equated with litres (≈180.4 ml) in 1891, and is still used for reckoning amounts of rice and ''
sake
Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...
''. The Japanese later defined a "cup" as 200 ml.
Russian cup
The traditional Russian measurement system included two cup sizes, one of which, the "charka" (cup proper), was usually used for alcoholic drinks and measured , while another, "stakan" ("glass") was twice as big at and used for other liquids.
Since metrication, the charka was informally redefined as 100 ml, acquiring a new name of "stopka" (related to the traditional Russian measurement unit "stopa"
[ :ru:%D0%A1%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BA%D0%B0]), while there are currently two widely used glass sizes of 250 and 200 ml.
Dry measure
In Europe, recipes normally weigh non-liquid ingredients in
grams rather than measuring volume. For example, where an American recipe might specify "1 cup of sugar and 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.
See also
*
Cooking weights and measures
In recipes, quantities of ingredients may be specified by mass (commonly called weight), by volume, or by count.
For most of history, most cookbooks did not specify quantities precisely, instead talking of "a nice leg of spring lamb", a "cupful" ...
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cup, Unit
Units of volume
Customary units of measurement in the United States
Imperial units
Metricated units
Alcohol measurement
Cooking weights and measures