Is there a standard cup of tea size?
A lot of people may think this is a moot question. At the Dens Tea website They break it down to usually 3 ounce cups to estimate how much tea to use.Maybe this is to make it easier to figure a smaller quantity.3 ounce is a nice size because you can finish it while its still hot. I’m a bit of a guzzler at times so I make 16 ounce and sip away for an hour or so.
3oz is the average gawain size, so that would be for traditional Chinese/Japanese style brewing.
For Western style(American/British etc) I think 8oz is more of a standard. But I end up guessing most of the time because most of my mugs are more like 10 or 12 oz
I guess it’s hard to put a standard on cups because people’s drinking tastes are as varied as their personalities, haha.
But to get a little more technical, I would definitely say in the United States, 10 to 12 oz is average for a hot beverage.
A small at Starbucks is 12oz (~350ml). The 8oz figure is a baker’s cup but not a “cup” per say – most mugs here are at least 12. 16 is not rare, either.
A “teacup” used as a measure in antiquated recipes was 6 oz. I think that was a traditional size when tea was served in tea cups.
Most of mine are either 12 or 16. I use a lot of big mugs. lol :P
I don’t know if there is a correct size as such or to my knowledge I have never known that before. I have always used about 5gm of tea for 400 ml liquid.
Not all cups are the same.
For Japanese cups, for example, you have the 20 ml (0.6 oz) cups for gyokuro. There are some for sencha that are intended to be filled to 60 ml (3 oz), and bigger ones for bancha, houjicha and genmaicha which are usually brewed with 120 ml (4 oz) of water.
I use a 7oz tea cup, which is sort of annoying, since tea is measured for 8oz… I just need to get a 10oz Harney and Son’s teacup or something and just make 8oz of tea in it… ugh.
If I want a mug, I tend to eyeball 8oz, even if the mug is bigger. I feel like I make better tea when I keep the volume of tea smaller—less room for error, or something (it’s weird, I know…)
For tea in my gaiwan and when I make matcha, it’s totally different…
Matcha is 3oz water for 1/2tsp matcha powder…
and I follow the vendor’s directions when using the gaiwan for tea amount, water volume, and steeping times.
I used to love huge mugs of tea, but not so much anymore. I feel like I can taste it better in smaller portions, plus I’m home often, so travel mugs aren’t a necessity for me.
All this discussion seems to me to be about guzzling down a mug of tea to keep you awake. My original quest was to find a standard number of ounces, or as close as possible for a real teacup full of tea. The ritual of tea drinking is rare, I know, but on occasion, it is nice to be able to sit down to a real cup of tea with appropriate food. I am thinking that it used to be figured at 4 ounces….does that seem correct?
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