Coffee for a Crowd — How Much Coffee to Brew
~1 minute
Enter your headcount, cups per person, cup size, and brew strength. The calculator totals the water needed and applies the brew-strength ratio (regular 1:18 is based closely on the SCA Golden Cup reference of ~55 g/L; light 1:20 and strong 1:15 are Utility Bull planning presets) to find the grounds. Cold brew is a different extraction model and is not included here.
What this calculator determines
It estimates the total water and ground coffee to brew for a crowd by totaling servings and applying the chosen brew-strength ratio to the water weight.
Related calculators
Examples
30 people, 2 cups, regular
30 people, 2 cups each, 8 oz, regular (1:18)
Calculation
- Total water = 30 × 2 × 8 = 480 oz = 14,195 g
- Grounds = 14,195 ÷ 18 = 789 g
≈ 789 g grounds (about 1.74 lb) — about 2 lb to buy
Assumptions & Conventions
- Brew-strength ratios are conventions
- Regular 1:18 is based closely on the SCA Golden Cup reference (~55 g/L); light 1:20 and strong 1:15 are Utility Bull planning presets — not all three are official SCA ratios.
- Cup size is user-entered
- The default 8 oz cup is a starting point you can change; a standard brewing cup is often 6 oz, so pick the size you will actually serve.
- Water-to-grams conversion
- Water ounces are converted to grams at 29.5735 g per fluid ounce, then divided by the brew ratio for the grounds weight.
- No cold brew
- Cold brew uses a different extraction model and is not included in this calculator.