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Coffee cup (unit)

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The coffee cup is a culinary measurement unit in the United Kingdom. It is named after a small cup for the after‑dinner coffee served to aid digestion (a demitasse). 1 coffee cup is 21⁄2 British imperial fluid ounces.

Five British culinary measurement units are related to the coffee cup: the tumbler (10 British imperial fluid ounces), the breakfast cup (8 British imperial fluid ounces), the cup (6 British imperial fluid ounces), the teacup (5 British imperial fluid ounces), and the wine glass (2 British imperial fluid ounces).

1 coffee cup  = 1⁄4 tumbler
= 5⁄16 breakfast cup
= 5⁄12 cup
= 1⁄2 teacup
= 11⁄4 wine glasses
= 21⁄2 imperial fluid ounces
= 1⁄8 British imperial pint
= 1⁄16 British imperial quart
= 1⁄64 British imperial gallon
= 5 UK tablespoons
= 20 UK teaspoons
≈ 0·3 US customary cup
≈ 22⁄5 US customary fluid ounces
≈ 0·28 metric cup
≈ 71·03 millilitres

All six units are the traditional British equivalence of the US customary cup and the metric cup, used in situations where a US cook would use the US customary cup and a cook using metric units the metric cup. Which of those six units is used depends on the quantity or volume of the ingredient. British cookery books and recipes, especially those from the days before the UK’s partial metrication, commonly use two or more of the aforesaid units simultaneously: for example, the same recipe may call for a ‘tumblerful’ of one ingredient and a ‘wineglassful’ of another one; or a ‘breakfastcupful’ or ‘cupful’ of one ingredient, a ‘teacupful’ of a second one, and a ‘coffeecupful’ of a third one. Unlike the US customary cup and the metric cup, the tumbler, breakfast cup, cup, teacup, coffee cup, and wine glass are not measuring cups: they are simply everyday drinking vessels commonly found in British households and typically having the respective aforementioned capacities; due to long-term and wide-spread use, they have been transformed into measurement units for cooking.

See also

References

  1. ^ ‘Consuming Interest’, Elizabeth David, The Spectator, 15th March, 1963
  2. Page 665, Enquire Within upon Everything (1894)
  3. Page 14, Good Things in England (1932)
  4. ‘Tea Making, My Experiments ’, chapter XVII, page 456, volume IIIB, The Life, Letters and Labours of Francis Galton (1930)
  5. Page 665, Enquire Within upon Everything (1894)
  6. Page 665, Enquire Within upon Everything (1894)
  7. Page 11, The Feill Cookery Book (1907)
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