How Much Espresso Goes into the Different Cup Sizes?
One thing that can get a little confusing when starting out as a barista is learning to understand how much espresso you need to put in each of the various cup sizes. For example when making a coffee for a customer in a small 8 ounce take away cup should you use a normale, a ristretto, or a double ristretto?
In this video Luke talks us through each of the standard cup sizes from a 4 ounce cup up to a 16 ounce cup to explain how much espresso should be dropped into each. The main goal for a barista should be maintaining overall consistency and flavour across the cup range.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
0:00
four six eight twelve sixteen ounce cups how much espresso should you put into each one
0:05
of these cups when combined with milk hey I would just want to dive into the logic
0:09
behind how to work with espresso and split it through this takeaway cup range [Music]
0:18
perhaps you're a Barista working in a cafe and you've got this lineup of takeaway cups in
0:23
front of you and it gets a bit confusing about how much espresso needs to go in each cup whether
0:28
you're going to split into certain sizes what's a double shot shot what's a ristretto or are you
0:34
a person buying yourself a 16 ounce cup and not really knowing how much espresso is in there is it
0:40
a three shot a two shot whatever's going on well I'm gonna try and break it down a little bit for
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you how we do it here at Artisti and you can apply this logic perhaps to your Cafe the key thing is
0:53
if you've got to take away a range of Cups you really want to match your dining cups to the
0:57
same sizes because then the logic is going to work really easy so I'm going to start with the biggest
1:02
myth and that's the good old eight ounce cup now we think traditionally that that would have one
1:08
shot of espresso and if we were going to go to a 16 ounce that we would put two shots of espresso
1:15
because 2 8 is 16. well the math sounds pretty right but when you taste it it really doesn't work
1:21
so I'm going to buff that straight up if you're getting two shots of coffee and 16 ounce it's
1:27
just going to be milky and definitely not enough flavor cutting through that huge amount of milk
1:32
that's in the cup and I'd be wary about paying a good price if you're only getting two shots
1:38
of espresso in there so I'm going to start now on the smaller sizes now in workflow you might have
1:44
the ability to split a double espresso now I'm not talking recipes here or the amount of coffee
1:49
I just want to talk about splitting or putting two sides of one group handle into one cup so
1:58
it's really easy to get yourself a little Piccolo or an espresso and a six ounce cup and split into
2:04
those two that's pretty common these days if you wanted to up the flavor volume of those you would
2:11
ask for a ristretto or a double a double ristretto and they will be really super really Punchy so I
2:17
would be ordering a double Shredder in this and in the six ounce splitting them to me it's just still
2:23
too mild for the intensity and the flavor of the espresso I want to get with a small amount of milk
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then you've got your good old eight ounce now a lot of people have been splitting
2:35
um into an eight ounce and then maybe a dining cup or even the six it's just too less espresso to cut
2:43
through the eight ounces of milk so I definitely wouldn't be splitting into this it would have to
2:48
be a double ristretto just to give that intensity and flavor into the cup and again if you want it
2:54
to be strong you'd order your double shot and you'd be super happy with that kind of flavor
3:00
most of us drink a double shot latte in this kind of size that love coffee and it
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really does allow the intensity and the subtle flavors to come through with milk
3:11
then this 12 ounce it is a double shot of coffee there is no way you could be splitting anything
3:17
into this kind of cup you couldn't split from a six or an eight it's got to be a full double
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shot it can't be a double ristretto it is going to be super milky so definitely a
3:28
double shot that's going to go into this one and you'll keep your customers happy
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now the 16 ounce for us in Australia this is what we call a tradie coffee it's usually going to have
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a cut sugars and the guy's going to line up for it in the morning and just pump them out you know
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very early five six o'clock up till about eight nine o'clock and it's quite a big part of that
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drive through takeaway business now I would want to make sure that it has a full double shot and
3:58
a split shot on top now the logic there is that you may have your six ounce or an espresso that
4:05
you would be able to take a spare shot off this double handle and add it to a full double handle
4:11
into your 16 and that's going to keep the workflow going really quickly now it's pretty common to get
4:17
to 16 ounces and if you've got a two group machine you would simply load up a split shot into maybe
4:23
two little Piccolo glasses then load this handle in to this cup into the other handle and run a
4:29
double shot you'd be able to grab the little Piccolo pour it in and you've got your three
4:34
ready for one cup redo another handle for a double shot in another 16. grab your second Piccolo and
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you've basically produced two 16 ounce tradie coffees really quick and that flavor is going to
4:47
be quite substantial it's not gonna be milky it's not going to be mild and most of the customers
4:53
will appreciate a much stronger full body coffee first thing in the morning they're going to feel
4:59
like they've got that charge and that kick that they really need to get going throughout the day
5:04
later in the day hopefully they come back and get something maybe a bit smaller because they don't
5:07
want that full hip that you've just given them in the morning but that for me is how to handle a 16
5:13
to make sure your customers come back there are a lot of places that are doing double shots in here
5:19
it is simply way too milky and if anyone's looking at a bigger size of coffee well good luck I don't
5:25
even want to look at it it's not the space we get into but we do hear about sizes like 20
5:30
ounce or larger look I'm going to leave that space totally to you to work out how much profit you
5:35
want to put into those kinds of cups so hopefully that's given you an overview and a guide of how to
5:41
work with how much coffee should be in this full range the other thing you've got to consider is
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what type of roast are you using is it a dark roast a light roast or a medium roast if you
5:53
apply this same logic to a light single origin with milk it's always going to be milky it's
5:59
too light there's not enough body in that roast to cut through the milk if you've got a medium roast
6:05
something like our champion blend which all our Cafe Partners use it's a great amount of espresso
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that's going to balance really well with your milk and that's going to line up quite nicely through
6:16
this whole range and you'll probably find that the balance of flavor in a six ounce the eight the 12
6:22
all the way up to the 16 should be pretty similar when that customer buys the full range because
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that's what we want to do we don't want one size to taste very different to another if you're
6:33
looking at a really bold Italian or French roast kind of coffee something that's in around second
6:38
crack this logic may not work because you may be putting way too much espresso into this and it
6:44
could just be a really strong bitter cup of coffee that's not going to be enjoyable for everyone so
6:50
what you have to do is really take this logic and start and taste the coffees with the milk and the
6:56
beans that you're using ensuring that it actually tastes great across the whole range well there you
7:01
have it my assessment on how much espresso should go in this range of coffee cups now I hope that's
7:06
stirred a few things up in you in your business and what you're doing perhaps maybe do this
7:12
assessment sit down with your boss your manager or as a customer ask a couple of questions how much
7:18
coffee is going into these cups if you want to go further again as a barista maybe start to look at
7:24
the recipe you've got how much espresso is in your double shot handle is it a 16 and 18 or like us
7:30
a 22 and a half gram espresso basket if you're a customer look for a specialty grade style coffee
7:36
shop because most of us are using 22.5 grams of coffee and it's going to give you a much better
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flavor as well rather than a bigger store maybe or a group that's trying to push you know 14 or
7:49
16 grams of coffee in their double shots because that's really what's happening when you're buying
7:54
your cup you're getting less coffee but you're still getting a double shot so ask some questions
7:58
and try and make a better cup for your customers so they come back all the time hey if you've got
8:04
any questions about this breakdown hey please leave a comment down below I'd happily answer
8:09
those and thanks very much for watching guys and we will catch you next time cheers [Music]
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