Here's How Many Cups Of Coffee You Can Get From A Standard Bag

If you buy lots of coffee from the grocery store, maybe you have a vague sense of how long each bag will last, even if you can't think of a firm answer when somebody asks. If you only have one cup of joe in the morning, then one bag should last you a long while. If you put away multiple cups per day and end up with headaches if you skip your morning cup, maybe a bag only lasts you a week or less. But there's some loose math you can use to figure out exactly how many cups of coffee you'll get out of one bag.

The "golden ratio" for coffee is one to two tablespoons of coffee grounds per 6 ounces of water, according to the National Coffee Association. While a cup equals 8 ounces, sometimes in coffee talk you'll see 6 ounces used to mean a "cup of coffee." To keep the math minimal here, a 12-ounce bag of coffee (which tends to be the most common size) will make around 32 cups if you're filling your mug to 6 ounces, and about 21 cups if you're filling your mug closer to the brim.

All this means that, if you just drink one small cup every morning, a single 12-ounce bag should last you about three to four weeks. But that's the bare minimum, and it's likely you might have more than that in a day. If you drink multiple cups per day, or brew your coffee especially strong, that bag may only last you a week or two.

Some coffee brands also make 16-ounce bags, and a pound of unbrewed coffee should get you around 30 to 40 cups if you brew normally. If you're buying fancier brands, sometimes their bags are just 8 to 10 ounces, while some lower-priced instant coffee brands like Maxwell House make 30-ounce tubs that should last quite a while.

If you're interested in making a cold brew, it's a little different. Cold brew is more than just iced coffee and requires steeping your grounds in water to make them more concentrated. To make one glass of cold brew, you'll need about an ounce of ground coffee for every cup of water you add (and we mean normal, 8-ounce cups).

If you want to make your bag of coffee last longer without sacrificing the strength of your brew, you have some options. If you're brewing a second pot of coffee but you're on a budget, you can still keep about 50% of the old grounds and replace the rest with fresh grounds, according to Today (but you should still replace everything after a day passes). You can also mix up your fancier grounds with a cheaper variety to stretch out a premium bag of coffee.

Keep in mind that unbrewed coffee beans and coffee grounds stay freshest for about one to two weeks once opened, but they'll still taste perfectly fine for a few weeks afterward, even if they begin losing flavor. They'll last for several months if you're willing to vacuum seal them or even freeze them. When selecting a bag of coffee, look for bags that close with a zip-top, as this keeps the coffee fresher for longer. As long as they don't come into contact with water, old coffee beans should keep for a couple of years.