One of the questions we’re often asked before a customer orders is how many shots of coffee in a 1kg bag. And we always struggle to respond because the real answer is… it depends.

To really understand that answer your own personal preferences. What style of coffee do you drink? How strong do you like it? What flavour profile do you prefer? What brewing method do you use? All of these factors play into the answer to ‘how many shots of coffee in a 1kg bag’.

Of course, we know that’s pretty unhelpful. So, here’s some information that can help you determine how much you need to order to satisfy your personal coffee drinking needs.

Ordering Tips: How Many Shots of Coffee in a 1kg Bag

The ‘Standard’ Answer

Industry standard for a single shot of espresso coffee is seven grams of beans per cup. That’s about 56 roasted coffee beans in shot of coffee (green beans weigh much more than roasted coffee beans). So, if we do the maths (we got out our calculator), that means you can expect to get around 142 cups of coffee out of a 1kg bag of roasted coffee beans.

Of course, this is based on a standard, single shot of coffee. But what if you don’t drink ‘standard’ brews?

The ‘Double’ Shot

For many of us, a ‘single’ shot of espresso coffee doesn’t even get us out of bed in the mornings. In fact, the most common extraction amount is actually 16 -18 grams of coffee per cup. So, in that case, an extraction of 16 grams would give you only half that original number – or 71 cups of coffee per 1kg bag.

If you’re like us and sometimes you make single shot coffees (for friends, naturally) and sometimes you make double shot coffees (for ourselves, generally), then you can split that difference and estimate that you’ll get around 94 cups of coffees per kilo of coffee.

Dialling in to Your Flavour Preference

‘Dialling in’ is the process of using the right grind for extraction to create the flavour profile that you like best. This involves testing and retesting to find the precise amount of soluble flavour using just the right amount of water.

Naturally, dialling in to get the right grind can also affect your usage. If your first grinds don’t suit you, then you’ll want to change them and try again. So, you might actually go through 20-30g initially to get the extraction you’re looking for. And this could end up giving you roughly 60-70 total coffees out of a 1kg bag. But trial and error will eventually ensure you get just the taste you want – and ultimately, that’s the best outcome!

What About Other Brewing Methods?

The above numbers are based around the caveat that you are using an espresso machine to brew your coffee. However, there are many, many other ways to make coffee – plunger, drip filter, pour over, percolator, stove top, pressi, cold press, cupping and more. For each of these the amount of coffee that you use will depend on the brewing style and how strong you like it.

That Brings Us to Strength

Strength is a big part of how many shots of coffee in a 1kg bag. In fact, some espresso machines can have double or even triple-sized baskets pushing the limits of coffee grounds per liquid coffee extraction to up to 23 grams of ground coffee per shot. If that’s your thing, you’ll obviously be able to brew less cups of coffee out of your 1kg bag – but that’s OK! There’s no right or wrong. What you like should be your only guide (and save us a cup – we love strong coffee, too!).

The main thing to take away is that coffee flavour, strength, feel and enjoyment is personal. What we like you might not. And vice versa. So, while we can guesstimate how many shots and how many cups of coffee you can get out of a 1kg bag, your own preferences will change that up significantly.

Never worry about running out of coffee again!

Did you know that at Coffee DRs we can set you up a membership so you never need to worry about running out of coffee again? It’s easy to do. Just drop us an email and we’ll set you up with the right amount of coffee delivered freshly roasted to your door every month.

Check out our shop to see what we’re drinking now.