Coffee dosing cups: This is how you use them

A coffee dosing cup is the perfect tool for weighing your ground coffee and transferring it to your portafilter without making a mess. Especially for home baristas who use single dosing, a dosing cup is an essential accessory.

In this blog, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about using a dosing cup, plus tips on how to use it for single dosing.

What is a coffee dosing cup?

A dosing cup is a tool that helps you transfer your ground beans into your portafilter without wasting any coffee.

You place it under your grinder while grinding, then set it on top of your portafilter. Flip it over, give it a gentle tap, and all your grounds should land neatly in the portafilter.

Dosing cups are especially useful for home baristas who use the single dosing method: a technique where you only put the exact amount of whole beans into the hopper that you’re going to use right then and there.

Instead of weighing the grounds, you weigh the whole beans before grinding. This helps keep your beans fresher for longer especially when stored in a vacuum container.

Single dosing is particularly popular among specialty coffee lovers, as it helps extract the full range of flavors from your precious fresh beans.

Our 2 coffee dosing cups

When choosing a dosing cup, it’s especially important to get the right size and type for your espresso machine.

Pay close attention if you have a Sage, Solis, or Breville. These machines have a built-in grinder, and we’ve designed a special dosing cup just for them.

Our Sage dosing cup has the same wings as a Sage portafilter, so it fits neatly under the grinder, and it features an activation tab to easily start the grinder.

For separate grinders, we offer 58mm and 51mm dosing cups, suitable for E61 machines and also for smaller portafilters like those on many DeLonghi machines.

It’s essential that your dosing cup fits your portafilter perfectly. That’s how you avoid spills, after all.

Not sure which dosing cup you need? Check out our handy size chart, created with input from your fellow home baristas.

How to use a coffee dosing cup

Using a dosing cup isn’t difficult. Here’s a quick step-by-step to guide you through it:

Sage dosing cup

Place the dosing cup on your scale and press the ‘tare’ button.
Check if there are enough beans in your hopper.
Attach the dosing cup under your grinder and start grinding.
Weigh the dosing cup again after grinding.
Add or remove grounds until you have 18.8 grams.
Place the dosing cup on your portafilter and flip it over.
Tap the sides of the dosing cup a few times, then lift it off.
Your coffee is now ready to be distributed and tamped

Dosing cup 51/58mm

Place the dosing cup on your scale and press the ‘tare’ button.
Check if there are enough beans in your grinder.
Place the dosing cup under your grinder (some grinders have a holder it fits into).
Grind as you normally would.
Weigh the dosing cup with the grounds. Add or remove coffee until you reach 18.8 grams.
Set the dosing cup on your portafilter and flip it over.
Tap the dosing cup a few times before lifting it off.
Your coffee is now ready to distribute and tamp!