Best Coffee Dosing Cups & 3 Reasons Why You Need One

 Last Updated March 3, 2024

At first look coffee dosing cups look like one of those tools that exist just to get a bit more money out of you. But I've found that they are in fact one of the most useful tools for making coffee at home. They help keep your workstation clean, weigh your coffee, and are great value for money for the benefit they give.

Coffee dosing cup

My coffee dosing cup.

In this post I'll talk about how using a coffee dosing cup has improved my coffee making workflow and have a quick look at the best dosing cups. But if you want a quick recommendation, I like the Rhino below:

Rhino Dosing Cup

Best For Most

Rhino makes a no-nonsense, stainless steel, and good value coffee dosing cup. It comes with a stopper that stops cup from hitting the bottom of your basket to allow the grinds to exit easily.

Why do you need a coffee dosing cup?

Dosing cups are a very simple tool. They're a small stainless steel cup made to fit the diameter of your portafilter. That's it. So how can such a simple tool help improve your coffee making experience. For me, the main benefit was getting rid of mess!  

Benefit 1: keeping your workspace clean

A common experience for most home baristas is using your grinder and then having coffee grinds fly all over your bench. Even if you're careful, without a doubt you will knock your portafilter ever so often, and then your bench will be covered with fine grinds. And they're super annoying to clean.

The first time using a dosing cup was a godsend in getting rid of mess. Ever since I started grinding directly into a dosing cup, my workplace cleanliness has improved tenfold. No more comments from the wife to clean up the bench.

The reason for this is simple, as you're grinding directly into the cup, there are no gaps for loose grinds to find their way onto your kitchen bench. They all go directly into your cup. Then you simply transfer the grinds from your cup directly into your portafilter. 

Grinding into a dosing cup

Grinding directly into a dosing cup.

Dosing cups are designed to be the same or slightly small diameter of your portafilter (i.e. 58 or 57 mm) so then fit perfectly into them. All you need to do is flip your portafilter upside down and seal it on top of the cup, flip it, and then all the ground coffee will be in your portafilter's basket! Another option is using an espresso dosing funnel to pour the grinds from your cup into your basket if you don't feel like doing a quick spin.

Ever since I have been doing this, my workstation has been, much, much cleaner.

Dosing cup on portafilter

Dosing cups fit perfectly into a portafilter.

Benefit 2: weighing your coffee

The second benefit of dosing cups is that they allow you to easily weigh your beans. Team it up with a coffee scale and then pour the beans you'll grind into the cup, weigh it to make sure it matches your recipe, and then pour the beans into your grinder. Although you can do this with your portafilter, I find the work flow is much better with a cup. Further, you can also spray your beans with water to reduce clumping in a dosing cup!

Benefit 3: value for money

Dosing cups are great value for money. They cost no more than $20-$30 and you will only need to buy one if you use 58mm group espresso machines. If you find yourself getting grinds all over your workstation or want to weigh your beans before grinding them, it's a no brainer - pick one up for yourself.

Best dosing cups for coffee

Dosing cups are simple, small, stainless-steel cups. So there really isn't much difference from them besides shape and design. My only preference is to get cups that that have a stopper so they click easier into the portafilter, otherwise they will go all the way into the basket and prevent the coffee from falling neatly.  Below are three good options to consider:

Rhino Dosing Cup

Best For Most

Rhino makes a no-nonsense, stainless steel, and good value coffee dosing cup. It comes with a stopper that stops cup from hitting the bottom of your basket to allow the grinds to exit easily.

Normcore Dosing Cup

Normcore is a good brand as they make many different sized dosing cups to fit your portafilter size. They come with the classic 58mm, but also come in 58.5mm and 53.3mm to fit machines like the Breville Barista Express

Vidastech CBSC Coffee Dosing Cup

Vidastech is an alternative to the Rhino dosing cup above. We picked this one as it has a slightly different design and also a silicon grip that looks cool. Other than that, it serves the same function.

Conclusion

In conclusion, a coffee dosing cup is an essential tool for any home barista looking to brew the perfect cup of coffee. They help keep your workstation clean and ensures consistency by being able to weigh your coffee easily. They really are a no brainer if you find yourself with grinds flying around or want to start weighing your coffee.


About The Author 

Ivan Bez

Ivan is the founder of Latte Art Guide and a barista with 10 years of experience. He loves coffee and aims to help people improve their coffee making skills.


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