amount of 12 oz coffees per 1 lb whole beans?!?!

[echandra]

PLEASE HELP! I have been driving myself crazy with the mathematics of how many 12 oz coffees will 1 lb of whole beans brew. I am writing my business plan, and figuring out the sticky financial section. My math works as follows:
2 tablespoons whole beans per 6 oz coffee
16 oz of whole beans yields only 8 12 oz coffees?!!!?

I KNOW when I brew at home, I get more than 8 12 oz coffees per 1 lb of beans!!!!!!

Erin

[Jackson]

It depends how strong you brew coffee. One way to do it would be to measure 1.5 grams of coffee for each ounce of water. There are 454 grams of coffee in a pound, so you could brew roughly 302 ounces of coffee from each pound. Some coffee shops might even measure 2 grams of coffee for each ounce of water, so they get 227 ounces of brewed coffee per pound. These formulas will vary with your equipment. If you have a high speed brewer, you will have to grind the coffee more course, which means you will need more coffee per pot. The finer the grind, the better the extraction. Do not go too fine however, you may end up with very bitter coffee, that you can eat with a fork, (grounds).

[echandra]

Thanks so much Jackson!!!!I knew my math had to be wrong. How could I only make $.30 a cup of coffee after all of my costs? I feel much better about getting into this business now. I know I won't see riches, but now I know I won't be struggling to pay rent at the end of the month!

Erin