Paper Cups by Size: Find the Right Capacity

Size first: all fourteen cups compared

Size affects more than how much drink fits in the cup. It sets your portion, your margin, the lid you need and how much room your logo gets.

Getting it wrong is easy to spot. A small cappuccino in a cup that is too tall looks short-changed, and a shake in a cup that is too small spills over the dome.

That is why this page groups cups by capacity rather than by style. Pick the size first, then choose the wall and print on the product page.

The table runs from the smallest taster cup to the largest cold drink cup. Capacities are approximate and measured to the brim, so a cup is usually filled a little below the figure shown.

The last three rows are groups rather than single sizes, for buyers who want a few related capacities on one design.

The tiny end: 2oz to 4oz

Cups under 4oz are mostly about sampling. Food halls, drinks brands and coffee roasters hand out 2oz taster cups with your logo so a free sip still tells people whose product it is.

At 3oz you have enough for a proper drink of water, which is why dental practices and water coolers favour it. At 4oz you reach espresso territory, and many cafés pick double wall here because an espresso cup is held by the rim.

These cups have a small print area. Bold, simple logos work far better than lines of text.

Because these cups are so small, they nest tightly and take up little room. That makes them easy to carry to a tasting table or a stand at a trade show.

The everyday middle: 6oz to 9oz

This is where short coffees, office teas and cold drinks at events live. Each size has a slightly different job, which is why they sit as separate products.

A 6oz cup for cortados and flat whites keeps a strong, short drink from looking lost. The 7oz is the classic office and vending size, while 8oz is the small on almost every high street menu.

The 9oz cup is a cold drink size at heart. Event organisers and juice bars use it for squash, water and punch, where 8oz feels a touch mean.

• 6oz: flat white, cortado, babyccino
• 7oz: tea at work, water cooler, vending
• 8oz: small latte, cappuccino, tea
• 9oz: squash, juice, punch

Regular and large: 12oz to 20oz

For most cafés the 12oz cup is the regular and the one that sells hardest. Its taller wall gives your design the most room it will get on a coffee cup.

A 16oz cup for large and iced drinks covers big lattes in winter and iced coffee in summer. Choose double or ripple for hot drinks and single wall for cold ones.

The 20oz cup is roughly a pint to the brim. Smoothie bars and shake shops use it for thick drinks under a domed lid.

Ordering by rim instead of by ounce

Some buyers care more about the lid than the capacity. If you want one lid to fit more than one cup height, you order by rim width.

Our 90mm rim paper cups are the common example, with 12oz and 16oz often sharing the same lid. That means fewer lid boxes in the stock room and fewer wrong lids grabbed in a rush.

Rim sizes vary between cup builds, so we confirm the exact width on your quote. Lids are always matched to that figure.

Size groups on a single design

If you sell several sizes, you do not have to order each page separately. Three of our products cover a band of capacities with one artwork, resized for each height.

Our small paper cups from 4oz to 8oz suit espresso bars that need a short drink ladder. Mini cups cover 2oz to 4oz for tasting work, and large cups cover 16oz and 20oz for big cold drinks.

Each height still gets its own proof. You see exactly how the logo sits on every size before anything prints.

How to pick the right size

If you are building a menu from scratch, these steps get you to a sensible size range quickly. They work for hot and cold drinks alike.

Free design help is included at every step, so ask if a drink falls between two sizes.

1. Write down each drink and the volume you serve, in ml or ounces.
2. Add space for milk, foam, ice or toppings, roughly a finger's width.
3. Pick the smallest cup that holds the drink plus that gap.
4. Check whether neighbouring sizes can share one lid.
5. Decide the wall for each size based on how hot the drink is.
6. Send artwork once and ask for it resized to every height.

How much print space each size gives you

A taller cup is a bigger canvas, and that changes what your artwork can do. On a 2oz or 3oz cup you have room for a logo and perhaps one short line, while a 16oz cup can carry a full illustration.

The middle sizes are where most branding lives. A 12oz paper cup with a full wrap is tall enough for a logo on the front, a web address on the back and a pattern running between them.

Because a cup tapers, artwork is laid on a curved template rather than a flat rectangle. We fit your design to the template for each size, so text stays straight once the cup is formed.

• 2oz to 4oz: one bold logo
• 6oz to 9oz: logo plus a short line
• 12oz: logo, pattern and contact detail
• 16oz to 20oz: full illustration or wrap

Size mistakes that cost money

Ordering too many sizes is the most common one. Five sizes means five lids, five stock piles and five reorders, when three would cover most menus.

The other is forgetting about ice. A cold drink served over ice needs a bigger cup than the same drink served hot, and a large paper cup for iced drinks often fixes that.

Finally, think about the print. A long slogan that fits a 16oz cup will be squeezed on a 4oz one.

• Too many sizes for the menu
• No room left for ice or toppings
• Lids bought before the rim is confirmed
• Text-heavy artwork on very small cups

Prices and timings for every size

Cups in any size start from £0.25 each, with the final figure set in your written quote. Smaller cups and larger cups are priced differently, so we quote each size on its own line.

Printing begins once you approve the free proof and takes 4 to 6 working days. Tracked shipping adds 2 to 3 working days, at no cost to addresses in the UK.

Need a capacity we have not listed? We quote sizes outside 2oz to 20oz on request, so ask for a quote on your size and tell us the volume.