How to fill your Brewpot

The most common mistake, first: pulling more through the machine for a bigger drink doesn't get you more coffee. Less is more here — the full reasoning is further down this page.

A quick guide to what's actually in each drink — useful if you're new to a home machine, or just want to know what you're aiming for. These are guides, not laws: every machine, bean and barista does it slightly differently. What doesn't change is the cup.

Espresso — 3oz / 85ml cup

A single shot: roughly 25–35ml of extracted coffee, drunk neat. The cup gives it room to breathe without sitting half-empty.

Flat white — 7oz / 199ml cup

A double shot of espresso (roughly 40–60ml) topped with steamed milk textured into fine microfoam — more silk than bubble. Filled close to the top.

Cappuccino — 7oz / 199ml cup

Espresso, steamed milk, and a deeper cap of foam — roughly a third of the cup. Same cup and the same volume as a flat white; it's the foam that changes the character, not the size.

The bigger cappuccino — 12oz / 341ml cup

The one the high street pours, and the reason a lot of people think a cappuccino is a big drink. Same double shot, a great deal more steamed milk around it, and a generous cap of foam on top. Softer and longer than the seven-ounce version — a different drink rather than a weaker one.

The milk is where the work is. Aim for the same texture as a cappuccino, just more of it, and resist the urge to pull a longer shot to keep up. The shot stays the same size; only the cup gets bigger. (That is the mistake at the top of this page, and this is the drink people usually make it on.)

Latte — 10oz / 284ml glass

Espresso with considerably more steamed milk and only a thin finish of foam. The mildest of the four, and the biggest pour.

It's not only for coffee, either — it turns out to be a very good glass for orange juice.

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Steaming the milk

None of this needs special skill — mostly it's patience, and a jug that isn't overfilled. Same basic technique underneath all three milk drinks; what changes is how much air you add before you finish heating.

Keep the steam wand just under the surface so it draws in air and the milk starts to grow, then drop it a little deeper to bring the whole jug up to temperature. A simple gauge: rest a hand flat against the side of the jug, and once it's gone from warm to properly hot — verging on uncomfortable to hold — you're there. If you'd rather be precise, that's roughly 60–65°C on a thermometer. Any hotter and the milk scalds and loses its sweetness.

One thing worth getting right: the wand doesn't sit dead centre. Angle it in off to one side — roughly halfway between the middle and the wall, often resting near the spout — which is what sets up the whirlpool that actually textures the milk evenly.

The difference between drinks mostly comes down to that first stage. A cappuccino wants longer adding air, for a thicker, fluffier foam that holds its shape and sits distinctly on top. A flat white and a latte want far less of it — just enough for a fine, silky microfoam rather than visible bubbles, flatter and glossier than a cappuccino's.

Once you've finished steaming, give the jug a gentle swirl before you pour. It breaks down any stray large bubbles and folds the foam back through the milk, so it pours smooth and glossy instead of separating into liquid and froth.

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And then there's the Mug

Everything above is really about getting an espresso-based drink right. The Mug doesn't play that game. It's 12oz, British-measured, and it's yours to fill however you like — tea, black coffee, hot Ribena, whatever's going.

One worth trying: a steamed hot chocolate. Add your favourite hot chocolate powder to the milk before you steam it, same technique as above, and you get a properly frothy, café-style hot chocolate that actually fills a 12oz mug rather than drowning in something meant for espresso.

Beyond that, we're not going to tell you how to make a cup of tea.

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Whatever you brew with

However you brew it — pod machine, stovetop moka, bean-to-cup — the numbers land in the same place. A short shot fits the Espresso Cup. A fuller pour fits the seven-ounce cup (flat white or cappuccino) or the latte glass. The range was sized for the drink, not the machine.

For reference, what "right" actually looks like: a double espresso extracted in roughly 25 seconds — most guidance puts the working window somewhere around 22 to 28 seconds — timed from when the water starts flowing to when the cup's full, not from when the machine switches on. Pod machines are pre-dosed and locked in by the manufacturer, so leaving the settings alone gets you there every time. A bean-to-cup machine grinds fresh per cup, so hitting that same window means adjusting the grind size as the beans age or the roast changes — a dial most people don't realise they have.

Worth knowing if you're tempted to override the preset for a bigger pour: past a certain point, more water through the same grounds isn't more coffee, it's over-extracted coffee — bitter, thinner on flavour rather than stronger. The machine's preset exists for a reason. And it comes before the cup, not after: get the extraction wrong, and it's over before the coffee reaches the cup at all — no cup, however well sized, can fix it.

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Curious why these sizes specifically, or what else we've picked up along the way — the reasoning, the research, the taste testing? That's over on The Long Version.

The cups aren't on sale yet — the first run is being made. There's more on where we're up to, and an email box if you'd like to know the day they land.