Kitchen know-how · 2 minute read
Teacup to ml and US fluid ounces: Beeton's 1906 measure
Beeton's 1906 teacup of water or milk is about 142 ml or 4.8 US fluid ounces. Read the source limits and worked quantities.
By TuneMyRecipe. Published .
In the 1906 London revision of Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, a teacupful of water or milk is a quarter Imperial pint, about 142 ml or 4.8 US fluid ounces. That is a definition for a named book and ingredient group, not a standard for every teacup.
A teacup in milliliters and US fluid ounces
Page 127 puts the teacup beside a larger breakfast cup and a smaller wineglass. Their liquid equivalents give you a way to read quantities without choosing a cup from the cupboard by appearance.
One source teacup is a quarter Imperial pint; half and double are one-eighth and one-half pint respectively.
| Teacup quantity in that table | Metric | US fluid ounces |
|---|---|---|
| 1/2 teacup | About 71 ml | About 2.4 US fl oz |
| 1 teacup | About 142 ml | About 4.8 US fl oz |
| 2 teacups | About 284 ml | About 9.6 US fl oz |
The modern comparisons use the source’s Imperial fraction and the US fluid ounce, not the Imperial fluid ounce. The book itself describes its equivalents as rough guides for ordinary purposes. Keep that qualification when adapting a recipe.
A teacupful of flour poses another question. The water-and-milk row doesn’t establish its weight, and packing a different ingredient into the same vessel can change the amount substantially. Don’t carry 142 straight across to a gram column.
What if the recipe comes from another edition?
Check that edition’s own instructions. Beeton’s 1861 recipes and the 1906 revision are separate sources; this later table doesn’t establish the capacity of every earlier teacup. Farmer’s 1896 measuring cup is another distinct example, specified as a tin cup holding half a pint.
For an inherited recipe without a measuring note, a surviving cup’s capacity is evidence worth recording. Without the vessel or a definition, any modern capacity you choose is an adaptation decision.
See old recipe measurements for the wider comparison. The cups-to-grams converter uses supported US measures and named ingredient forms; establish the old cup first instead of entering one teacup as one US cup. They don’t automatically interpret old cup names.
Source
Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, London, new revised edition, 1906, pp. 126–127. Scan. The modern volumes above are rounded calculations, not measured historical cups.
- NIST, SI conversion factors, modern nominal unit factors used for the rounded comparisons.
- Fannie Merritt Farmer, The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, Boston, 1896, pp. 27–29. Scan.