Why the ounce and the millilitre never quite line up
One US fluid ounce is 29.5735 millilitres, so eight of them come to 236.6 ml. Yet almost every supplier in the world sells that cup as a 240 ml cup, and a 12 oz cup is offered as 350 ml rather than 354.9 ml. Neither figure is wrong. The ounce name is a trade size that has been rounded to a sensible serving, while the millilitre figure on a specification sheet is the volume the cup is intended to be filled to. The calculator above shows you both columns side by side so you can see exactly where the difference comes from instead of guessing.
Fill capacity is not the same as brim-full volume
Pour water into a cup until it reaches the rim and you will always get more than the number printed on the case. A cup has to leave room for a lid, for foam on a cappuccino and for a hand that is carrying it across a room. Manufacturers therefore quote the fill capacity, measured to a fill line a little below the rim. When you enter outside measurements into the second tab, the tool returns the geometric brim-full volume of a truncated cone — a clean upper bound. It is the honest number for what you measured, and it will sit above the trade size of the cup you are comparing it with. That gap is normal and it is the reason we match your measurements to our catalogue by dimension rather than by volume.
The rim diameter decides the lid, not the size name
Buyers lose more money on mismatched lids than on almost any other detail. What matters is the diameter across the rim. On our paper lids, the 12 oz size sits on an 80 mm rim while the 14 oz and 16 oz cups share a 90 mm rim and therefore share a lid. On the clear PET side the picture is even simpler: every one of our PET lids is 95 mm, so a single lid covers the whole cold-drink range from 8 oz to 22 oz. If you are consolidating an order, that one fact usually removes a line item or two from your purchase list. Measure the rim, read the result above, and you will know what fits before you ask us anything.
Choosing a size for the drink you actually serve
Espresso and Turkish-style servings sit at the small end, around 4 oz. A flat white or a filter coffee to go is comfortable at 8 oz, which is why that size dominates café orders. Twelve and fourteen ounces cover the large hot drinks and the iced-coffee range, and sixteen ounces is where milkshakes, smoothies and long cold drinks live. Vending machines are their own case: those cups are dimensioned for the machine's dispenser column rather than for a hand, so if you are buying for vending, tell us the machine and we will confirm the fit.
Ordering the size you settled on, with your own brand on it
Once you know the size, the rest is straightforward. We print in six flexo colours as standard, and on double-wall cups we can also run CMYK offset, which lifts the colour limit entirely for photographic artwork. Production, quality control, packing and shipping all happen inside the same company in Türkiye, so you are dealing with the people who actually run the line rather than an agent in between. Send us the size, the quantity and your artwork and we will reply with a proforma; freight terms are set by the incoterm you prefer.