If you’ve been enjoying Nespresso coffee capsules to make your daily cups of coffee, then you might be wondering how much coffee does each capsule hold.
The amount of coffee in a Nespresso coffee capsule, or any coffee capsule for that matter, directly affect the taste of the coffee as well as the caffeine content of the coffee you’re drinking.
In this post, I will share with you:
- How many grams of coffee is in a Nespresso capsule
- How to confirm the coffee content of a Nespresso capsule
- How much coffee to make out of a single Nespresso capsule
How Much Coffee Is In a Nespresso Capsule
Nespresso capsules can contain anywhere between 5 grams of coffee to 17 grams of coffee in each single coffee capsule.
To know how many grams of coffee is in a Nespresso capsule, you have to identify which Nespresso capsule you’ll be using first.
Nespresso Vertuo Capsules
If you are using a Nespresso Vertuo machine, then you have a variety of Nespresso Vertuo capsules sizes to pick from.
Here’s how much coffee in each Nespresso Vertuo capsule by size
| Nespresso Vertuo Pod Size | Coffee In Grams | Coffee Volume |
| Espresso | 5 grams to 7 grams | 1.35 oz |
| Double Espresso | 10 grams | 2.7 oz |
| Gran Lungo | 10 grams | 5 oz |
| Coffee | 12.5 grams | 7.7 oz |
| XL Coffee (Alto) (nespresso 12 oz pods) | 17 grams | 12 oz |
| Carafe | 17 grams | 18 oz |
As you’d expect, the smallest Nespresso vertuo serving size, espresso, has the lowest coffee ground content at 5 to 7 grams per capsule to make 1.35 oz of coffee.
Nespresso Double Espresso and Gran Lungo pods contain the same amount of coffee grounds, which is 10 grams.
A Double espresso is 2.7 oz in volume, while a Gran Lungo is 5 oz. So why do they contain the same amonut of coffee grounds per pod? This is intentional, because a Gran Lungo is supposed to be a lighter and longer version of a double espresso. It is comparable to an Americano (Double Espresso + hot water), which is why both serving sizes contain the same amount of coffee grounds.
With a double espresso, you’ll get a concentrated short cup of coffee, but for a Gran Lungo, you’ll get a milder and smoother cup using the same amount of coffee grounds but with added water volume.
Surprisigly, Nespresso Pour-Over Style Carafe and XL Coffee Alto pods contain the same coffee ground content despite one making a larger serving size than the other. You don’t have to worry about the coffee tasting watered down or light though, because Nespresso carefully roasts each coffee blend to make the perfect tasting coffee for each serving size.
Nespresso Original Capsules
If you own a Nespresso OriginalLine machine (Inissia, Citiz, Lattissima, Pixie… or even none Nespresso branded one..) then we are looking at two sizes of pods only:
| Nespresso OriginalLine Pod | Coffee In Grams | Coffee Volume |
| Espresso | 5 to 6 grams | 1.35 oz |
| Lungo | 5 to 7 grams | 3.7 oz |
Nespresso OriginalLine machines are Espresso machines only, they’re not designed to brew a large cup of coffee like a Nespresso Vertuo machine.
With a Nespresso OriginalLine, you get two serving sizes: Espresso and Lungo.
Both of these coffee drinks using the same amount of coffee grounds, therefore, the same size of coffee pod. Why is that? To understand, let me explain the difference between an espresso and a lungo.
Nespresso Espresso vs Lungo
An espresso shot is a concentrated 1.37 oz of coffee that can be enjoyed on its own or as the base of many coffee drinks like a Latte or a Cappuccino.
A Lungo, is a milder version of an Espresso. It’s pratically a shot of espresso but it brews longer allowing more water to go through the shot.
Which is why the espresso and lungo pods contain the same amount of coffee grounds. a Lungo is supposed to taste like a lighter version of an espresso. If you use more coffee grounds, that will defeat the purpose. So you use the same espresso pod but run more water through it to get a lungo shot.
Nespresso OriginalLine 3rd Party Capsules
Since there are Nespresso OriginalLine capsules that are made by so many 3rd party brands like Lavazza, Illy, L’or, Starbucks and many more, you might be wondering if they contain the same amount of coffee grounds.
Yes, all Nespresso OriginalLine capsules contain the same amount of coffee ranging between 5 grams to 6 grams per capsule.
How To Read Nespresso Capsule Weight on the Package
Nespresso’s website or even packages are not the most informative when it comes to clarifying how many grams of coffee are in a Nespresso capsule. So how can you actually confirm the weight in grams per capsule, or how much coffee a Nespresso pod contains?
You can simply do so by reading the Net Weight on the Nespresso capsule package.
If you look at the picture above, you’ll see that the Net Weight on the Lavazza capsule pacakage (bottom right) is 55 g. That is the net weight for 10 capsules. Which means, divided by 10, you get 5.5 g for each capsule.
Here’s another example on a Nespresso Vertuo double espresso pods package. The Net weight on the pacakge is 95 grams for 10 pods. Which means, the weight is 9.6 grams pers pod.
