It has been a while since I've made it in an urn, but I'm remembering we used about 7 cups. This is even more than you use, so my memory may be wrong. Probably it depends on the brand of coffee used too.

I think you're still going to get all kinds of answers, as everyone likes their coffee different strengths. My Dad used to make a 12 cup pot of coffee with two TABLESPOONS of coffee, and it was Folgers only. I kept telling him it was just brown water...

We always used a pound of coffee for 50 cups, those being 6 ounce cups. I think it was just easy to dump in that pound, which would be about 5 cups of ground coffee if you have a bigger container of coffee. It also takes about an hour for the 100 cup urn at church to make coffee, so give yourself time.

Annie

Thanks for the responses. So Annie uses twice as much coffee as Linda - hmmmmmmmm. I guess I will go somewhere in the middle and have hot water at the ready. I hear you on the fuses Linda - we had that going on last year. This year I met with the janitor and he was able to point out five outlets that are on different breakers, so hopefully...
Jane

I use about 1/2 cup to a 14 "cup" pot so I did some math and it comes to a bit over 3.5 cups for 100 "cup" pot so I think that if you used 4 cups of coffee for a 100 "cup" pot you'll be fine. We make our coffee not strong but not weak either, just average. Just put it this way, the restaurant coffee we usually get seems weaker than our home brewed coffee.

Tobyt:

I don-t know if all coffemakers use a Universal measurement,
for the amount of water in one cup of Coffee.

One cup of water is 8 ounces and you are right,
six ounces for a Coffemaker " cup ".

In my coffeemaker, I use 3 Quarter-s cup of coffee,
for 12 cups of water, ( Carafe measurements )
It is not too strong.

Also, it is according to the brand of coffee, that you are
using.

What you could do is, make one pot; a little earlier,
for a test.
Then adjust the amount of coffee , to taste.
LOU

Great minds think alike Lou! I have decided that I will make one pot ahead of time and adjust accordingly for the rest. The thermal carafes we have keep the coffee nice and hot, so it should all work out. Wish me luck!
Jane

Good luck, Jane. And you thought making coffee was the easy part, didn't you? (grin)

Annie

AND be sure and write it down somewhere for the next time because if you are like me, you'll NEVER REMEMBER...HEEHEE!:)

Tobyt:
Thank You !!!

If the first pot is too weak, it is not dishwater.

Just dump the grounds, add some more coffee grounds and
pour some of the just made Coffee back thru,

until you get the taste you want.

Glad I could be of help.
LOU

We use 4 c. Folgers Columbian for 60 cups.

You'll be fine with 7 c. as ngraham remembered.

The info is all over the place because coffee varies, peoples' tastes vary, even the pots vary! Is there someone around who used them before who might know what they've used in the past? Otherwise, get the make and model and go online and see about an instruction book for a suggestion, which will vary a lot too. Or, try making the test pot but I'd do about 1/4 of it and see how it comes out so you don't waste as much if you don't like it or don't need it.

Most people don't really know the difference in it and can handle it at various strengths anyway, short of it being a slightly off color water! And there's those who pollute coffee with "cream" and sugar too so they can't tell the difference between good and bad coffee. (I usually suggest they stick to hot chocolate!)

One other suggestion: Perhaps run some vinegar/water through there to clean the pot before using. That can help make much better coffee!

FWIW the "cost club" size can of Folgers claims (up to) 380 cups from 3# of coffee. Interestingly the previous size of 3# 4oz size would make (up to) 360 cups of coffee, both in 6 oz cup measurements. If the company who makes coffee can't make up their mind, I have no hope for a universal standard! LOL

Also as another site pointed out it seems that the larger pots will get more brewed coffee out of the ground stuff.
"Directions: 1 Serving (6 fl oz) cold water: 1 tablespoon Folgers Coffee; 10 Servings cold water: 1/2 measuring cup Folgers Coffee. Refrigerate after opening to help preserve flavor, and aroma. This canister makes 335-380 suggested strength 6 fl oz servings."
One 6 oz serving uses 1 Tbsp, where 10 servings uses 1/2 C or 8 Tbsp.

And that's not including the 12%-13% variation in the amount of cups from the can anyway!

And the old stovetop percolator days I'd just let it perk away until it was the color I wanted! Miss those bloop, bloops popping up in the glass top!

Again, I'd clean the pot and give it a test to see. But there's probably a lot of leeway in there so it's not rocket science. Coffee snobs wouldn't drink it anyway probably!

Good luck!

cynic, that's another good point, it depends on the coffee. We alway used the "store brand", the 3 pounds made 300 cups as opposed to Folger's 3 pounds making 360 cups. That's only a 20 cup difference per pound and as you noted, if people put cream and sugar in it, that makes a difference too.

Jane, are you going to make decaf too? I'm surprised at how more and more people are asking for decaf, and how many people will take half a cup of regular and top it off with half a cup of decaf, sort of a homemade "half caf".

Annie

Cynic:
In your last Post " Another Site " that's about what I use.
Only I have a " Special Blend " of Folgers , Maxwell House and some Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts.
Very good robust flavor.
But like you said, Coffee Snobs wouldn-t drink it.

If you would reread my 2 Threads, I said just about what you are saying.

Sometimes, I miss the old Perculator too.

When I was young, my GM would make the coffee and all the leftover went into a glass jar.
It was kept in the frige and reheated.

That was a must then, everything was Rationed.
We ate a lot of leftover-s, madeover.
LOU

Below is a link to an old thread about the same subject for here a couple years or so ago.

Here is a link that might be useful: old 100 cup coffee question from gardenweb

I have no idea what to suggest for the coffee problem, but wanted to take a second to wish you best of luck with your fundraiser. As a music teacher who raised two more musicians, and worked on fundraisers for the HS choral boosters too, I know it takes dedication and work to raise funds (especially in this economy). Keep us posted on how it goes!

Donna (who is going to a music workshop for teachers tomorrow)

So for others that may have the same question, how much coffee did you end up using? And may also be helpful, what type of coffee?

Whewwww, glad that's over. It was a lot of hard work, but looks like we raised about 6,000.00 Not too bad. I ended up using 8 cups of coffee per hundred cup urn - didn't hear any complaints. It was Folgers coffee from Costco. Also made a last minute decision to servce decaf as well and the consumption was about 60/40, regular to decaf. There were also more tea drinkers than in the past. 426 tickets were sold and we went through4.5 urns of regular coffee, 3.5 of decaf, didn't really keep track of tea. We also served iced tea, lemonade and ice water. One big faux pas was that we neglected to buy any Splenda/Sweet and Lo, etc. Had a few people ask for it - have made a note for next year. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone for all the help!
Jane

Thanks for the update! OOPS on the artificial sweetener! The last gathering I was at everyone wanted hot tea but they didn't think of that. I guess you can't think of everything unless you're the pros!

I would never have dreamed that it would take THAT MUCH COFFEE! UGH! Those percolators must make some weak tea.