Australian Weights and Measures

This website uses standard Australian weights and measures. Australia uses the metric measuring system, although our tablespoon is one third larger than most of the world…

The Australian tablespoon is 20mls, compared to the standard 15mls tablespoon used in most countries around the world. This causes confusion – even in Australia – with cooks needing to confirm whether their spoons are Australian or international. In fact, many Australians are not aware that there is a difference. You can test your tablespoon by filling it with teaspoons of water. An Australian tablespoon will hold four teaspoons and an international tablespoon will hold three. Our recipes all use the Australian standard tablespoon of 20mls.

International users should also check their measuring cup volumes before using our recipes, because the adage that “a cup is a cup is a cup” is simply not true.

In many recipes online, including some of ours, ingredients are measured in cups. A “standard cup” however, means different things in different countries. In Australia where the metric system is in use, we use a metric cup which is 250 millilitres (mls) as outlined above. In the US, there are two types of cups! A Customary cup which is 237mls and a Legal cup which is 240mls. A Canadian cup was originally 227mls, but Canada now uses the metric cup. In the UK, a standard imperial cup is 237mls. Lesser known, are the Japanese cup at 200mls and the Russian cup at 246mls.