# Metric volumes
**URL:** https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/metric-volumes/1035
**Category:** Cocktails and mixed drinks
**Created:** [May 10, 2025, 11:27am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/metric-volumes/1035 "2025-05-10T11:27:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2025, 11:27am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/metric-volumes/1035/1 "2025-05-10T11:27:45Z")
Question mainly for non-Americans:
In the context of recipes, when do you prefer ml and when do you prefer cl? Is there any consensus?
I presume that mingling ml and cl is a no-no?
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### Author:  [@fredyarm](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/fredyarm)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2025, 2:55pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/metric-volumes/1035/2 "2025-05-10T14:55:25Z")
I prefer mL since it’s what I was taught basic conversions with (like 1 tsp = 5 mL, 1/4 oz = 7.5 mL, etc.). It’s also what soda, liquor, and wine bottles/cans are labeled in (sometimes liters but 750 mL is standard whereas 75 cL is not).
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### Author:  [@francois](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/francois)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2025, 8:37am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/metric-volumes/1035/3 "2025-05-11T08:37:27Z")
Always ml for me and never mix ml and cl.
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### Author:  [@BookofMorten](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/BookofMorten)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2025, 9:05am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/metric-volumes/1035/4 "2025-05-11T09:05:14Z")
ml is generally the standard everywhere with some Scandinavian and Northern European countries using cl.
London & Paris predominantly uses ml with a few places in London using oz while Denmark and Germany is mostly cl with a few ml in there.
You are right they are rarely mixed as that’s just unnecessary cognitive load for learning…
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### Author:  [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2025, 11:55am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/metric-volumes/1035/5 "2025-05-11T11:55:16Z")
Thanks for all the feedback: this tells me exactly what I need to do.
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### Author:  [@John](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/John)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2025, 6:22pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/metric-volumes/1035/6 "2025-05-11T18:22:47Z")
Here in Paris, I feel cl and ml are used pretty interchangeably. Everyone knows the difference and just converts automatically, as needed. I don’t often see them used together in the same recipe though.
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### Author:  [@AbsintheMan](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/AbsintheMan)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2025, 7:04pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/metric-volumes/1035/7 "2025-05-11T19:04:09Z")
Definitely ml (or mL, thanks, Frederic). This is the norm, even in post-Brexit UK, when there were suggestions that we should revert back to oz to show we had left Europe.
Of course since I work on absinthe, our quantities could be even less, e.g. splashes, dashes or a rinse!
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### Author:  [@cocktailpost](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/cocktailpost)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2025, 11:51pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/metric-volumes/1035/8 "2025-05-13T23:51:58Z")
ml all the time, but strangely enough, here in Argentina most bartenders are so stucked on oz that some can’t even made the conversion inmediately
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### Author:  [@jameslucas](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/jameslucas)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2025, 1:13am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/metric-volumes/1035/9 "2025-05-22T01:13:22Z")
I favor mL in all cases except for that gingery drink Sam Ross created a couple decades back. For some reason, I always spec that that in cm³.
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### Author:  [@Pixy](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/Pixy)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2025, 8:28am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/metric-volumes/1035/10 "2025-05-23T08:28:01Z")
I might be an outlier here but i’m from Australia and we use mL
That being said, I don’t have a preference anymore - as almost all drinks literature is written with oz in mind i just ecourage anyone who is new that im working with to get used to making a quick conversion in their head. It all reads the same
I will note that connaught bar book is the only bar book i’ve ever sen mention that tablespoons are a different measurement in Australia (15ml and not 20) and maybe that’s important and maybe it’s not