diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/darkswarm/services/cart.js.coffee b/app/assets/javascripts/darkswarm/services/cart.js.coffee
index 74f978bf3a..c519d22fdd 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/darkswarm/services/cart.js.coffee
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/darkswarm/services/cart.js.coffee
@@ -43,6 +43,11 @@ Darkswarm.factory 'Cart', (CurrentOrder, Variants, $timeout, $http)->
       @line_items.filter (li)->
         li.quantity > 0
 
+    total_item_count: =>
+      @line_items_present().reduce (sum,li) ->
+        sum = sum + li.quantity
+      , 0
+
     empty: =>
       @line_items_present().length == 0
 
diff --git a/app/views/shared/menu/_cart.html.haml b/app/views/shared/menu/_cart.html.haml
index d9c990db5f..646bd33425 100644
--- a/app/views/shared/menu/_cart.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/shared/menu/_cart.html.haml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
     %span.nav-branded
       %i.ofn-i_027-shopping-cart
       %span
-        {{ Cart.line_items_present().length }}
+        {{ Cart.total_item_count() }}
         items
 
   .joyride-tip-guide{"ng-class" => "{ in: open }", "ng-show" => "open"}
diff --git a/spec/javascripts/unit/darkswarm/services/cart_spec.js.coffee b/spec/javascripts/unit/darkswarm/services/cart_spec.js.coffee
index 4079d70bcb..4d13ccc8b5 100644
--- a/spec/javascripts/unit/darkswarm/services/cart_spec.js.coffee
+++ b/spec/javascripts/unit/darkswarm/services/cart_spec.js.coffee
@@ -1,15 +1,17 @@
 describe 'Cart service', ->
   Cart = null
   Variants = null
-  variant = {id: 1}
-  order = {
-    line_items: [
-      variant: variant 
-    ]
-  }
+  variant = null
+  order = null
 
   beforeEach ->
     module 'Darkswarm'
+    variant = {id: 1}
+    order = {
+      line_items: [
+        variant: variant
+      ]
+    }
     angular.module('Darkswarm').value('currentOrder', order)
     inject ($injector)->
       Variants =  $injector.get("Variants")
@@ -23,10 +25,15 @@ describe 'Cart service', ->
 
   it "creates and backreferences new line items if necessary", ->
     Cart.register_variant(v2 = {id: 2})
-    expect(Cart.line_items[1].variant).toBe v2 
-    expect(Cart.line_items[1].variant.line_item).toBe Cart.line_items[1] 
+    expect(Cart.line_items[1].variant).toBe v2
+    expect(Cart.line_items[1].variant.line_item).toBe Cart.line_items[1]
 
   it "returns a list of items actually in the cart", ->
     expect(Cart.line_items_present()).toEqual []
     order.line_items[0].quantity = 1
-    expect(Cart.line_items_present().length).toEqual 1
+    expect(Cart.line_items_present().length).toEqual
+
+  it "sums the quantity of each line item for cart total", ->
+    expect(Cart.line_items_present()).toEqual []
+    order.line_items[0].quantity = 2
+    expect(Cart.total_item_count()).toEqual 2