I'm not Shaking, You're Shaking!: How Much Caffeine is really in Coffee?

Caffeine Content in Coffee

Caffeine, oh sweet mistress muddled underneath that wonderful dark nectar. A central nervous system stimulant that has become ubiquitous worldwide. Drank by many in the form of coffee, but also as espresso, energy drinks, and other popular drinks found at many stores and homes.  Caffeine has been enjoyed by so many different people throughout time, civilizations and cities have fallen while coffee has maintained its dominance as a favorite beverage.

The problem with this question is that different species of coffee can alter the amount of caffeine available in our favorite drink.  The majority of coffee we drink comes from the Arabica plant, but another less popular species is the Robusta plan which contains 1.5x - 2.0x the amount of caffeine.  The robusta plant is also easier to grow, and more hardy against diseases.  You might be asking why doesn't this plant make up more of a market share in the coffee world.  Well, Although it contains more caffeine it is sometimes thought of as a lower quality, less flavorful coffee when compared to the Arabica.  Usually, Robusta is used in those newer coffees on the markets that advertise their high caffeine content.  The nice thing is that taste is a subjective, personal, thing and you may enjoy the flavors produced by the Robusta coffee plant.  Robusta is usually more of an earthy, peanutty, bitter coffee.

Other impactful factors can be the temperature of the water, time of brewing, type of brewing technique used (French press, pour-over, espresso machine). Some may think light or dark roast factor into caffeine levels, but pound for pound both roasts of the same bean contain about the same amount of caffeine.

The two major species drank are Arabica and Robusta. A study found that some Robusta beans can contain two times as much caffeine as Arabica. So when someone says you get 60mg or 90mg of caffeine in a cup it might now accurately represent what you are actually drinking.

So to make things easy we will try to give a rough estimation of how much caffeine is in each type of coffee.

Average Coffee / 8oz        = 90mg - 100mg 

Drip Coffee / 8oz           = 60mg - 120mg (Remember all the variables above make this range so wide)

Espresso or Nespresso / 1oz = 60mg - 70mg

Cold Brew / 8oz             = 100mg

Nitro Coffee / 8oz           = 150mg

Monster Energy / 16oz       = 160mg - 180mg

These numbers could vary even more with changes in the brewing process, or time of brewing. Take this as a rough guideline to the caffeine levels in your favorite drinks.

Our roasts would fall somewhere in the average coffee range, but we do have an African Espresso blend that would place higher on the caffeine range. Check out our store if you haven't.

If you're looking to add some caffeine into your life we sell beans for drip, and espresso on our store!

Link to Store