Answering the question “How much caffeine in a cup of coffee?” is not as easy as the question might suggest. First of all, the amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee depends on a variety of factors. So any mgs of caffeine in coffee that we offer in this article is going to be an estimate. But it should be a good enough estimate for your dietary purposes.
Now why can we not give you the exact amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee? Well it depends on several factors. The first factor of course is the coffee beans. Even the same coffee tree will offer coffee beans that have slightly varying amounts of caffeine from year to year. Next is the roast. Different roasts of different coffee beans will also give you different caffeine readings in those cups of coffee. Generally, the darker the roast the less caffeine extracted from the coffee bean all other things being equal. And lastly of course, is the amount of water used will affect the amount of caffeine and the amount of time the water stays in contact and thus extracting the caffeine from the coffee beans.
So an espresso shot will have less caffeine than a cup fo mild coffee because the water has been in contact with the espresso beans less than the water was in contact with the coffee beans. Also, the espresso roast is darker which means that more caffeine has been burnt off and also the beverage is smaller so less water has been used to extract the caffeine.
So with that being said, let’s tell you how much caffeine is in a cup of coffee as a general rule. 1 cup of brewed coffee around 210 ml or 7 ounces has about 80 to 135 mg of caffeine. A shot of espresso about 1.5 to 2 ounces or 45 to 60 ml has around 100 mg of caffeine.
That’s interesting, and that information is handy, but many of us might drinking coffee in the real world. So let’s take a look at how much caffeine in Starbucks coffee drinks. According to their website, their grande American has 225 mg of caffeine. A grande flavored latte at Starbucks has 150 mg of caffeine and the grande has 2 shots of espresso. The same as the venti. Though the short and tall have only 1 shot of espresso each.
Obviously, a solo espresso would only have 75 mg of caffeine at Starbucks. The real caffeine champions if you will as far as the Starbucks caffeine heavy weights are in their brewed coffee. The Starbucks grande bold pick of the day contains 330 mg of caffeine which is the same amount of caffeine in their Pike’s place grande which is a milder roast. Though it should have more as a milder roast, I think this might be due to Starbucks’ roasts generally all leaning towards the darker spectrum.
The Clover brewed coffee from Starbucks also has the same amount of caffeine as the Pike and bold brew. I have no reason to believe that other companies are not in a similar ball park. So there you have some good idea about how much caffeine in a cup coffee. Hope I answered it for you.
Sources: Wikipedia and Starbucks
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