How Much Caffeine Is in Coffee? Caffeine Calculator
An 8 oz cup of coffee has about 95–170 mg of caffeine; a single espresso about 65 mg. Calculate your own cup by brew method, size and beans, and check your day against the 400 mg limit.
Caffeine figures come from USDA data and peer-reviewed studies, listed in the sources. General information, not medical advice. How we test · Editorial policy
Caffeine at a glance
| Drink | Size | Caffeine | Usual range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drip & pour over | 8 oz | 130 mg | 95–170 mg |
| French press | 8 oz | 130 mg | 95–180 mg |
| AeroPress | 8 oz | 130 mg | 95–180 mg |
| Espresso | Double shot | 125 mg | 90–200 mg |
| Moka pot | 2 cups | 130 mg | 90–200 mg |
| Turkish | 1 cup | 115 mg | 85–145 mg |
| Vietnamese | 1 phin | 145 mg | 105–190 mg |
| Cold brew | 16 oz | 240 mg | 165–405 mg |
| Instant | 8 oz | 60 mg | 50–95 mg |
Arabica coffee at a standard strength. Robusta roughly doubles these; decaf has 2–15 mg a cup.
A cup of coffee can have anywhere from about 70 mg to well over 300 mg of caffeine. The often-quoted “95 mg per cup” is a US average for a fairly weak 8 oz brew. A typical home pour over, a coffee-shop 16 oz or a cup made with robusta beans can easily have two or three times that. The caffeine calculator on this page estimates your actual cup from the brew method, size, beans and strength, and adds up your day against the safe daily limit.
- 8 oz (240 ml) of brewed coffee: about 95–170 mg. Around 130 mg for coffee brewed at a standard specialty strength.
- A single espresso: about 65 mg. A double is about 125 mg.
- What changes it most: how much coffee goes in, the size of the cup, and the beans. Robusta has nearly twice the caffeine of arabica.
- What barely matters: the roast. Light and dark roasts are close, gram for gram.
- Daily limit: up to 400 mg a day for most healthy adults, and 200 mg if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding.
How much caffeine is in a cup of coffee?
These are typical amounts for arabica coffee brewed at a standard strength. The range is what you’ll usually see in practice, depending on the beans and the recipe.
| Drink | Typical caffeine | Usual range |
|---|---|---|
| Drip or pour over, 8 oz | 130 mg | 95–170 mg |
| Drip or pour over, 16 oz | 260 mg | 190–335 mg |
| French press, 8 oz | 130 mg | 95–180 mg |
| Espresso, single | 65 mg | 45–100 mg |
| Espresso, double | 125 mg | 90–200 mg |
| Moka pot, 2 cups (100 ml) | 130 mg | 90–200 mg |
| Turkish coffee, 1 cup | 115 mg | 85–145 mg |
| Vietnamese phin, 1 serving | 145 mg | 105–190 mg |
| Cold brew, 16 oz | 240 mg | 165–405 mg |
| Instant, 8 oz | 60 mg | 50–95 mg |
| Decaf, 8 oz | 5 mg | 2–15 mg |
Why is our 8 oz figure higher than the familiar 95 mg? The USDA’s 95 mg reflects an average, rather weak American cup. Coffee brewed at the ratios specialty baristas use, around 1:15–1:17, is stronger. A 2024 study in Scientific Reports measured 134–165 mg per 8 oz cup for arabica coffee brewed at 1:15. If you weigh your coffee and follow the recipes on this site, the higher figure is much closer to your cup.
Why one cup can have twice as much as another
Caffeine dissolves very easily in hot water, so most brewing methods pull out most of it. That means the amount in your cup mostly comes down to four things:
- How much coffee you use. This is the big one. Twice the coffee means roughly twice the caffeine. A strong 1:14 brew has about 20% more caffeine than a 1:17 one.
- The size of the cup. A 16 oz coffee-shop cup holds twice as much as an 8 oz cup, so it has about twice the caffeine.
- The beans. Robusta has about 1.7–2 times more caffeine than arabica. One study in Planta found about 50% more in mature robusta beans, and other measurements put it close to double. Many supermarket blends, espresso blends and Vietnamese coffee contain robusta.
- The brew method and time. Short brews such as espresso leave a little caffeine behind; long ones such as French press or cold brew extract nearly all of it.
The same drink can also vary a lot from day to day. When researchers at the University of Florida bought the same 16 oz coffee from the same coffee shop on six days in a row, the caffeine ranged from 259 to 564 mg. So treat any single number, including ours, as an estimate.
Does espresso have more caffeine than drip coffee?
Per sip, yes; per cup, no. Espresso is about four times as concentrated as drip coffee. Researchers comparing eight brewing methods found espresso had the highest caffeine concentration of all, with moka pot and filter coffees three to six times less concentrated. But a shot is only about 30 ml. A single espresso has about 65 mg, while an 8 oz mug of drip has about twice that. A latte made with a double shot has about the same caffeine as a mug of filter coffee.
Does dark roast have more caffeine?
Not really, and it isn’t weaker either. Caffeine survives roasting well, so gram for gram, light and dark roasts are very close. In the 2024 Scientific Reports study, very dark roasts gave slightly less caffeine in the cup with the same recipe, mainly because they extracted a little less overall. The one real difference is volume: dark-roast beans are lighter and puffier, so a scoop of dark roast holds a little less coffee, and a little less caffeine, than a scoop of light roast. Weigh your coffee and the difference all but disappears.
Does cold brew have more caffeine?
It depends on how strong it’s made and how much you dilute it. Cold brew uses a lot of coffee and steeps for hours, and a 2017 study by Fuller and Rao found that after about 6–7 hours it extracts almost as much caffeine as hot brewing. Undiluted cold brew concentrate is very strong, often 100+ mg per 100 ml. Diluted to drink, it’s similar to hot coffee per ounce, but cold brew tends to come in big glasses, so a 16 oz serving often has 200 mg or more.
How much caffeine is in decaf?
Decaf isn’t caffeine-free. According to the FDA, an 8 oz cup of decaf typically has 2–15 mg. That’s very little, but it adds up if you drink a lot of it, or if you are very sensitive to caffeine.
How much caffeine is too much?
- Healthy adults: up to 400 mg a day is not generally associated with negative effects, according to the US FDA and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). That’s about two to three 12 oz cups of coffee.
- In one go: EFSA considers single doses of up to 200 mg safe for adults. A large shop coffee can go over that on its own.
- Pregnant or breastfeeding: under 200 mg a day, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and EFSA.
- Children and teens: EFSA suggests no more than 3 mg per kg of body weight a day. For a 50 kg teenager, that’s 150 mg.
People differ a lot in how sensitive they are to caffeine and how quickly they clear it. The FDA lists signs that you’ve had too much: a fast heartbeat, jitters, anxiety, an upset stomach, headaches and trouble sleeping. Very large amounts taken quickly (around 1,200 mg) can cause seizures. If you have a heart condition, high blood pressure or take medication, ask your doctor what’s right for you.
Caffeine and sleep
Caffeine stays in your body for hours. In a well-known study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 400 mg of caffeine taken six hours before bed still cut total sleep time by more than an hour, and most of the participants didn’t notice. If you sleep badly, try having your last coffee in the early afternoon, or switch to decaf after lunch.
How the calculator works
For each brew method, we start from a typical caffeine concentration (mg per 100 ml) for arabica coffee at a standard strength, taken from USDA data and the studies listed below. We multiply by your drink size, then adjust for the beans (robusta about 1.8×, a blend about 1.4×, decaf from the FDA’s range) and the strength (lighter 0.8×, stronger 1.25×). The range shows the spread you’ll usually see in real cups. Your coffee can still fall outside it, especially from coffee shops.
This page is general information, not medical advice. To brew your own coffee to a known strength, use our coffee-to-water ratio calculator.
Caffeine FAQ
An 8 oz (240 ml) cup of brewed coffee has about 95–170 mg of caffeine. The USDA average is 95 mg, but coffee brewed at a standard specialty strength (around 1:15–1:17) usually has 130 mg or more. A 16 oz coffee-shop cup often has 250 mg or more.
A single 1 oz (30 ml) shot has about 65 mg, and a double about 125 mg. Shots vary a lot between coffee shops, from under 50 mg to well over 150 mg, depending on the dose and the beans.
Per ounce, yes: espresso is about four times as concentrated. Per serving, no: a single shot has about half the caffeine of an 8 oz mug of drip coffee, because the shot is so small.
Four 8 oz cups of brewed coffee come to roughly 380–520 mg, around the 400 mg daily limit the FDA and EFSA give for healthy adults. Four large or strong cups can go well over it. Use the calculator to add up your own day.
Gram for gram, they’re very close, because caffeine survives roasting well. Very dark roasts can give slightly less caffeine in the cup with the same recipe. If you measure by scoop, dark roast has a little less because the beans are lighter.
According to the FDA, an 8 oz cup of decaf typically has 2–15 mg of caffeine. It’s a small amount, but decaf is not completely caffeine-free.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and EFSA advise staying under 200 mg a day during pregnancy, and EFSA says the same while breastfeeding. That’s about one 12 oz cup of brewed coffee, or one to two 8 oz cups. Talk to your doctor or midwife about your own situation.
Sources
- US Food and Drug Administration, Spilling the Beans: How Much Caffeine Is Too Much? (400 mg a day, decaf 2–15 mg, signs of too much).
- European Food Safety Authority, Scientific Opinion on the safety of caffeine (2015): 400 mg a day, 200 mg single dose, 200 mg in pregnancy, 3 mg/kg for children and teens.
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Moderate Caffeine Consumption During Pregnancy.
- Mayo Clinic, Caffeine content for coffee, tea, soda and more (USDA-based figures for brewed, espresso, instant and decaf).
- Lindsey et al., Caffeine content in filter coffee brews as a function of degree of roast and extraction yield, Scientific Reports, 2024.
- Angeloni et al., What kind of coffee do you drink? An investigation on effects of eight different extraction methods, Food Research International, 2019.
- Fuller and Rao, The Effect of Time, Roasting Temperature, and Grind Size on Caffeine and Chlorogenic Acid Concentrations in Cold Brew Coffee, Scientific Reports, 2017.
- McCusker, Goldberger and Cone, Caffeine content of specialty coffees, Journal of Analytical Toxicology, 2003.
- Perrois et al., Differential regulation of caffeine metabolism in Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora, Planta, 2015.
- Drake et al., Caffeine Effects on Sleep Taken 0, 3, or 6 Hours before Going to Bed, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2013.
- Severini et al., How Much Caffeine in Coffee Cup? Effects of Processing Operations, Extraction Methods and Variables, in The Question of Caffeine, IntechOpen, 2017 (Turkish and moka figures).
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