How Much Caffeine Is in Your Coffee? (Calculator)

It's the coffee question I get more than almost any other: how much caffeine am I actually drinking? It's a fair thing to wonder somewhere around your third cup, whether you're being reasonable or quietly wiring yourself to the ceiling. The honest answer is "it depends" — on the drink, the size, the beans, even how you brewed it. So I built you a shortcut.

Caffeine calculator

Pick your drink and size and I'll estimate the caffeine in your cup. Tap "Add to my day" a few times to watch your running total stack up against the daily guideline.

How much caffeine is in a cup of coffee?

A standard 8-ounce cup of brewed coffee has about 95 mg of caffeine. Almost nobody actually drinks 8 ounces, though. A 12-ounce "small" at most cafes lands around 140 mg, and a 16-ounce closer to 190. Caffeine scales pretty directly with how much coffee is in the cup, which is why the size you order moves the needle more than almost anything else.

Does espresso have more caffeine than coffee?

Here's the one that surprises people every time. A single shot of espresso has about 64 mg of caffeine — less than a regular cup of drip. Espresso tastes that intense because it's packed into an ounce or two, but ounce-for-ounce isn't how we drink it. A double-shot latte still carries less caffeine than a big mug of drip coffee. So if you're actually chasing the buzz, a large drip beats a cappuccino almost every time.

Caffeine by drink, at a glance

Rough numbers for a typical serving, so you can see how they stack up:

• Brewed / drip coffee — about 95 mg per 8 oz
• Cold brew — the heavyweight, often 200 mg or more in a 16 oz glass
• Espresso — about 64 mg per shot
• Latte or cappuccino — counts by the shots, so roughly 64 mg (single) or 128 mg (double)
• Instant coffee — a little lighter, around 60 mg per 8 oz
• Black tea — about 47 mg per 8 oz; green tea closer to 28
• Decaf coffee — not zero (more on that below), about 2 to 5 mg per cup

Is decaf actually caffeine-free?

Nope, and this trips people up. Decaf isn't caffeine-free — it's caffeine-reduced. A cup has roughly 2 to 5 mg, versus 95 in the fully caffeinated version. For almost everyone that's a non-issue, but if you're sensitive or having six cups before bed, it adds up.

How much caffeine is too much?

The FDA considers up to 400 mg a day safe for most healthy adults. That's about four 8-ounce cups of brewed coffee, or two-ish of those big cafe cups. If you're pregnant, the usual guidance is lower, around 200 mg, but check with your doctor. And your body keeps its own score: if you're jittery, your heart's racing, or you're staring at the ceiling at midnight, that's your cutoff talking, whatever the number says.

What changes the caffeine in your cup

Two cups of "coffee" can be surprisingly far apart. A few things move it:

• The bean. Robusta has nearly double the caffeine of arabica, which is part of why some espresso blends use it.
• The roast. Here's a myth worth busting: light and dark roast have about the same caffeine by weight. Dark roast tastes bolder, but bolder isn't more caffeinated.
• The brew. More coffee, finer grind, and longer contact with water all pull more caffeine. It's the same lever as the coffee-to-water ratio that sets your strength.

So: know your number, drink the cup you actually enjoy, and save the cold brew for a morning you really need it. Want a coffee that tastes good enough to savor instead of slam? That's kind of our whole thing. Brew it. Trust us.