caffeine amount | Caffeine and You

5 Ways to Up Coffee’s Caffeine

July 6, 2013 By Kate Heyhoe

Wanna Up Your Cup? Tweaking Coffee’s Caffeine

The amount of caffeine in your coffee depends on many factors. You can’t control growing conditions, but you can raise – or lower – the caffeine in your cup with these tips. (They also affect flavor, so choose wisely.)

Longer Brewing Delivers More Caffeine: The longer hot water is in contact with coffee, the more caffeine it extracts. A French press steeps grounds for 4-6 minutes; with drip coffee, water drips through in about 3 minutes.

Robustas Are Twice as Caffeinated as Arabicas: Coffee experts prefer Arabica beans because of their smooth taste. The Robusta variety is harsher, stronger in flavor, and usually less pricey; it’s often mixed into blends to boost impact or lower the price, but good quality espresso blends include robusta for its lovely crema (foam).

Lighter Roasts Retain More Caffeine: Roasting destroys some caffeine content. Longer, darker roasts actually contain less caffeine than light or “blonde” roasts. Espresso is made with dark roasted beans, giving it less caffeine than one would expect.

Hotter Water Extracts More Caffeine: Experts recommend 195-205 degrees, and the higher temperatures extract more caffeine than lower ones. Water boils at 212 degrees F, but that temperature can produce a harsh tasting brew.

Finer Grinds Yield More Caffeine: Finer grinds expose more of the coffee bean to water than course grinds, so more caffeine is extracted more quickly. Despite a longer brewing time, a French press using the customary coarse grounds yields less caffeine than drip brewing with fine grounds. Burr grinders create rougher surfaces, and yield more caffeine, than blade grinders.

More Coffee Grounds Produce More Caffeine: This is logical. The greater volume of coffee grounds, the more caffeine is extracted, with a stronger flavor.

So obviously, the amount of caffeine in coffee (and tea as well) can vary considerably. But as a rule of thumb, I use 100 mg per 8-ounce cup of home-brewed coffee. (Starbucks lists a 16-ounce grande coffee at 330 mg caffeine.) Tea typically ranges from 30-80 mg per cup, so my rule of thumb is 50 mg caffeine per cup of black tea, and 25 mg for green tea.

More to explore:

Calculate Your Caffeine – Infographic compares caffeine per ounce, in coffee, tea, energy drinks and more.

Coffee Profile – in Caffeine Basics, free online book

Coffee Profile

January 2, 2013 By TW

Wild coffee plants originated in the same region where early humans may have been born: Ethiopia. Around 600 AD, the Oromo, a mountain tribe that still exists in Ethiopia, concocted a primitive “energy bar” by rolling up balls of ground coffee beans and ghee (clarified butter). Here’s an FAQ about coffee, starting with a few entertaining facts:

The green (unroasted) coffee beans carry a nutritious profile: 11% proteins, 8% sugars, 16% lipids, 4% minerals, and about 1% caffeine.
Green coffee beans are roasted and brewed into coffee as we know it.
Global coffee consumption is increasing at a rate of about 2 percent annually.

What is coffee? The tropical evergreen shrub known as Coffea produces red fruit with seeds, which we know as coffee beans. These red coffee “cherries” contain two seeds, and are plucked by hand when ripe. During processing, the seeds are removed from a pulpy outer covering, dried and roasted. Coffee plants thrive at higher elevations, from 1000 to 7000 feet depending on growing conditions and distance from the equator.

What are the different types of coffee beans? Thousands of species of coffee plants exist, but only two are the main sources of commercial coffee beans: C. arabica and C. robusta (also known as C. canephora). Arabica beans are considered more complex and smoother, while robusta beans are stronger in flavor. Robusta plants are hardier, more disease resistant, and grow at lower altitudes. Commercial beans are often named for their country of origin, roasting level, blend, and other flavor descriptors.

How much caffeine does coffee yield? Robusta beans contain twice the caffeine of arabica beans. But the actual caffeine in your cup varies depending on growing, roasting and brewing methods. In this book, we use 100 mg of caffeine per cup of brewed coffee as a standard. See the sidebars for other common examples. Decaffeinated coffee actually contains a small amount of caffeine, about 2-4 mg per cup. (Raw coffee beans contain 1-2% caffeine, by weight.)

Where does coffee come from? The world’s “Coffee Belt” runs between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Latin America grows 75 percent of the world’s coffee, Africa also produces coffee, and Southeast Asia has become an important coffee region. The top five coffee producers are, from most to least: Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, and India. Colombia grows only arabica beans. Vietnam grows robusta beans almost entirely.

What else does coffee contain? Like all plants, coffee contains thousands of chemical compounds. Roasting and other processing can alter these compounds, making some more volatile and destroying others. Coffee is rich in antioxidants, which may provide health benefits separate from those of caffeine. Coffee’s nutrition profile: 11% proteins, 8% sugars, 16% lipids, 4% minerals, and about 1% caffeine.

Caffeine Basics: Table of Contents

Tea Profile

January 2, 2013 By Kate Heyhoe

After water, tea is the world’s most widely consumed beverage.

Tea originated in Asia, in the Himalayas where India and China meet. It has been drunk for more than 2000 years, and before that, the leaves were chewed. Cakes were formed of tea leaves and fat, and carried as sustenance on long journeys.

This FAQ covers the basic questions about tea.

What is tea?All tea plants are varietals of the species known as Camellia sinensis, an evergreen of tropical and subtropical climates. The leaves are plucked and dried. Fermentation and the drying process determine their flavor style – as white, green, black, oolong, or pu-erh – and reflect different levels of oxidation. To make the beverage we know as tea, leaves are steeped in hot or boiling water. Most plants are trimmed into shrubs for easy plucking of the leaves, but they can reach tree height. Herb teas and other steeped infusions are not true teas, but are more accurately known as tisanes.

How much caffeine does tea yield? Tea contains 1-5% caffeine by dry weight, with traces of theophylline and theobromine, which are stimulants related to caffeine. (Caffeine in tea used to be called theine, but they are now known to be the same.) As with coffee, the growing, processing, and steeping methods impact the amount of caffeine in the cup. Most caffeine is extracted in the first minute of steeping, but longer steeping also yields more caffeine. For this book, we use 35 mg of caffeine per cup of tea, but caffeine in tea can range from 15 to 70 mg.

Where is tea grown? China and India produce nearly half of the world’s tea (and are the largest consumers). The other half comes mainly from, starting with the largest supplier, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Vietnam, Iran and Indonesia, with some from Argentina and Japan as well.

What else does tea contain? Like coffee, tea contains hundreds of chemical compounds, including minerals and vitamins. Tea’s polyphenols, a source of antioxidants, protect cellular damage and provide health benefits. Unlike coffee, tea contains theanine, an amino acid thought to act as a neurotransmitter, and which produces feelings of relaxation despite the buzz of caffeine. Catechins in green tea are believed to prevent some cancers.

Caffeine Basics: Table of Contents