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Caffeine content of foods and drugs

Caffeine content of foods and drugs.

By Jason Kottke    Jan 29, 2004 at 12:36 pm

There are 15 reader comments

Roland    Jan 29 2004    12:57PM

Where's Bawls?

Karl    Jan 29 2004    1:42PM

What about espresso? You always think espresso will "pick you up" quicker, but according to my one-time Starbucks working girlfriend, she claims that espresso has less caffeine than coffee.

dan    Jan 29 2004    2:04PM


I'd always imagined that espresso would be stronger - dictionary.com says espresso is "A strong coffee brewed by forcing steam under pressure through darkly roasted, powdered coffee beans."

To me, 'strong' would imply that it is stronger than the average coffee. But thats just me - you all might each have a completely different take on it.

It wouldn't surprise me if the Starbucks stuff is all out of whack, anyway.

Matt    Jan 29 2004    2:10PM

on a per serving basis, a shot of espresso has about as much or less caffine than a normal sized cup. If you're buying gigantiventi sized coffee, a tiny espresso cup has much less.

David    Jan 29 2004    2:22PM

I wish this page spoke to caffeine levels in beer. I have an ongoing argument with a friend - I say no caffeine in beer, she disagrees.

Mark    Jan 29 2004    2:55PM

Roland - That's a damn fine question. Even though I'm immune to the effects of caffeine, I still drink Bawls because it's so darn tasty.

Roland    Jan 29 2004    3:08PM

Ahh, I found it on the Bawls site. 80mg per 12 oz serving.

David    Jan 29 2004    3:20PM

This from a coffee roaster's website: "Strong coffees (dark roasted) actually have less caffeine that a light roasted coffee. Darker roasts have less caffeine because they stay in the roaster longer and additional heat burns out more of the caffeine as well as the natural bean flavors. How about that shot of espresso? It too has less caffeine that a cup of brewed coffee. The reason is that water passes over the espresso grounds very quickly and one of the last things to be extracted is the caffeine. Hence less caffeine in espresso than a cup of brew coffee."

Peter    Jan 29 2004    3:38PM

...and there's no caffeine in canadian mountain dew. it's against the law!

Cheapbastard    Jan 29 2004    3:50PM

Caffeine in beer? Wouldn't they counteract each other?

Morgan    Jan 29 2004    6:53PM

I'm pretty certain that some coffee based beers have some level of caffeine. Caffeine in beer isn't all that common, though.

CHRiS    Jan 29 2004    10:02PM

From what I learned while working at a local coffee shop, a standard 1oz espresso pulled for ~20 seconds has 80% the caffeine of one cup of coffee.

Dan S    Jan 30 2004    1:46AM

More in juice than Mountain Dew? Anyone else surprised?

Mike    Jan 30 2004    9:39AM

Depends upon the coffee bean, how it's roasted, etc.

A latte is made my adding milk to an espresso, a cappuccino by adding foamed milk to espresso, an americano by adding hot water to an espresso. So, they all have the same caffiene content.

Not sure about filter, caffetierre, etc. I know filter has less cholestorol as it's absorbed by the paper.

Vodka Red Bull cocktails - alcohol and caffiene.

Joe    Mar 06 2004    2:05PM

This URL at about.com suggests that a DOUBLE espresso has less caffeine than a cup of coffee. A double espresso is what you would have in a medium (or grande) Starbucks drink, like a latte. However, an Americano (and maybe a few other drinks) have an extra shot, so a small (tall) would have two shots.

http://coffeetea.about.com/library/blcaffeine.htm

This thread is closed to new comments. Thanks to everyone who responded.

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