One of the most common requests at a coffee shop is "what is your strongest coffee?" Typically, the customer is asking for a dark, rich coffee thinking, incorrectly, that it must contain the most caffeine. Today's tip is designed to help correct this common misconception and help you choose the drink with the most (or least) amount of caffeine.
Caffeine levels in drinks vary based on many factors - the type of bean, the roast level, the amount of coffee used, and the brewing method.
Type of Bean
Most coffee consumed is arabica. However, robusta coffee has more caffeine but typically also has a more bitter taste. Some roasters mix a small amount of robusta bean in a blend with arabica to sell a "jolt" product (remember that soda?).
Roast Level
Biggest misconception here is the darker the roast level, the more caffeine. It's actually the opposite. Lighter roasts, like our Ethiopia, actually contain more caffeine than our darkest Indonesia offering. So if you want more caffeine, pick a lighter roast.
Amount of Coffee
Obviously, the more coffee used to make a drink, will undoubtedly, have more caffeine just by the nature of the coffee-to-water ratio used.
Brewing Method
Let's spend some time on this one, because it will help you pick the right drink at your favorite (cough-cough House Cup Café cough-cough) café. We'll even share some information on tea options as well for our non-coffee drinkers.
Basically, the more time coffee spends in water, the more caffeine is extracted into the drink. Which is why, ounce for ounce, cold brew coffee, which spends 5-12 hours in water to brew, has the most caffeine. While espresso, a surprise to many of you I'm sure, has the least amount of caffeine per ounce, spending only 15-20 seconds during the extraction process. Why do you think the Italians can drink espresso late at night after a big meal? Now you know!
Here's a list of drinks and their average amount of caffeine - all based on an 8oz cup (except for espresso):
- 175 mg - Cold Brew Coffee
- 95 mg - Filter Coffee
- 68 mg - Matcha
- 63 mg - Espresso (single shot)
- 32 mg - Black Tea
- 27 mg - Green Tea
- 17 mg - White Tea
- 5 mg - Decaf Coffee
So if you need the caffeine hit, choose cold brew coffee or a light roast filter-brewed coffee. If you need to chill (and sleep), choose white tea or decaf coffee (which still contains some caffeine - a topic for a future Tuesday Tip).
Next week, we'll share how the type of cup you drink out of actually changes the flavor of the coffee in it. Until then, we hope you're having great moments with locally roasted, fresh coffee. Cheers!