How much is a serving of caffeine?
A serving of caffeine is 50mg; what that looks like once you get it into the cup can be a little tricky. Below are general caffeine levels across common foods, beverages, and medications to help determine daily caffeine consumption.
Coffee:A cup (8oz) – your typical mug—of coffee can have anywhere from 100 mg to 175mg depending on how it was brewed and the roast of the beans. Contrary to popular thought, dark roasts actually have less caffeine per cup of coffee than light roasts. Percolated coffee tends to be weaker (more diluted, less caffeine) than drip, and French pressed coffee can be intensely caffeinated. Some more commonly enjoyed beverages and average caffeine levels:
- Shot of espresso (2oz): 100mg.
- Grande house blend from Starbucks (16oz): 330mg.
- Cup of black tea: 65mg
- Cup of green tea: 40mg
Energy Drinks and Soda:
Energy drinks don’t have as much caffeine as you think, but they pair the caffeine with high sugar levels and sometimes other caffeine-like alkaloids. Red Bull has 33mg per serving size of 8.3oz. Mountain Dew, the most caffeinated of all the classic sodas, has 45mg per 12oz can.
Chocolate:
1oz of dark chocolate contains about 20 mg of caffeine whereas 1 oz of milk chocolate contains about 6 mg of caffeine. White chocolate hardly has any: about 2mg caffeine per ounce.
Medication:
If you’re concerned about caffeine consumption, you might want to review your daily medications when recording your daily caffeine levels. Many over-the-counter pills, including diet pills and headache remedies, also contain caffeine; an Excedrin pill, for example, contains 65mg.
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