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Coffee Misconceptions - Caffeine Content in Espresso vs Drip Coffee |
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December 1, 2009 - One of the most commonly asked question we receive is: "is it true that espresso coffee has more caffeine than regular drip coffee? "
Ask almost anyone and they will invariably say that espresso has more caffeine than regular coffee. I mean it makes perfect sense, what else would explain that caffeine buzz we get when we down a shot of Starbucks espresso in the morning?
Interesting, but is this correct? Well that depends on your perspective...read more below.
During the 1950's a typical serving size of a cup of coffee ranged from 4 to 5 oz - though in the past 50 years or so, coffee "cup" sizes have nearly tripled where its now very common to have have your morning cup of Joe served in 6-15oz cups...sometimes even larger.
When comparing drip coffee, the National Coffee Association's estimates a typical 8 oz cup of drip coffee to contain between 65-120 mg of caffeine per cup (per 8 fluid oz).
Why such the large caffeine range?
Well without getting overly technical, several factors such as: brew time, dwell time, water temperature, grind level, roast level, water temperature, bean type, blend, etc. all have a significant affect on final caffeine extraction level.
For example, brews made from pure Robusta will contain much more caffeine made from 100% Arabica beans. Compare this to a typical cup of espresso that contains anywhere from 30-50mg of caffeine per 1 fluid oz. and the difference is significant.
So what has more caffeine - espresso or regular?
Well cleary a cup of drip coffee has much more caffeine than espresso - actually about 2-3 times the caffeine (65-120mg) content than espresso (30-50mg). But we cant rest our discussion here, for if you investigate closely, this is not a fair comparison - we need to compare "apples to apples".
To accurately make a comparison between the two, we need to compare concentrations in terms of caffeine per ouce (oz).
In the case of drip coffee, we divide the 65-120mg of caffeine by its serving size, in this case 8 oz - - resulting in: 8.125 - 15 mg per oz.
Whereas in espresso, even though we start off with about a third less caffeine, all this caffeine is contained in just 1oz of liquid or expressed numerically as 30 - 50mg/oz.
So, we can say that although drip coffee contains much more caffeine than espresso in the beverage form, this is due to its much larger serving size (8oz) than espresso.
But when viewed from a volume perspective (oz) - espresso has a much more caffeine than drip based on volume (oz). The answer really depends on your perspective...both are correct!!
So why do most people believe espresso contains more caffeine than regular drip coffee?Well, part of the reason this belief has continued to exist is because caffeine itself an intensely bitter compound. Since espresso coffee is roasted much darker than drip coffee - and darker roasts create compounds which are much more bitter - the "connection" between more caffeine and espresso is made. But this is incorrect.
The bitter compounds that arise in darker roasts is not due to more caffeine, but rather bitter compounds created during the Maillard reaction.
It is this much lower concentration of caffeine (per serving) in espresso that allow Italians to drink upwards of 10 to 12 espresso's per day without getting overly jittery - consuming an equivalent amount of drip would be quite impossible.
Unfortunately its been very difficult to "standardize" the caffeine of various coffee beverages since there are numerous variables need to be controlled including:
All these factors make the calculation of caffeine in most common beverages a challenge. Hopefully with the implementation of industry standards by organizations such as the SCAA and NCA - we can begin the journey towards creating baselines on caffeine for each of these products.
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Comments (5)
Ron Havill
said:
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... Well this is now abundantly clear (not). I guess I'll just drink dark roast cause I like the taste (hmmmph). RRRrrron |
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javajoe
said:
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... Hi Giovanni, Espresso has more caffeine per ounce than coffee - and the extraction in espresso is typically 20-26 seconds, not 2. What your saying is basically correct in that the more time to extract, the more caffeine - but bear in mind that espresso has much less coffee to begin with to extract from, but much more concentrated. Again, the issue becomes - are you comparing caffeine levels "per beverage" or "per ounce" - because depending on what your comparing, they are both correct. |
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Giovanni Ciriani
said:
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... I have read elsewhere that espresso has less caffeine per ounce because the water goes through the grinds in a couple of seconds, whereas the water from percolated coffee takes about 20 seconds to go through. This would allow the coffee grinds to dissolve more caffeine while the water takes 20 seconds slowly percolating, than while the water is shot through in 2 seconds. |
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javajoe
said:
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... Hmm....although I have never seen any hard data on the Toddy, I would expect their to be 30-40% less than regular drip coffee. Turns out that caffeine is not very water soluble, though with hot water, its solubility increases significantly... |
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