Caffeine in Coffee: How much caffeine is in a cup of coffee? | How much is too much? | More on Coffee Types, Brands and Quotes

Coffee:
A brewed drink prepared from roasted coffee beans, one of the most popular drinks in the world, can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways such as espresso, french press, caffe latte, or already-brewed canned coffee. It is usually served hot, although chilled or iced coffee is now more popular especially with the young generation. 

Coffee in its natural form is bitter in taste, various substitutes such as sugar, sugar substitutes, milk, or cream are added to lessen the bitter taste. Coffee in its original form when prepared by roasting and brewing Coffee beans is dark-colored, bitter in taste but has a stimulating effect in humans due to its Caffeine content.

Coffee is originally known to have been originated in Yemen in southern Arabia in the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed like how it is prepared for drinking today.

The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands and began cultivation. By the 16th century, the drink had reached the rest of the Middle East and North Africa, later spreading it to Europe.

The two most commonly grown coffee bean types are arabica and robusta. Coffee plants are now grown in over 70 countries, mainly in the equatorial regions of the Americas, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Africa. In 2018, Brazil was the leading power of coffee beans, producing 35% of the world's consumption.

How Much Caffeine in a Cup of Coffee?
An average cup of coffee contains around 95 mg of caffeine, but this can vary in different coffee drinks and can range from zero to over 500 mg.

What Factors Affect Caffeine Content?

Caffeine content depends on many factors such as Type of coffee beans, roasting, type of coffee, serving size, etc.

There are many varieties of coffee beans, some of which contain different amounts of caffeine, lighter roasts have more caffeine than darker roasts, although darker roasts have a deeper flavor, caffeine content also can vary significantly between regular brewed coffee, espresso, instant, and decaf coffee.

One cup of coffee can contain anywhere between 30 to 700 ml (1-24 oz), greatly affecting the total coffee content.

Five Common ways of drinking coffee:

How you drink coffee determines the caffeine content, let us see how they make a difference:

Brewed Coffee is the most common way to make coffee in the US and Europe. Brewed coffee, also known as regular coffee, it is made by pouring hot or boiling water over ground coffee beans, usually contained in a filter.

One cup of brewed coffee (8 oz) contains about 70-140 mg of caffeine or about 95 mg on average.

Espresso

Espresso is made by forcing a small amount of hot water, or steam, through finely-ground coffee beans.

Although espresso has more caffeine per volume than regular coffee, it usually contains less per serving, since espresso servings tend to be small.

One shot of espresso is generally about 30–50 ml (1–1.75 oz) and contains about 63 mg of caffeine.

A double shot of espresso, therefore, contains roughly 125 mg of caffeine.

The different types of Espresso-based drinks are lattes, cappuccinos, macchiatos and Americanos.

As the milk does not contain any additional caffeine, these drinks contain the same amount of caffeine as straight espresso.

A single (small) contains about 63 mg of caffeine on average, and double (large) contains about 125 mg.

Instant Coffee

Instant coffee is made from brewed coffee that has been freeze-dried or spray-dried. It is generally in large, dry pieces, which dissolve in water.

Instant coffee can be prepared simply by mixing one or two teaspoons of dried coffee with hot water due to which there is no need for any brewing.

Instant coffee usually contains less caffeine than regular coffee, with one cup containing roughly 30–90 mg of caffeine. Trusted Source

Decaf Coffee

Decaf Coffee as the name mentions is not entirely caffeine-free.

It may contain varying amounts of caffeine, ranging from 0–7 mg per cup, with the average cup containing 3 mg of caffeine. Trusted S7Trusted Source

However, some varieties may contain even higher amounts of caffeine, depending on the type of coffee, method of decaffeination and cup size, etc.

Caffeine: How much is too much?

Caffeine has its benefits but can cause problems too. Millions of people around the world drink coffee every day to wake up and keep going, they rely on caffeine every day to stay alert and improve concentration.

Up to 400 mg of caffeine, a day appears to be safe for most healthy adults. That's roughly the amount of coffee in four cups of brewed coffee, 10 cans of cola or two energy shot drinks, the actual caffeine content in beverages varies widely, especially in energy drinks.

Caffeine in powder or liquid form can provide toxic levels of caffeine as cautioned by U.S Food and Drug Administration. One teaspoon of powdered ∫ is equal to about 28 cups of coffee, such high levels of caffeine can cause serious health issues and possibly death.

Caffeine use may be safe for adults but is not good for children. Young adults need to be cautioned about excessive caffeine intake and mixing caffeine with alcohol and other drugs. Pregnant women or who are trying to conceive and those breastfeeding should talk to their doctors about limiting caffeine use to less than 200 mg daily.

Heavy caffeine use can cause unpleasant side effects and is caffeine may not be a good choice for people who are highly sensitive to its effects or who take certain medications.

Should you need to curb your caffeine routine?

If you drink more than 4 cups of coffee a day and have any of these side effects listed below then you may need to curb your caffeine routine:

• Headache
• Insomnia
• Nervousness
• Irritability
• Frequent urination or inability to control urination
• Fast heartbeat
• Muscle tremors

Even a little makes you jittery

Some people are more sensitive to caffeine than others, even small amounts can prompt unwanted effects such as restlessness and sleep problems. How you react to caffeine depends on how much caffeine you are used to drinking daily. People who do not drink daily are more sensitive to its effects.

You're not getting enough sleep

Caffeine can disturb your sleep even in the afternoon. Small amounts of sleep loss can affect your alertness and overall performance.

Drinking caffeine to stay awake during the day can greatly affect your sleep at night and reduce your length of sleep, causing the side effects mentioned above.

Taking medications or supplements

Some medications and herbal supplements may interact with caffeine, these are:

Ephedrine - used in decongestants, taking caffeine with this medication can increase your risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, or seizure.

Theophylline - used to open bronchial airways, tends to have some caffeine-like effects so taking it with caffeine may increase adverse effects of caffeine such as nausea and heart palpitations.

Echinacea - this herbal supplement, sometimes used to prevent cold or other infections may increase the concentration of caffeine in your blood and may increase unpleasant side effects of caffeine.

It is, therefore, best advised to check with your doctor if caffeine might affect your medications.

Curbing your caffeine habit:

Whether it is for one of the reasons above or if you wish to trim your spending on coffee drinks, cutting back on coffee suddenly can be quite challenging. 

A sudden decrease in caffeine may cause withdrawal symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, irritability, loss of focus but the good news is that these symptoms are mild and get better after a few days.

To change your caffeine habit, try these few tips:

Keep tabs. pay attention to how much caffeine you take daily from foods and beverages including energy drinks. Read labels carefully and remember your estimate may not be accurate as some drinks and foods do not list their caffeine content.

Cut back gradually. reduce intake slowly, for example, smaller cups of coffee or one can less every day or reducing caffeinated beverages late in the day. This will help your body in getting used to lower levels of caffeine and lessen potential withdrawal effects.

Go decaf. most decaffeinated drinks look and taste like their caffeinated counterparts.

Shorten the brew time or go herbal. brew for less time, this cuts down its caffeine content or uses herbal teas that do not have caffeine.

Check the bottle. some pain relievers contain caffeine, read labels and use caffeine-free pain relievers instead.

The bottom line:

If caffeine is a part of your daily routine like most adults, it should not pose a health problem but be aware of possible side effects of caffeine and be ready to cut back if necessary.

Source: Wikipedia, HealthLine, mayo clinic