Reference · caffeine

Caffeine by brew method

How much caffeine is in a cup of drip, an espresso, a moka pot, a French press or a cold brew? Lab measurements say it depends, often by a factor of five or more. Here are the published ranges side by side, per 100 ml and per serving, and why they spread so far.

Updated 2026-10-20 · sources listed at the end · not medical advice

The short version

Per 100 ml, concentrated brews lead. A 2024 review of 32 studies found the highest values for espresso and moka, and narrower, lower ranges for French press and AeroPress (Mystkowska et al. 2024).
Per cup, the big serving often wins. A mug of filter coffee can carry as much as or more than a single espresso, because it is many times larger.
The same order can vary wildly. One café's 16-oz cup of the same coffee ranged from 259 to 564 mg over six days (University of Florida, 2003).

Caffeine per method: the measured ranges

Per-100 ml figures are lab concentrations; per-serving figures use each source's own cup size, so the columns will not always multiply out.

Wide table — scroll sideways on a phone.

Method	mg per 100 ml	mg per serving	Notes
Drip / filter	47 (one coffee, Gloess 2013)	113–247 per 12 fl oz (FDA); 96 per 8 oz (Mayo Clinic); 143–259 per 16 oz retail cup (UF 2003)	Lowest concentration of nine methods compared by Gloess et al.; large cups add up
Espresso	50.4–965.6 (review); 210 (one double shot, Gloess)	51–322 per single shot (Crozier 2012); 58–185 per 40–170 ml serving (UF 2003); 63 per 1 oz (Mayo Clinic)	Widest spread of any method; see espresso ratio
Moka pot	128.0–539.9 (review)	21.6 per cup (Gloess, 7.5 g coffee for 110 ml)	Highest floor in the review; one cup was the lowest of nine in Gloess
French press	52.0–123.9 (review); 52–110 (Olechno); 84–106 (Fuller and Rao, hot 1:10)	—	Narrow range across studies
AeroPress	56.35–120.92 (review)	—	Coffee-to-water ratios of 6:100 to 7:100 in the studies reviewed
Cold brew	48.5–179.95 (review); 99–123 (Fuller and Rao, 1:10, 24 h); 104–196 (Olechno)	—	Concentrates are diluted, so the cup depends on dilution; see cold brew
Instant	—	62 per 8 oz (Mayo Clinic); 60–85 per 8 oz (IFIC 2008, cited by Crozier)	—
Decaf (brewed)	—	2–15 per 8 fl oz (FDA); 1 per 8 oz (Mayo Clinic); under 18 per 16 oz (UF 2003)	Decaf is not caffeine-free (FDA)

Where the numbers come from:

The review. Mystkowska, Dmitrowicz and Sijko-Szpańska (2024) pooled 32 peer-reviewed studies from 2000–2024, most using HPLC. The ranges above are from their abstract; the body of the paper gives even wider ones for espresso (47.30–1,210.80 mg/100 ml), French press (up to 148.52) and AeroPress (46.00–158.73). They report no per-cup values and no values for drip, Turkish or instant coffee.
Nine methods, one coffee. Gloess et al. (2013, ZHAW) brewed the same coffee nine ways. A double espresso had the most caffeine per sip, 21.0 mg per 10 ml; filter coffee the least, 4.7 mg per 10 ml. Per cup the order changed: espresso, lungo and French press came out similar, and the stovetop moka pot came last at 21.6 mg per cup. That disagrees with the review's high moka range — a reminder that dose and serving size, not the device name, decide the result.
Café espresso. Crozier et al. (2012) bought single espressos at 20 outlets in Glasgow and measured 51 to 322 mg each, a six-fold difference, in servings of 23 to 70 ml. Gloess et al. express that as 1.6–6.5 mg per ml.
US café cups. A University of Florida study by McCusker, Goldberger and Cone (2003, Journal of Analytical Toxicology) measured 143 to 259 mg in 16-oz specialty brewed coffees and 58 to 185 mg in espressos of 40 to 170 ml.

Cold brew: 48.5–179.95 mg/100 ml across the studies in the 2024 review.
French press: 52.0–123.9 mg/100 ml (review abstract).
AeroPress: 56.35–120.92 mg/100 ml (review abstract).
Moka pot: 128.0–539.9 mg/100 ml, the highest minimum of any method (review).
Espresso: 50.4–965.6 mg/100 ml (review abstract). The white diamond marks one double espresso in Gloess et al. 2013: 21.0 mg per 10 ml, i.e. 210 mg/100 ml.
Filter: a single value, 4.7 mg per 10 ml (47 mg/100 ml), from the same nine-method comparison. The review gives no filter range.

Drawn by pourxlab.com for this page from the ranges in the abstract of Mystkowska et al. 2024 (source 3) and the per-10-ml values in Gloess et al. 2013 (source 6). Linear scale. Bars span different studies, coffees and recipes; they are not a ranking of any one coffee.

Estimate your cup

Caffeine range calculator

Brew method (published range)

Amount you drink (ml)

Estimated caffeine75–165 mg

mg = (mg/100 ml) × ml ÷ 100

caffeine (mg) = concentration (mg per 100 ml) × volume (ml) ÷ 100
example: espresso, 30 ml → 50.4 × 30 ÷ 100 ≈ 15 mg … 965.6 × 30 ÷ 100 ≈ 290 mg
drip row: 113 mg ÷ 355 ml × 100 ≈ 31.8; 247 ÷ 355 × 100 ≈ 69.6 (12 fl oz ≈ 355 ml)

Method ranges are the review's abstract values; the drip row is converted from the FDA's per-cup figure. For cold brew concentrate, enter only the concentrate you pour. The result is a range, not a measurement.

What drives the number

How much coffee goes in. Olechno et al. (2021) call the coffee-to-water ratio an important factor: more coffee per liter generally gave more caffeine per liter. Gloess et al. likewise point to the "strong influence of the water to coffee ratio" on caffeine per cup. A stronger brew ratio means more caffeine in the same mug.
How much you drink. In the Florida study, larger espresso servings contained more caffeine. A single figure "per cup" means little without the cup size.
Bean species. Robusta (Coffea canephora) contains more caffeine than arabica: 2.7% versus 1.5%, per the figures cited on Wikipedia. Olechno et al. report that almost all researchers put robusta at about 1.4 to 1.8 times arabica.
Time. The sources disagree. The 2024 review found extraction time consistently linked to higher caffeine; Olechno et al. concluded that time "is not a decisive factor". For cold brew, Fuller and Rao found caffeine nearly levelled off after about 400 minutes, between 6 and 7 hours, well short of the 10–24 hours many recipes use.
Grind. Also mixed. Olechno et al. say grind "plays an important role" but finer grinds did not consistently give more caffeine; Fuller and Rao found grind size had no significant effect on cold brew caffeine. See the grind size chart for what grind does to flavor.
Temperature. Olechno et al. report that caffeine in the brew rose as water temperature went above 90 °C; in the 2024 review, temperature effects were inconsistent. In Fuller and Rao's 1:10 brews, coarse-ground cold brew at room temperature (990–1,230 mg/L) beat its 6-minute 98 °C hot counterpart (840–970 mg/L); with medium grind the difference was not significant.
Roast. Unsettled. Olechno et al. cite authors who found roast degree did not affect caffeine in the brew; Fuller and Rao measured somewhat more in medium than dark roasts; the 2024 review says roast effects could not be reliably assessed.
The lab method. The review notes one study found HPLC values twice those from UHPLC, and spectroscopic and NMR results ran higher still. Part of the spread is measurement, not coffee.

Official guidance on how much caffeine

This is a summary of public guidance, not personal advice. Ask a health care provider about your own situation.

FDA: 400 mg a day for healthy adults — "about two to three 12-fluid-ounce cups of coffee" — is an amount not generally associated with negative effects. Toxic effects such as seizures can be seen with rapid intake of around 1,200 mg. If you are pregnant, trying to become pregnant or breastfeeding, the FDA says to talk with your health care provider. Pure and highly concentrated caffeine products carry serious risks.
EFSA (2015): for healthy adults, single doses up to 200 mg (about 3 mg per kg body weight) and habitual intakes up to 400 mg a day (about 5.7 mg/kg) are considered safe. For pregnant women, intakes from all sources up to 200 mg a day are considered safe for the fetus. For children and adolescents, EFSA proposes 3 mg/kg body weight per day.
Why the spread matters: Crozier et al. noted that one of the stronger café espressos they bought would exceed the UK's 200 mg daily advice for pregnancy on its own; four of the 20 were above 200 mg.

Checklist: knowing roughly what is in your cup

Weigh your dose — grams of coffee are the main lever you control.
Measure the serving you actually drink, in ml or fl oz.
Check the bag for robusta (canephora) in the blend.
For cold brew, count the concentrate, not the dilution.
Treat café drinks as unknowns: the same order varies from day to day.
Decaf still has a few milligrams; add tea, soda, chocolate and energy drinks to the day's total.

Every figure here is a measurement of someone else's coffee, recipe and cup. Use the ranges for direction; for recipes, see the moka pot, French press and AeroPress guides.