Freelance Writing Jobs | Today's Articles | Sign In


Food & Beverage Caffeine Contents

A Comparison of Coffees, Teas, Sodas, Chocolates and Medicines

Mar 4, 2008 Jennifer Copley

Have you ever wondered how much caffeine is in your favorite foods, beverages, treats and medications? Some of the answers may surprise you.

If you are trying to limit your caffeine intake, it is important to know how much you get through food and drink over the course of a day. Below is a comparison of the caffeine contents of popular foods, beverages, treats and medicines.

Coffee

There is a large difference between drip-brewed coffee and instant coffee; brewed coffee has nearly 50% more caffeine.

  • 330 mg – 16 oz Starbucks Coffee Grande
  • 150 mg – 16 oz Starbucks Caffe Latte
  • 135 mg – 8 oz (approximately 1 cup) regular brewed coffee
  • 95 mg – 8 oz instant coffee
  • 62-64 mg – 1 oz Espresso
  • 2-5 mg – 8 oz regular decaffeinated coffee (brewed or instant)

Tea

Those trying to cut back on caffeine should steep black tea for less time or switch to green tea, which tends to have far less caffeine.

  • 75 mg – Starbucks Tazo Chai Tea Latte
  • 40-70 mg – 8 oz regular black tea (the longer it is steeped, the higher the caffeine content)
  • 25-50 mg – 8 oz green tea (the longer it is steeped, the higher the caffeine content)
  • 18 mg – 16 oz Snapple Iced Tea
  • 17 mg – 12 oz Nestea (sweetened or unsweetened)
  • 14 mg – 8 oz Sobe Green Tea
  • 10 mg – 12 oz Lipton Brisk Iced Tea (lemon flavoured)
  • 2 mg – 8 oz decaffeinated black tea

Sodas

Many people are not aware of the large difference in caffeine between Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Classic, or that drinks such as Sunkist Orange contain caffeine. The comparison below is for standard-sized cans (12 ounces) of soft drinks.

  • 56 mg –Mountain Dew
  • 47 mg – Tab
  • 47 mg – Diet Coke
  • 42 mg – Sunkist Orange
  • 41 mg – Dr Pepper and Diet Dr Pepper
  • 38 mg – Regular Pepsi and Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi
  • 35 mg – Coca-Cola Classic
  • 31 mg – Diet Pepsi
  • 29 mg – A&W Cream Soda
  • 23 mg – Barq’s Root Beer
  • 0 – 7UP
  • 0 – Diet Barq’s Root Beer
  • 0 – Fanta
  • 0 – Sprite and Sprite Zero

Energy Drinks

Energy drinks derive their boosting effect through caffeine; most have a similar amount of caffeine to a Starbucks Caffe Latte.

  • 160 mg – 16 oz Monster Energy
  • 160 mg – 16 oz Rockstar
  • 174 mg – 16 oz SoBe No Fear
  • 152 mg – 16 oz SoBe Adrenaline Rush
  • 144 mg – 16 oz Full Throttle
  • 144 mg – 16 oz Fury
  • 143 mg – 16 oz AMP Tall Boy Energy Drink
  • 100 mg – 12 oz Enviga
  • 80 mg – 8.5 oz Red Bull
  • 47 mg – 8 oz Vault

Chocolate and Other Treats

The amount of caffeine is higher in dark chocolate than milk chocolate, which contains less cocoa.

  • 30 mg – ½ cup (125 ml) of Haagen-Dazs Coffee Ice Cream or Starbucks Coffee Ice Cream
  • 18 mg – 1.45 oz Hershey’s Special Dark chocolate bar
  • 9 mg – 1.55 oz Hershey’s chocolate bar
  • 5 mg – 3 teaspoons of powdered cocoa mix

Medicine

Medicines often contain large amounts of caffeine. While this is to be expected in NoDoz, for example, many people are not aware that products such as Midol also contain caffeine:

  • 200 mg – 1 tablet NoDoz Maximum Strength
  • 200 mg – Vivarin
  • 130 mg – 2 tablets of Exedrin
  • 65 mg – Bayer Select Maximum Strength
  • 60 mg – Midol Menstrual Maximum Strength

Further Reading

If you are interested in reading about the health benefits of various caffeinated beverages and foods, you may wish to see Health Benefits of Caffeinated Teas, Health Benefits of Coffee and Health Benefits of Chocolate.

References:

  • Kovacs, B., MS, RD. (Reviewed by Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, 2007). “Caffeine.” MedicineNet.
  • The Mayo Clinic. (2007). “Food and Nutrition: How Much Caffeine is in Your Daily Habit?” Mayo Clinic.

The copyright of the article Food & Beverage Caffeine Contents in Nutrition is owned by Jennifer Copley. Permission to republish Food & Beverage Caffeine Contents in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Coffee Beans, Jon Sullivan Coffee Beans
Chocolate, Anna Cervova Chocolate
Tea, Vanderdecken, Wikipedia Tea
Coffee, Jon Sullivan Coffee
   
What do you think about this article?

NOTE: Because you are not a Suite101 member, your comment will be moderated before it is viewable.
post your comment
What is 1+9?

Comments

Jan 4, 2010 4:48 PM
Guest :
Enlightening!
1 Comment:

Related Topics

Reference


;