The Coffee Reference
Every drink type, roast level, processing method, milk, sweetener, and caffeine number worth knowing. Built to be browsed, not read in one sitting.
This page exists so that next time you're standing at the counter, or filling the cafetière at home, or staring at the supermarket shelf, you have something to point to. It's not meant to be read in one go. Bookmark it. Come back to the section you need.
The caffeine cheat sheet.
Typical caffeine content of common drinks. UK serving sizes. Values are average; specific products and brewing methods can shift these by 30 to 50 percent in either direction.
UK Food Standards Agency guidance puts 400 mg as the threshold above which most adults will start to see meaningful side effects. Pregnancy guidance is much lower, at 200 mg. Adolescents should sit well below adult ranges. Individual sensitivity, particularly in slow metabolisers, can shift these numbers downward considerably.
What's actually in the cup you ordered.
Most coffee drinks at a UK chain are built on the same one or two shots of espresso. The differences are mostly milk, water, and proportion. Once you know the structure, the menu makes a lot more sense.
The espresso family
- Espresso. 30 ml of pressurised, concentrated coffee. The base for everything else. Bitter, intense, finished in a few sips.
- Ristretto. A shorter, more concentrated espresso pulled with less water. Sweeter and more intense. Slightly less caffeine than a full espresso.
- Lungo. A longer espresso pulled with more water. More volume, more caffeine, more bitter.
- Americano. Espresso topped with hot water. Closer to filter coffee in strength but with the espresso character.
- Macchiato. Originally just espresso with a small dollop of milk foam. The supermarket version is something else entirely.
- Cortado. Two shots of espresso 'cut' with an equal volume of warm milk. Smaller and stronger than a flat white.
- Flat white. Two shots in microfoamed milk, served in a smaller cup. The defining UK speciality drink of the last decade.
- Cappuccino. Two shots, equal parts steamed milk and foam. More foam-forward than a latte.
- Latte. Two shots in a larger volume of steamed milk. The mildest of the espresso milk drinks.
- Mocha. Latte with chocolate. Sugar content can be substantial.
Brewed coffee
- Filter / drip. Hot water passed through ground coffee in a paper filter. The standard mug of office coffee.
- French press / cafetière. Coffee steeped in hot water then plunged. More body, more oils retained, slightly more cafestol.
- Pour over. Hand-poured filter brewing. Speciality cafés use this for clarity of flavour.
- AeroPress. A hybrid between immersion and pressure. Quick, controllable, popular with home enthusiasts.
- Cold brew. Coffee steeped in cold water for 12 to 24 hours. Lower acidity, often higher caffeine when concentrated.
- Iced coffee. Hot-brewed coffee cooled and poured over ice. Different from cold brew despite menus often blurring the two.
- Instant. Pre-brewed coffee that's been freeze-dried or spray-dried. Lower caffeine than fresh-brewed; convenient.
Most UK chains add the same number of espresso shots regardless of cup size. Going from a small to a large gives you more milk and water, not significantly more caffeine. Ask for an extra shot if you want more caffeine in a larger drink.
Light, medium, dark. And the myth that won't die.
Roast level changes flavour profile dramatically and chemical composition somewhat. The popular belief that dark roast contains more caffeine because it 'tastes stronger' is the most persistent piece of coffee misinformation in circulation.
Caffeine is heat-stable but the bean loses mass during roasting. So by weight, light roast has slightly more caffeine. By scoop, dark roast can be marginally higher because the beans are less dense. The difference either way is small enough to be clinically irrelevant. The brewing method and the dose matter far more than the roast level.
Arabica, Robusta, and what 'natural' on the bag means.
Most UK speciality coffee is Arabica. Most supermarket instant and most Italian espresso blends contain Robusta. The species matters more for caffeine content than any other variable.
Supermarket espresso blends often contain 20 to 50 percent Robusta. Switching to a clearly labelled 100 percent Arabica from a speciality roaster can meaningfully reduce caffeine content per shot, sometimes by close to half. The flavour change is generally welcomed.
Every milk option, what it does, and who it suits.
A common misconception. Milk slightly slows absorption by altering gastric emptying, but the total dose absorbed is essentially unchanged. The calmer subjective experience of a milky drink is mostly down to the slower onset, not a reduced peak.
Sugar, the alternatives, and what to know about each.
Two teaspoons of sugar in each of three daily coffees comes out at roughly 100 kg of sugar over a decade. Most people don't think of their coffee as a sugar source. It often is one.
Tea, energy drinks, and what isn't on the coffee list.
Tea
Tea sits at lower caffeine doses than coffee but with two important differences. First, the L-theanine content produces a smoother subjective experience, which is why many people who can't tolerate coffee tolerate tea well. Second, the caffeine releases more slowly, with less of an obvious peak.
- Black tea (240 ml). Roughly 47 mg. Higher with longer steeping.
- Green tea (240 ml). Roughly 28 mg. L-theanine reduces the jittery quality.
- Matcha (1 tsp). Roughly 70 mg. The whole leaf is consumed, hence higher than steeped green tea.
- White tea (240 ml). 6 to 25 mg. Lowest of the regular teas.
- Yerba mate (240 ml). Around 85 mg. South American; common in pre-workouts.
- Pu-erh. Variable, often comparable to black tea. Fermented, distinct flavour profile.
Energy drinks and pre-workouts
The most variable category and the one most likely to cause problems. The headline caffeine number is often only part of the story. Many products combine caffeine with taurine, guarana (which is itself caffeine), L-theanine, beta-alanine, and other actives. Pre-workout supplements in particular can deliver a 300 to 400 mg dose in a single scoop, often without the user realising.
- Energy drinks (250 ml). 80 to 160 mg. Read the label.
- Energy shots (60 ml). 150 to 300 mg. Concentrated; the highest-risk format.
- Pre-workout supplements. 150 to 400 mg per scoop. Often combined with other stimulants.
- Caffeine pills. Typically 100 to 200 mg per tablet. Pure caffeine; useful for accurate dosing if used carefully.
Caffeinated medications
- Excedrin / co-codaprin variants. Some combine paracetamol with caffeine, often 65 mg per tablet.
- Migraine combinations. Caffeine is a constituent of several migraine preparations.
- Cold and flu remedies. Some over-the-counter products contain caffeine. Worth reading the active ingredient list.
In any patient presenting with palpitations, anxiety, sleep disturbance, or unexplained tachycardia, a complete caffeine history must include energy drinks, pre-workouts, weight-loss supplements, and OTC analgesia. Patients rarely volunteer these. The combined daily dose can easily exceed 600 mg without coffee being part of the picture at all.
Decaffeinated coffee, what it actually is.
Decaf is a misleading label. By UK and EU regulation, decaffeinated coffee can contain up to 0.1 percent caffeine by weight (or 0.3 percent for instant). In a typical cup that translates to anywhere from 2 to 15 mg of caffeine. Not zero. For most people that's irrelevant. For someone with severe caffeine sensitivity, panic disorder, or atrial fibrillation, those few milligrams can still register.
The good speciality decaf options are now genuinely good. The flavour gap between regular and decaf has narrowed significantly in the last decade. For people who love the ritual of coffee but want the caffeine out of their evening, this is the lever to pull.
Companion, not curriculum.
This page isn't meant to be memorised. It's meant to sit at the back of the bookmark bar, ready when you need it. Most of the time, the answer to 'how much caffeine is in this?' is 'less than you think' or 'more than you think', and the honest answer is somewhere in this table.
If you've worked through the rest of the guide, you already have what matters. The mechanisms, the patterns, the personal decisions. This page is just the working copy.
If you'd like to talk it through
