Sunday, November 05, 2006

Caffeine Table

Being a tea drinker, living among coffee drinkers, married to a biologist, I often get asked how much caffeine is in things. Since I only keep a rough ranking in my head, I'll blog the details here so in the future I can simply refer people to it.

Data comes from the Berkeley Wellness Letter, the Mayo Clinic Website, and the Stash Tea Catalog.

Except for the espresso, chocolate, and NoDoz, all values are typical for 12-ounce drink servings.
  • Herbal Tea: 0 mg
  • Decaffeinated Tea: 1-8 mg
  • Hot Cocoa: 8 mg
  • Decaffeinated Coffee: 4-10 mg
  • Milk Chocolate (4 oz.): 4-40 mg
  • Dark Chocolate (4 oz.): 20-140 mg
  • Soda: 22-55 mg
  • White or Green Tea: 30-60 mg
  • Oolong Tea: 50-100 mg
  • Black Tea: 80-140 mg
  • Energy Drinks: 75-160 mg
  • Instant Coffee: 90-200 mg
  • Espresso (4 oz.): 180-220 mg
  • Drip Coffee: 160-300 mg
  • NoDoz (2 pills): 200 mg
The facts people normally ask about is how black tea compares to drip coffee (about half the caffeine) and how white/green tea compares to black tea (a bit less than half the caffeine).