Caffeine in Coffee: Exact Milligrams and Measurement Guide

A standard 240 ml cup of drip coffee contains 96 mg of caffeine.

• Drip coffee (240 ml): 96 mg.
• Cold brew (240 ml): 200 mg.
• Single espresso (30 ml): 63 mg; double: 126 mg.
• Decaf (240 ml): 3 mg.
• FDA recommended upper limit for healthy adults: 400 mg/day.

Standard caffeine measurements in common coffee drinks

The table below lists measured values from aggregated product and menu data so you can answer "caffeine mg in coffee" for the drink in your hand. Serving sizes are the dataset values; do not assume different cup sizes have the same milligrams.

How brewing method, grind and size change the mg

Caffeine concentration depends on extraction efficiency: grind size, water temperature, contact time and coffee-to-water ratio. Pour over (240 ml = 145 mg) and cold brew (240 ml = 200 mg) differ because pour-over extracts quickly at hot temperatures, while cold-brew uses longer contact and often a higher coffee-to-water ratio—hence higher mg per 100 ml.

Typical contributors to variation

• Bean type and roast: lighter roasts often show slightly higher measured caffeine by volume than darker roasts when all else is equal.
• Grind and extraction time: finer grind and longer brew increase extraction (more mg).
• Serving volume: cafés vary sizes—use mg/100 ml from lab values when scaling serving sizes.

Comparing coffee to other caffeinated drinks

Coffee provides more caffeine per serving than most sodas and teas. For scale: a 240 ml drip cup (96 mg) contains roughly three times the caffeine of a 355 ml cola (~34 mg) and half the caffeine of a 240 ml cold brew (200 mg). Energy drinks and concentrated supplements can exceed a single cup easily—Bang (473 ml) contains 300 mg.

Estimating caffeine in your cup: simple math and lab methods

Laboratories use HPLC to measure mg precisely; at home you can estimate by volume and known mg/100 ml when available. Example: a 350 ml pour-over can be estimated from the dataset's 60.4 mg/100 ml: 350 ml × 0.604 = 211 mg.

Another example: a 350 ml large latte labeled as "large, 2 shots" with dataset value 126 mg is a measured serving—don’t recalculate by espresso shots unless you know shot size and strength.

Decaying caffeine: how much remains over time

Caffeine follows first-order kinetics with a population-average half-life of about 5.7 hours. That means roughly 69% remains after 3 hours, 48% after 6 hours, 33% after 9 hours and 23% after 12 hours. The table below shows concrete remaining mg from three common doses.

Safety, timing and practical advice

Safety limits: the FDA cites about 400 mg/day as a safe upper limit for most healthy adults; for pregnancy many authorities (including EFSA summaries and clinical guidance) advise limiting to about 200 mg/day. The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages caffeine for adolescents. For anxiety, arrhythmia or sensitivity, individual thresholds can be much lower.

Timing vs sleep: because ~48% remains after 6 hours, a 3 PM 200 mg cold-brew will leave ~96 mg at 9 PM—enough to disturb some people's sleep. If you track intake and timing, apps like CoffeeLog automate these calculations and help you see mg per day and mg remaining by bedtime.

Practical checklist: measuring and reducing intake

1. Use known serving mg from menus or the table above rather than guessing.
2. Scale by volume using mg/100 ml when available (example math shown above).
3. Choose decaf (3 mg/240 ml) or smaller servings to reduce intake fast.
4. Consult sources: USDA FoodData Central for raw food values, Mayo Clinic and FDA for health guidance, and AAP for adolescent recommendations.

Medical caution: this page is informational, not medical advice. Consult a healthcare professional for pregnancy, suspected overdose, withdrawal, anxiety or heart conditions.

If I drink three 240 ml drip coffees at 8:00, 11:00 and 14:00, how much caffeine will be left in my body at 17:00?

About 144 mg of caffeine will remain in your body at 17:00 if you consume three 240 ml drip coffees (each 96 mg) at 08:00, 11:00 and 14:00. The calculation uses first-order elimination with a population-average half-life of 5.7 hours, per the dataset's decay model and EFSA's pharmacokinetic summary (2015).

First-order elimination is a clearance process where the rate of decrease is proportional to the amount present.

Step-by-step arithmetic using the dataset value 96 mg per 240 ml: dose at 08:00 → 09 hours until 17:00 → 96 × 0.5^(9/5.7) ≈ 96 × 0.33 = 31.68 mg. Dose at 11:00 → 6 hours until 17:00 → 96 × 0.5^(6/5.7) ≈ 96 × 0.48 = 46.08 mg. Dose at 14:00 → 3 hours until 17:00 → 96 × 0.5^(3/5.7) ≈ 96 × 0.69 = 66.24 mg. Sum = 31.68 + 46.08 + 66.24 ≈ 144 mg. Use the caffeine half-life calculator to run this schedule for other doses or times.

If I have a 240 ml cold brew at 15:00 and go to bed at 23:00, how much caffeine will still be active at bedtime and could it affect sleep?

If you drink a 240 ml cold brew (200 mg) at 15:00 and go to bed at 23:00, about 75.6 mg of caffeine will remain at 23:00 using the 5.7-hour half-life model. That remaining amount is computed as 200 × 0.5^(8/5.7) ≈ 200 × 0.378 = 75.6 mg, and amounts this large have disturbed sleep in some studies.

Remaining caffeine is the mass of caffeine still in the body at a given clock time after ingestion.

For context on sleep effects, Drake et al. (2013) found that a 400 mg dose taken 6 hours before bed reduced objective sleep time by more than one hour (Drake et al., 2013). If you want a practical cutoff for your bedtime, try the last-cup-before-bed tool and compare the 75.6 mg remaining to how sensitive you are to evening caffeine; many people notice effects at tens of milligrams, while others tolerate higher residuals.

If I drink two espresso doubles back-to-back, will that exceed single-dose recommendations and how fast does it fall?

Two espresso doubles consumed immediately equal 252 mg of caffeine (126 mg × 2), which exceeds EFSA's 2015 single-dose guidance of about 200 mg per sitting. After three hours that combined dose will have fallen to roughly 174 mg using the 5.7-hour half-life: 252 × 0.5^(3/5.7) ≈ 252 × 0.69 = 173.9 mg.

Single-dose limit is the recommended maximum caffeine in one sitting.

Because the initial peak is 252 mg, exceeding the single-dose recommendation may increase the chance of acute effects (palpitations, jitteriness) for sensitive people; parents and clinicians should note that adolescents and pregnant people have lower recommended limits—see our guides on teenager safety and caffeine during pregnancy. If you regularly double-up shots, track both peak and residual amounts with the site calculator or a logging app to avoid accidental excess.

How do I use mg per 100 ml lab values to scale a recipe into a 500 ml travel mug?

Convert concentration (mg per 100 ml) into a total by multiplying by the actual volume in 100 ml units: total mg = volume_ml × (mg/100 ml) / 100. For example, the dataset lists drip coffee as 96 mg per 240 ml (40 mg/100 ml), so a 500 ml travel mug of the same brew would contain 500 × 0.40 = 200 mg (dataset math).

Concentration is mg per 100 ml.

Another example using the dataset pour-over concentration (60.4 mg/100 ml): a 500 ml pour-over would be 500 × 0.604 = 302 mg, computed from the dataset's 240 ml pour-over entry of 145 mg. When cafés publish nonstandard sizes, prefer the measured serving value where available (see our coffee-caffeine measurement guide) or use the brewing ratio calculator to estimate concentration before scaling by volume.

What should I do if I suspect I've taken too much caffeine?

If you have severe symptoms (chest pain, fainting, severe disorientation or seizures), seek emergency medical care immediately; otherwise call your local poison control service or consult a clinician and mention the exact products and milligrams involved. Many concentrated products in the dataset contain large amounts—Bang (300 mg per 473 ml), 5-Hour Energy (200 mg per 57 ml) and caffeine pills (200 mg)—so list those amounts when you call.

Overdose is an amount of caffeine causing acute toxic symptoms.

For nonemergency situations like tremor, rapid heartbeat or severe anxiety, stop taking caffeine, hydrate, sit or lie down, and seek medical advice; see our caffeine overdose guide and the dosage summaries in Caffeine Dosage Guide. Remember the FDA's 400 mg/day guidance for healthy adults when planning intake and use the safe daily limit by body weight tool to compare your usual consumption to recommended amounts (FDA, 2026).

Bottom line

The dataset gives concrete milligrams for common servings: a 240 ml drip cup contains 96 mg, a 240 ml cold brew contains 200 mg, a single 30 ml espresso contains 63 mg, and 240 ml decaf contains 3 mg (dataset values). The FDA cites about 400 mg/day as a safe upper limit for most healthy adults and EFSA's 2015 opinion recommends about 200 mg as a single-dose threshold and 200 mg/day for pregnancy; cite these when planning intake (FDA, 2026; EFSA, 2015).

Caffeine elimination follows first-order kinetics with a population-average half-life of about 5.7 hours, and the decay model used on this page is remaining mg = D × 0.5^(hours / 5.7) (dataset model and EFSA pharmacokinetic summary). Practical examples: a 200 mg cold brew at 15:00 leaves ~75.6 mg at 23:00 (200 × 0.5^(8/5.7) ≈ 75.6 mg); three 240 ml drip coffees at 08:00, 11:00 and 14:00 leave ~144 mg at 17:00 (arithmetic shown above). For sleep impact, Drake et al. (2013) demonstrated that 400 mg consumed 6 hours before bedtime reduced objective sleep time by over an hour, so use timing plus the decay formula to judge whether residual mg could affect your sleep (Drake et al., 2013).

Use our tools and guides to convert serving sizes and compare drinks: the half-life calculator to see mg remaining at a target time, the last-cup-before-bed helper to plan your evening cut-off, and the safe daily limit tool to compare your intake to recommended limits. These numbers and the arithmetic above let you answer "caffeine mg in coffee" for your cup with dataset-backed precision and choose the timing and total that work for your health goals.