Caffeine comparison: put two drinks side by side

Total caffeine vs concentration

Two numbers decide how a drink hits you: the total caffeine in the serving and the concentration per 100 ml. A 473 ml Monster (160 mg) has twice the total of a 250 ml Red Bull (80 mg), yet their concentration is almost identical at about 32–34 mg per 100 ml — the Monster is simply a bigger pour. Concentration is the fair way to compare a soda (around 10 mg/100 ml) against an espresso (over 200 mg/100 ml), while total mg is what matters for your daily limit.

The decay tail most comparisons ignore

Caffeine clears with a half-life near 5.7 hours, so the gap between two drinks shrinks over time but never reverses. A 300 mg pre-workout still leaves about 144 mg after 6 hours and 69 mg after 12; an 80 mg Red Bull is down to roughly 38 mg and 18 mg over the same window. If you are comparing drinks for an afternoon lift, the 6- and 12-hour columns tell you which one is more likely to still be working at bedtime.

Make the comparison personal

Equivalence in cups of coffee is the most intuitive frame: divide the caffeine by 96 mg, the amount in a standard 240 ml cup. A Bang (300 mg) is about three coffees in one can. Once you know the equivalents, logging them is easy — CoffeeLog stores all of these drinks so a tap records the exact milligrams and adds them to your day.