Navigation
Recent comments
- egg shells in a one cup wonder coffee machine.
19 hours 3 min ago - But it makes diabetes worse
5 days 5 hours ago - bleh
1 week 4 days ago - Thank You!
1 week 6 days ago - Partners - more aware of caffeine's effects?
1 week 6 days ago - irony
2 weeks 1 day ago - . . . this discussion is about coffee, not grammar. . . so PLEAS
2 weeks 3 days ago - Chicory root is a great
2 weeks 4 days ago - decaf coffee
2 weeks 6 days ago - espresso
3 weeks 5 days ago
Syndicate
User login
Is it true that espresso has less caffeine than regular coffee?
Yes and no. An espresso cup has about as much caffeine as a cup of strong coffee. But servings for espresso are much smaller. Which means that the content of caffeine per milliliter are much higher than with a regular brew. Moreover, caffeine is more quickly assimilated when taken in concentrated dosages, such as an espresso cup.
The myth of lower caffeine espresso comes comes from the fact that the darker roast beans used for espresso do have less caffeine than regularly roasted beans as roasting is supposed to break up or sublimate the caffeine in the beans (I have read this quote in research articles, but found no scientific studies supporting it. Anybody out there?).
One more thing that should be considered when comparing caffeine content of espresso is whether the beans are arabica or robusta. Robusta has about twice as much caffeine as arabica therefore a coffee blend starting with a large amount of robusta will have more caffeine regardless of prep method. Many (but not all) supermarket brands of coffee have a fair amount of robusta mixed into the blend to keep production costs low. Some espresso blends have between 4% and 12% robusta. The robusta is uses for a combination of reasons not least of which is flavor and better crema production. Many espresso blends have no robusta at all. For a good espresso blend price is not the reason for adding robusta and a good quality robusta is actually much more expensive than a cheap arabica bean and somewhere on par with a similar relative quality arabica.
Here's the caffeine content of Drip/Espresso/Brewed Coffee:
Drip 115-175 (7 oz cup) Espresso 100 1 serving (1-2oz) Brewed 80-135 (7 oz cup)
Obviously these numbers are estimates at best.
Comments
does anyone know
If you make an espresso AND a single-drip coffee with the exact same amount of the exact same type of coffee in each, which one has more caffeine? Not based on the kind of coffee or the amount of it, just on the way they're brewed, which method gets more caffeine out of it?????????????????
Espresso in Tampa
I live in Tampa, and we get good espresso here. I buy espresso, and mix it with regular coffee, and use it in my drip coffeemaker. It works great.
Caffeine and Expresso
I was taking to Barrista who explained that Expresso can be made without Caffeine using the the right grind and water temprature and brew time But he did say there were very few machines that achieve this He explained that intially pure coffee tast is released from the bean and the caffeine follows later Can anyone cofirm this
espresso isn't a bean or a
espresso isn't a bean or a roast it is a method of production. unless you make it in an espresso machine it isn't espresso, no matter what it says on the bag. you are simply blending two different coffees, one of them happens to be marketed as being good for making espresso. blending different coffee can be great, if you came up with a combination you like, keep doing it.
RE: Caffeine and Expresso
Your barista does not know what they are talking about. You can make decaf espresso but only if you use decaf beans. There is a decent chance this barista also does not have good technique if they are so ill-informed. Find a new shop.
Hmmm.... I think this
Hmmm.... I think this barista is actually talking sense, even if they may be exaggerating and taking things to extremes of extrapolation.
Caffeine takes the longest to extract from coffee out of all the flavonoids, oils etc. By passing steam through faster (higher pressure) then less of this caffeine will be extracted.
We use finer grinds for espresso so that there is more surface area, contact area, for extraction when passing the steam through so quickly. Reduce this surface area by using a less fine grind and of course less will be extracted with the slower extracting substances being effected the most (caffeine being the slowest).
A combination of the two will yield a lower caffeine espresso and who's to say, unless you have direct experience, that the caffeine in theory couldn't be reduced to near decaf levels?
Do you have such experience Daniel? I feel you may be making assertions that are above your level of knowledge here.. whilst also losing an experienced barista some deserved business.
Due to this slower extraction of caffeine than any other substance from the coffee, slower brewing methods like filters or a cafetiere will extract more caffeine than faster ones such as using an espresso machine.
Therefore it is NOT a myth that an espresso has less caffeine per amount of coffee used or per serving (however one wishes to gauge it). However, as with all comparisons, you need to compare like with like to gain any real meaning and it may be untrue depending on the detail. Google it and you'll find most informed blogs and articles saying the opposite to you, they call it a myth that espresso is stronger in caffeine and explain why it is a myth.
It would be more informative to say that the espresso method yields less caffeine, all things being equal, but that the actual level of caffeine across all methods depends upon the grind, the bean, the roasting etc
Incorrect Chemistry
You're wrong about caffeine being one of the last to extract; most of the caffeine is extracted from the brew in the first minutes (or even moments) of the extraction in hot water. Reference from Wikipedia: Pure anhydrous caffeine is a white colorless powder with a melting point of 227–228 °C. Caffeine is moderately soluble in water at room temperature (2 g/100 mL), but very soluble in boiling water (66 g/100 mL).[108] It is also moderately soluble in ethanol (1.5 g/100 mL).[108]
Basically, caffeine is REALLY soluble in boiling water, so it will extract out immediately. I can't speak to the solubility of the flavanoids (caffeine is not a flavanoid, btw, it's a xanthine derivative), but this barrista clearly does not know what he's talking about.
You could theoretically make a decaf cup of anything by tossing the first portion of the extract after it has passed through the grounds, then keeping the remaining extract.
Espresso Temp
Remember, espresso is made with high pressure, the water should not be boiling, just hot. So the caffeine will be a bit less than if it were made with boiling water.
Caffeine content espresso vs drip or brew Coffee
I am Chemical Engineer. Eventhogh I have never practice any chemical analysis to the coffee, but for years I have read information that the main cause of the higher caffeine content in dripping coffee compared to espresso is about the kind of coffee used. Usually for espresso, the coffee bean is toasted or roasted more profusely, and in Europe and some other countries is called "torrefacto". It causes that the content of caffeine is less after being toasted. On the top of all, espresso powder is coarser after grinded, compared with the very fine grindind used for most drip or brew coffee. This fine grinding allows a bigger contact area between powder and hot water, extracting even more the caffeine from the mix ( a process called "lixiviation"). Let's explaingthe "contact area" better: If you have a piece of metal (iron for example) and you leave it outdoor it will get rusted all around its body, you can easily get the dimensions of the piece and have the contact area with the outdoor elements, but the inside part of this body will not be rusted. If you cut this mertal piece in very small pieces and get the total area of all of them you will have a bigger "contact area" comparing with the original piece. The same happens with the coffee grinded coarse or fine.
So, I would like to know if ther is some kind of a serious study about the content of caffeine, but using the differentes scenarios. Because if I make brew coffee, using a "torrefacto" mix, grinded coarse it will not be the same than using a regular grind and less toasted coffee mix.
espresso powder is coarser
espresso powder is coarser after grinded, compared with the very fine grindind used for most drip or brew coffee.>>
Check your facts. The reverse is actually true with espresso being the finest grind