Which has more caffeine? Coffee or Tea?

4 August 2011

You may have heard people throw around the following slightly startling piece of caffeine trivia – that tea actually contains more caffeine than coffee. For many people, several cups of coffee a day could turn them into a jittery mess, but they could comfortably enjoy the same number of cups of tea and barely notice any effect. So, can it possibly be true? Does tea really have more caffeine than coffee?

The answer is YES. Well, sort of.

By dry weight, tea leaves contain substantially more caffeine than coffee beans.

However, because only a very small quantity of tea leaves (2-3g) is used to make a cup of tea, the caffeine content of a cup of tea (about 50mg) is usually much less than a cup of coffee (roughly 100mg for your average cappuccino).

Obviously caffeine content will vary depending on brands, production methods and other variables, but that gives you a basic idea.

So there. Now you know.