Coffee And Tea: A Caffeine Guide

Coffee and Tea are two of the most popular beverages in the world. And while they’re often seen as two polar opposites or even rivals, they might be more similar than most people think — at least when it comes to caffeine content. 

In natural form, tea leaves pack more caffeine than coffee beans, with an average caffeine level of 3.5% in the former and up to 2.2% in the latter. However, when prepared, coffee usually has more caffeine because the brewing process extracts more caffeine than steeping does. 

Let’s take a closer look at these two drinks and how much caffeine is found in each. We’ll also look at how caffeine content varies depending on the type of tea or coffee you’re drinking.

Coffee or Tea: Which Has More Caffeine?

Coffee and Tea

Several factors can impact the caffeine content of both coffee and tea, so to keep things simple, we’re going to compare the caffeine content in coffee beans and tea leaves. To do that, we’ll compare caffeine per tea leaf with caffeine per coffee bean.

Here’s the shocker: Tea leaves pack more caffeine than unroasted coffee beans. More specifically, the caffeine level of a tea leaf is around 3.5%, whereas that of a coffee bean lies somewhere between 1.1% and 2.2%.

This basically means that tea fundamentally has more caffeine in its basic form. None of that matters though, because what’s important is the final drink! While tea leaves are more caffeinated, the preparation method is a huge determining factor in the resulting drink’s caffeine level.

Brewed coffee is more caffeinated than steeped tea and it boils down to three reasons:

  • Coffee is brewed longer than tea is steeped 
  • Coffee is generally brewed at a much higher temperature 
  • The brewing process yields a more concentrated drink than the steeping process

How Does Preparation Impact Caffeine Content?

Preparing tea is not a particularly complex process. The process usually involves placing the leaves, whether loose or in a tea bag, in a mug, then pouring hot water over it.

It takes about 6 minutes to extract 70% to 80% of the caffeine. However, the recommended brewing time for tea is approximately 3 minutes, which means only half of the caffeine is extracted.

On the other hand, coffee can be brewed using various methods, but the fundamental concept is the same — let the coffee grinds steep for a certain period of time, and then your coffee’s ready.

Certain methods like drip brew and cold brew yield highly concentrated coffees with higher water-to-coffee ratios. Regular brewing extracts 70% of the caffeine.

To sum up, brewing coffee results in a significantly higher level of caffeine than steeping tea, mostly because the resulting coffee is more concentrated.

Which Types of Tea Contain the Most Caffeine?

Tea is quite different from coffee in that the caffeine content depends on the origin of the tea and not so much the way it’s prepared. The following tea types have the highest level of caffeine: 

Black Tea

Black tea comes from the fermented leaves of a plant called Camellia Sinensis. They’re right at the top of the food chain in terms of caffeine content. Its caffeine content ranges from 2% to 4%. English Breakfast (on Amazon) is a classic example of a black tea that people enjoy for a boost of caffeine in the morning.

Black tea is commonly used for a number of health reasons such as preventing Parkinson’s disease and improving mental alertness. 

Oolong Tea

Next up on the caffeine hierarchy is Oolong tea (on Amazon), with an average caffeine level of roughly 53 mg per serving. Oolong tea is also made from the fermented leaves of the Camellia plant. 

Green Tea

Green tea (on Amazon) has the third highest caffeine content when it comes to teas — around 39 mg per serving, to be specific. In addition, it’s free of fats, sugars, and fibers. 

Which Types of Coffee Contain the Most Caffeine? 

Drop falling into a cup of coffee

Let’s start off with coffee beans. There are a wide variety of coffee beans out there, but the most well-known are Arabica and Robusta.

Robusta (on Amazon) is especially know for its robust level of caffeine. Ultimately, that doesn’t really matter, because numerous factors can affect caffeine content. 

What we’re looking at is the caffeine content of the final product. With that being said, some could argue that espresso is the real deal… except that it’s often diluted with large amounts of milk and other ingredients.

Cold brew (on Amazon) on the other hand, is made from a much higher coffee-to-water ratio and the concentrate is generally watered down with a lower water-to-concentrate ratio.

Conclusion 

It’s evident that steeped tea contains less caffeine than brewed coffee. Does that mean you’re better off drinking tea? Not necessarily, because even traces amount of caffeine can impact your system, depending on your body’s degree of caffeine sensitivity.

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