Chai Lattes: A Caffeine Breakdown

Chai lattes are a popular drink at any cafe, likely due to the substantial health benefits gained by regularly drinking chai tea. However, before switching from coffee to chai tea, many people may wonder how the drink compares in the caffeine department.

Because tea contains less caffeine than coffee on average, chai lattes contain less caffeine than coffee-based lattes. However, if you want to add more caffeine to your chai latte, you can order it “dirty.” This will add a shot of espresso to the latte.

If the chai latte has caught your eye, you may want to stick around. In this article, we’ll cover just what chai is, some of its many health benefits, how the chai latte compares to a cup of chai tea as well as how it compares to a coffee-based latte, and just how much caffeine goes into the dirty chai.

What is Chai?

Chai latte and ingredients on concrete background

Chai has an origin based in Hindi culture. The word “chai” is the Hindi word for “tea.” So when most people say “chai,” they refer to a mix of spices steeped in tea.

The spices used in chai may vary based on several factors, but the typical ingredients include cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger, and black peppercorns. This mixture of spices is steeped in black tea to create something called “chai tea.”

Chai Tea Variations

Because chai can use different ingredients and ratios of those different ingredients, the resulting chai tea can have a number of other possible flavors. For example, a chai blend with a higher amount of peppercorn or ginger will have a fiery bite.

Chai more vanilla or cinnamon-based will result in a much sweeter tasting chai blend. Some make use of saffron and cacao; these will have a pleasant bitterness to them.

For a good example, Starbucks’ chai blend is a mixture of cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. However, Starbucks’ chai blend is cinnamon-based, meaning you will get a much sweeter flavor than other chai blends.

Health Benefits

Besides the flavor, one of the main reasons people choose to drink chai tea is the many health benefits. Chai tea is high in antioxidants, is good for your heart, skin, and digestion, and boosts your energy.

It also soothes many sources of pain, boosts your immune system, and reduces inflammation. With all these benefits, it’s no wonder many people have made chai tea part of their morning routine.

Chai Latte vs. A Full Cup of Chai Tea

A chai latte is a drink that combines chai tea with a special kind of milk called steamed milk. This milk is heated and frothed to give the drink an almost creamy texture. This drink uses a ratio of one-third tea and two-thirds steamed milk.

Because a chai latte uses more milk than tea, it contains less caffeine than a regular cup of chai tea. So if you drink chai for the caffeine content, you should stick with chai tea. But if you want to cut back on the caffeine, the chai latte may be more your speed.

It is also worth noting that drinking chai tea is healthier than drinking a chai latte. This is due to the milk content added to turn the chai tea into a chai latte. The fat content in milk is what gives the latte that creamy texture.

However, the fat content in milk adds many calories to the drink. Of course, this also means that if you add regular milk to a chai tea, you add many unnecessary calories to the drink. This can be subverted by adding low-fat substitutes such as soy or skim milk.

Chai vs. Coffee: What is the Caffeine Difference

Now that we’ve thoroughly discussed just what chai tea and chai lattes are and their health benefits, you likely have one question: how does their caffeine content compare to your daily cup of coffee?

The caffeine content of a cup of chai tea will be smaller than an equally-sized cup of coffee. A standard-sized coffee cup will contain between 60 and 100 milligrams of caffeine.

On the other hand, a standard-sized cup of chai tea is going to contain somewhere between 15 and 50 milligrams. So if caffeine is your priority, coffee is the answer, but is this also true for lattes?

Chai vs. Coffee-Based Lattes

A coffee-based latte will also contain more caffeine than a chai tea-based latte. However, this is not for the same reason as before. The coffee-based latte (also known as a caffe latte) is not made using regular coffee. Instead, a caffe latte is made by mixing milk with the highly concentrated espresso shot.

An espresso shot by itself has less caffeine than a regular cup of coffee. However, many cafes will make lattes with two shots of espresso. This means that a double shot caffe latte contains more caffeine than a regular cup of coffee.

On the other hand, a chai tea-based latte does just use regular tea to make the drink. This means a chai latte has much less caffeine than a caffe latte.

Again, if caffeine is your problem, coffee is your solution. However, many people would argue that the health benefits of chai tea are much more important than getting your caffeine fix.

How Much Caffeine is in a Dirty Chai

Chai Latte art in cappuccino coffee cup at cafe table

Before we get into how much caffeine is in a cup of dirty chai, we should first define what it is. A dirty chai is a chai latte with an added shot or two of espresso.

This is a trendy drink since it seems like the best of both worlds: the health benefits of chai tea with the high caffeine content of coffee, but does it actually have a high caffeine content?

A 12-ounce dirty chai latte’s average caffeine level is around 160 milligrams. This is the amount of caffeine when two espresso shots are added. A double shot caffe latte only contains about 128 milligrams of caffeine, each shot being around 64 milligrams. This means a single-shot dirty chai will have about 96 milligrams of caffeine.

This means that a single shot dirty chai will have more caffeine than the single shot caffe latte and the standard chai latte. However, if you want the strongest caffeine possible with a latte, you should go with the double-shot dirty chai.

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