One minute, science experiments are tsk-tsking caffeine, and the next, it's like unicorns and rainbows for your health. At Serious Eats, we need to stay awake for all the latest in food news, so we just need to know which coffee shop drinks get the job done. To find out how much caffeine lurks inside the usual coffee shop drinks, we called around to Peet's Coffee, Groundwork, and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on the West Coast, as well as Intelligentsia in Chicago, and the McDunkin'bucks around the corner.
In descending order, here are the average caffeine contents per milligram (most were calculated from original 12 or 16 ounce portions). If you're swearing off the hyper juice, here are some ideas for curing those wicked caffeine headaches.
Starbuck's Espresso Shot: 75 mg per ounce
Peet's Coffee Espresso Shot: 46.67 mg per ounce
Startbucks Coffee: 20.62 mg per ounce
Groundwork Roasted Coffee: 18.75 mg per ounce
Starbucks Caramel Macchiato: 10.83 mg per ounce
Intelligentsia Roasted Coffee: 10 to 16.86 mg per ounce (depending on which kind of coffee)
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Regular Ice Blended: 9.17 mg per ounce
McDonald's Regular Coffee: 9.08 mg per ounce
Dunkin' Donuts Regular Coffee: 8.94 mg per ounce
Starbucks Americano: 8.13 mg per ounce
Starbucks Nonfat or Soy Latte: 8.13 mg per ounce
Celestial Seasonings Earl Grey Black Tea: 7.5 mg per ounce
Starbucks Tazo Chai Tea Latte: 6.35 mg per ounce
Dunkin' Donuts Iced Coffee: 4.34 mg per ounce
Starbucks Nonfat Cappucino: 4.06 mg per ounce
Celestial Seasonings India Spice Chai: 3.75 mg per ounce
Starbucks Decaf Coffee: 1.6 mg per ounce
Starbucks Hot Chocolate: 1.6 mg per ounce
Dunkin' Donuts Hot Chocolate: 0.7 mg per ounce
Bubble Tea Tapioca Balls: 0 mg (It all depends on what drink you get with them!)
Hot note: So...a basic cup of coffee contains a lot more caffeine than a drink with one shot of espresso. Crazy, we know. But look, a 12-oz cup of coffee at Starbucks contains about 260 mg of caffeine, while the 12-oz latte contains 75 mg.