How Much Caffeine Is in an Espresso Shot? About 63 mg

Your single shot of espresso gives you about 63 mg of caffeine. That is USDA's figure for espresso made in a restaurant, 212 mg per 100 g, scaled to the 1 fl oz you get in a shot. Starbucks counts 75 mg for its solo. Either way, your shot is more than five times as strong as brewed coffee per ounce, and still less than one 8 oz cup. ^{[1] [4]}

What you actually get depends on the shop. When a Glasgow lab bought 104 espressos from coffee shops in Scotland, Italy and Spain and tested them, the caffeine ran from 48 mg to 317 mg a serving. Here is where your 63 comes from, why your shot can land anywhere in that range, and how many shots fit in your day. ^[3]

How much caffeine is in one shot of espresso?

About 63 mg if you go by USDA, and 75 mg if you go by Starbucks. The chart puts every real figure on one scale, so you can see how small the textbook shot looks next to what shops pour for you.

The two numbers you see everywhere agree once you look at the pour. USDA tests a full fluid ounce. Starbucks' solo is a 0.75 fl oz shot that still lands at 75 mg, so the chain simply puts more coffee in your shot than USDA's sample had. The coffee-shop bar at the bottom is the honest one. It is what you get when you walk into a shop you have never tried. ^{[1] [4] [3]}

An earlier paper from the same Glasgow group tested 20 espressos from shops in one city and found a six-fold spread. The strongest single espresso held 322 mg, and three more passed 200 mg, which is the daily limit the UK Food Standards Agency cites in pregnancy. The authors put most of the spread down to how much ground coffee each shop used, with the bean blend, roast and grind behind it. ^[2]

How much caffeine is in a double shot?

About 125 mg by USDA's figure and 150 mg by Starbucks' count. You scale the single, because a double is the same coffee twice. Here is the ladder you will meet at the counter.

One catch for you. Most shops dose a double basket and split it, so the "single" you order is often half a double rather than a true solo pull. If you want to know what you are drinking, ask how many grams go in the basket. Twenty grams is a double almost everywhere. ^{[1] [4] [8] [9]}

Why does your shot vary so much?

Because caffeine follows the dose, not the cup. The Glasgow lab pulled three drinks from the same 20 g of ground coffee and stopped them at 20 g, 40 g and 60 g in the cup. The caffeine came out at 130 mg, 183 mg and 204 mg. Running the shot three times longer added about half again, and most of the caffeine was out by the time a normal double finished. What moves your number far more is the gram count going in. ^[3]

Four things set your shot, in order of how much they matter to you:

1. The dose. A shop pulling 22 g doubles gives you more caffeine than one pulling 14 g, before anything else changes. The Glasgow authors named this the main reason for their six-fold spread. ^[2]
2. The beans. Blends with robusta give you more caffeine than straight arabica; the arabica vs robusta page has the figures. Traditional Italian espresso blends often include some.
3. The roast. Barely. The same lab found caffeine stable through roasting while the acids fell, so your dark roast shot is not a weaker one. ^[3]
4. The length. A ristretto gives you a little less, a lungo a little more, from the same dose. The ristretto vs espresso vs lungo page shows the full series.

Decaf espresso is the one case where you can stop counting. USDA puts it at 1 mg per 100 g, about 0.3 mg in your shot. ^[1]

Espresso vs coffee: which has more caffeine?

Per ounce, espresso, by a wide margin. Per serving, your coffee. USDA's espresso is 212 mg per 100 g against 40 mg per 100 g for brewed coffee, more than five times as strong. But your shot is 1 oz and your cup is 8 oz, so the cup lands at about 95 mg and the shot at 63. Your latte, flat white or americano carries whatever shots went into it; the milk and water add volume, not caffeine. A two-shot latte gives you 125 to 150 mg, about a shot and a half of brewed coffee. ^{[1] [4]}

If you drink Tim Hortons, there is no number to give you. Its nutrition guide covers the drinks but carries no caffeine figures. Nespresso does publish: 60 to 90 mg for an Original capsule, 70 to 150 mg for the Vertuo Espresso and Gran Lungo sizes. ^{[7] [5] [6]}

How many shots is too many?

If you are a healthy adult, Health Canada and the FDA put your day at 400 mg. That is six USDA shots, or five Starbucks shots, with nothing else. Add your morning cup of brewed coffee and you have room for four. ^{[8] [10]}

The single-sitting line is lower. The European Food Safety Authority's 2015 review found up to 200 mg in one go raised no safety concern for healthy adults. A doppio keeps you under it. A triple, or a doppio from a heavy-dosing shop, does not. ^[9]

If you are pregnant, Health Canada's limit for you is 300 mg a day, and the UK figure the Glasgow papers cite is 200 mg. One of the 20 Glasgow shop espressos carried 322 mg by itself. That is the practical reason to treat a double from a shop you do not know as a possible 200 mg, not a certain 125. ^{[8] [2]}

What to do

• Want the plain number? Count 63 mg a shot, 125 a double. It is USDA's figure and it matches most home machines.
• Ordering at Starbucks? Count 75 a shot. The chain publishes it, and your grande latte is two shots at 150.
• At a shop you do not know? Treat your double as 150 to 200 mg until you have asked the dose. Twenty grams in the basket is a normal double.
• Pregnant or sensitive? Two shots in your day is at or under 150 mg by both counts. Make your third one decaf, which is 0.3 mg.
• Counting toward 400? Six shots is your ceiling with nothing else. Our daily caffeine limit page has the full budget.

The short version

Your shot is about 63 mg by USDA and 75 mg by Starbucks, your double about 125 to 150 mg, and an 8 oz cup of brewed coffee about 95. Real coffee-shop espressos tested between 48 and 317 mg a serving, mostly because of how much coffee went into the basket. Two shots keeps you under the 200 mg single-dose line, six shots reaches your 400 mg day, and decaf espresso gives you 0.3 mg a shot.