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Does Hot Chocolate Have Caffeine? Yes, About 5 mg a Cup

By Coffee Studies Editorial·Published November 13, 2026·5 min read

Quick answer

Yes, a little. By USDA's figures a cup of hot chocolate made from a cocoa mix has about 5 mg of caffeine, against about 95 mg for an 8 oz cup of brewed coffee. Make it with two tablespoons of natural cocoa powder and it reaches about 25 mg; Dutch-processed cocoa gives a third of that; white hot chocolate has none. Hot chocolate also carries theobromine, a milder cousin of caffeine, at about 90 to 220 mg a cup.

Your cup of hot chocolate has about 5 mg of caffeine. Your cup of coffee has about 95. If you only want one number, you have it, and it comes from USDA's own numbers rather than a guess. [1]

The number you get depends on what you make it from. Use a packet mix and you get the 5 mg. Use the tin of cocoa in your cupboard and you get five times that. Use Dutch cocoa and you come back down. Melt a bar of dark chocolate into milk and you land in between. Here is what you get from each, and what the second pick-me-up in cocoa, theobromine, does and does not do to you.

5 mg

caffeine in a cup of hot chocolate made from a 28 g cocoa mix envelope, by USDA's figures[1]

95 mg

caffeine in an 8 oz cup of brewed coffee, the same source[1]

0 mg

caffeine in white chocolate, which is cocoa butter without the cocoa solids[1]

How much caffeine is in your cup?

Between nothing and about 25 mg, based on what you make it from. A mix gives you the least. Natural cocoa powder gives you the most. Coffee is in a different league from all of them.

The mix is low because it is mostly sugar and milk powder. The cocoa in a 28 g envelope is a small share of it. Two tablespoons of pure cocoa is nearly 11 g of the real thing, and that is where the caffeine lives.

Why does your number change so much?

Because each kind of cocoa is different per gram, and you use very different amounts of each. The table shows you the measured numbers.

[1]
Ingredient, per 100 gCaffeineTheobromine
Natural unsweetened cocoa powder230 mg2,060 mg
Dutch cocoa powder78 mg2,630 mg
Cocoa mix, dry powder18 mg323 mg
Cocoa mix, made with water2 mg44 mg
Dark chocolate, 70 to 85 percent cacao80 mg802 mg
Milk chocolate20 mg205 mg
White chocolate0 mg0 mg
Carob flour0 mg0 mg
Brewed coffee, for comparison40 mg0 mg

Two rows in that table will surprise you. Dutch cocoa, the darker and milder kind in most European drinking chocolate, has about a third of the caffeine of natural cocoa. And it has more theobromine, not less. So if you buy Dutch cocoa to cut caffeine, you get less caffeine but not less of a lift.

What is theobromine, and does it do anything to you?

Theobromine is caffeine's milder cousin, and your cup has far more of it than caffeine. From a mix you get about 90 mg; from two tablespoons of natural cocoa you get about 220 mg. [1]

It works the same way caffeine does in your body, only weaker. A review of what cocoa does gives it credit for much of the lift you feel from chocolate. [3]

Only one study has tested it on its own. Eighty healthy adults took 250, 500 or 1,000 mg of theobromine, or 200 mg of caffeine. At 250 mg, about what you get from a strong homemade cup, people noticed little. At the two bigger doses their mood got worse and their heart rate went up with the dose. The authors concluded that the amount in normal chocolate may add to its pleasant side, and that more of it turns unpleasant. [2] At the amounts in your cup, you are below the lowest dose they tested, and both papers point the same way: a gentle lift, not a hidden shot of coffee.

Will hot chocolate keep you awake?

Probably not, on the caffeine. You are getting about a twentieth of a cup of coffee. Even the cocoa-heavy homemade version at 25 mg gives you less than a cup of green tea. [1]

If a bedtime mug does keep you up, look at the mug before the cocoa. A big sweet drink late in the evening is a sugar question and a size question. Switch to Dutch cocoa, use less of it, or move to white hot chocolate, which gives you no caffeine and no theobromine at all.

Is it safe if you are pregnant?

On caffeine, you have plenty of room. Health Canada sets your pregnancy limit at 300 mg a day and the FDA cites a similar range. A cup from a mix is about 5 mg of that. A cocoa-rich homemade cup is about 25 mg.

[4] [5]

That answer covers caffeine only. Theobromine in pregnancy is a separate question, and the study above did not look at it, so take that one to your doctor or midwife rather than to a coffee site.

What to do

  • Want the least caffeine? Pick a mix, or white hot chocolate. A mix gives you about 5 mg; white gives you zero.
  • Making it from cocoa powder? Buy Dutch cocoa if caffeine is your worry. Two tablespoons gives you about 8 mg against 25 mg for natural.
  • Switching from coffee to cut back? This works. You drop from about 95 mg to under 25 mg a cup however you make it. Expect a headache for a few days if you stop coffee all at once, and cut down slowly if you would rather not.
  • Worried about theobromine? At a cup or two a day you are below the lowest dose the study found any effect for. Your dog is a different story, which is why chocolate is dangerous for dogs and not for you.

The short version

Your hot chocolate has caffeine: about 5 mg a cup from a mix, up to about 25 mg if you make it from natural cocoa, against 95 mg for coffee. It also has theobromine, a milder cousin of caffeine, at about 90 to 220 mg a cup. White hot chocolate has neither. If you are cutting caffeine, this is one of the easiest swaps you can make.

Watch

See it, not just read it

One video picked for this page. They play right here, full screen on a phone, and you come straight back to the article.

Socratica38k viewsThis video offers a detailed scientific explanation of cacao and theobromine, directly relevant to the article.

Hosted on YouTube. Credit belongs to the channels named.

Frequently asked questions

Does hot chocolate keep you awake like coffee?
Unlikely, on the caffeine. A cup from a mix carries about 5 mg against about 95 mg in a cup of coffee, by USDA's figures. If a bedtime cup does keep you up, the sugar and the size of the mug are the likelier reasons, or a recipe heavy on natural cocoa, which can reach 25 mg.
Does Swiss Miss hot chocolate have caffeine?
A little. USDA lists a Swiss Miss envelope (0.53 oz, 15 g) as a portion of its no-sugar-added cocoa mix entry, which works out to about 3 mg of caffeine and about 100 mg of theobromine per envelope. A standard 28 g cocoa mix envelope lands near 5 mg of caffeine.
Which hot chocolate has no caffeine?
White hot chocolate, because white chocolate is cocoa butter without the cocoa solids, and USDA records 0 mg of caffeine and 0 mg of theobromine in it. Carob is the other zero. Everything made from cocoa solids has some caffeine, even if it is only a few milligrams.
Is hot chocolate OK during pregnancy?
On caffeine, yes with room to spare. Health Canada's pregnancy limit is 300 mg a day and a cup from a mix is about 5 mg of it. Theobromine is a separate question that the sources on this page do not cover, so treat this as a caffeine answer only and ask your care provider about the rest.
Does Dutch-processed cocoa have less caffeine?
Yes, about a third as much. USDA puts natural unsweetened cocoa at 230 mg of caffeine per 100 g and Dutch-processed (alkalised) cocoa at 78 mg. Theobromine goes the other way, 2,060 mg against 2,630 mg, so the darker, milder Dutch cocoa is lower in caffeine but not in stimulants overall.
Does hot chocolate have more caffeine than tea?
No. Brewed black tea runs about 47 mg for an 8 oz cup and green tea about 28 mg by USDA's values, so even a cocoa-heavy homemade hot chocolate at 25 mg sits below green tea, and a cup from a mix sits well below it.
Editorial noteThis article is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Caffeine tolerance and health circumstances vary from person to person. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, caffeine-sensitive, taking medication, or managing a health condition, speak with a qualified healthcare professional.

References

Every factual claim in this article is drawn from the sources below. See the source library for how we grade evidence.

  1. [1]FoodData CentralU.S. Department of Agriculture · Official dataset · Tier 1 · Strong
  2. [2]Psychopharmacology of theobromine in healthy volunteersPsychopharmacology · 2013 · Controlled trial · Tier 2 · Moderate
  3. [3]The relevance of theobromine for the beneficial effects of cocoa consumptionFrontiers in Pharmacology · 2015 · Review · Tier 2 · Moderate
  4. [4]Caffeine in foodsHealth Canada · 2022 · Agency guidance · Tier 1 · Strong
  5. [5]Spilling the Beans: How Much Caffeine Is Too Much?U.S. Food and Drug Administration · 2024 · Agency guidance · Tier 1 · Strong

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