by Erin Marissa Russell
There is more to determining how much caffeine is in your cup of coffee than simply the brewing preparation you use. This is why you usually see caffeine content for certain preparation methods described as an average or a range instead of a particular number that applies to every cup. In addition to the preparation method you use to make your coffee, the caffeine content is set by variables like the coffee beans you choose to make your coffee with, the ratio between water and coffee grounds that you use when you prepare coffee, the water temperature, your grind size, and more. But here’s a general breakdown of the caffeine content you can expect from various preparation methods.
- Turkish Coffee or Cowboy Coffee: These aren’t the preparation methods that most of us turn to when it’s time to prepare a cup of coffee. However, due to the boiling water temperature and the extra-fine grind that is required from the coffee beans when you make Turkish or cowboy coffee, these methods contain the most caffeine of any preparation commonly used. The beans are immersed in water, which helps maximize extraction, and a filter is not used to dilute the resulting coffee. All these factors help explain both the high caffeine content of Turkish and cowboy coffee and the bitter flavors that these preparation methods create. That’s why you’ll notice lots of cream and sugar being used along with these high extraction methods.
- Pour Over: Although pour over systems do not immerse the coffee beans in water completely, they contain the next highest levels of caffeine after Turkish and cowboy coffee. The reduction in caffeine content between a pour over preparation and Turkish or cowboy coffee is due to the coarser grind we use in a pour over system and the fact that these preparations use very hot water. And despite the fact that the grinds are not immersed in water, the water still moves quite slowly through a pour over brewer, allowing for plenty of caffeine extraction to put these preparation methods in second place.
- AeroPress: This preparation method is tied with pour over systems when it comes to the caffeine coffee made in each system contains. Unlike a pour over system, the AeroPress is an immersion coffee preparation method. However, it calls for a medium grind size, while pour over coffees can call for anything from medium to fine. All these factors together mean that the average cup of pour over coffee and the average cup of AeroPress coffee contain the same amount of caffeine, second only to Turkish or cowboy coffee preparation methods.
- Automatic Drip Makers and Single Cup Coffee Makers: These brewers prepare coffee that contains less caffeine than coffee prepared in a pour over system or AeroPress would contain. That’s because the coffee beans must be ground more coarsely in automatic drip or single cup coffee makers, exposing a smaller surface area for extraction and speeding up the rate at which water flows through the brewer. These types of coffee makers also heat the water they use to make coffee to a lower temperature. If you are able to adjust the amount of coffee you use or the temperature setting of the water on your coffee maker, increasing both of these factors can get a little more caffeine out of your brew. Drip coffee contains about one third of the caffeine in espresso at about 27 mg of caffeine per ounce of coffee you drink.
- Cold Brew: Because you use cold water and not hot water to prepare cold brew coffee, you will only extract 75 to 80 percent of the caffeine, soluble flavors and oils, and polyphenols that you would extract using hot water. However, cold brew processes often are used to prepare coffee concentrates that people add water to before consuming. You do have some ability to increase the caffeine content of your cold brew coffee simply by diluting the concentrate less so you drink a more concentrated form of the cold brew. With cold brew preparations that are low in caffeine, you are able to consume more coffee than you otherwise would, so you may end up ingesting more healthy polyphenols than you would get with a more caffeine-heavy preparation. An average cup of cold brew coffee contains around 26 mg of caffeine per ounce of coffee you drink, so it is very close to the automatic drip makers in caffeine content.
- French Press: You may have expected the French press to rank higher than it does in caffeine content. After all, it is an immersion system, and you use water that is almost boiling hot in the French press. However, the French press also calls for coarsely ground coffee beans, which limit the amount of caffeine that the coffee you prepare will contain. You can’t really adjust the caffeine content of French press coffee by simply using a finer grind, or you’ll have lots of coffee grounds swirling around in your cup once you’re done brewing your coffee. The average cup of French press coffee contains between 74 and 87 mg of caffeine.
As you can see, it’s simple to compare the different coffee preparation methods to one another by their caffeine content. However, there are so many individual factors that go into determining how much caffeine is in a particular cup of coffee that you will usually see the caffeine content explained as an average or a range instead of a particular number that is set in stone.
However, you can refer to the ranked list of preparation methods above, which are listed from the highest in caffeine to the lowest, to help you understand how coffee preparation and caffeine content are linked.