Size Doesn’t Always Matter

There are situations when you can’t do without caffeine. Maybe you have an exam next morning and you have to study or maybe it’s the Olympics opening ceremony on the other side of the Earth and you want to watch it in the middle of the night. Maybe there was a party last night and you have to go to work early. At one time or another we’ve all been in this kind of situations.

So, that raises the question, if a bigger caffeinated drink is always better? Let’s see what’s the amount of caffeine in one average cup (200 ml/7 oz):

Brewed coffee: 60-130 mg
Instant coffee: 65-100 mg
Decaf coffee: 2-5 mg
Black tea: 40-50 mg
Green tea: 15-25 mg
Hot chocolate: 3 – 35 mg

If you prefer something smaller, then one shot (30 ml/1 oz) of

Espresso contains 25-50 mg caffeine.

If it’s hot outside and a hot drink just might be a little too hot, there are some cool options too:

Red Bull Energy Drink (250 ml/8.3 oz): 80mg
Can of Cola (350 ml/12 oz): 35-45 mg

Or maybe something to nibble?

Dark chocolate: (100 g/3.3 oz) 66 mg
Milk chocolate: (100 g/3.3 oz) 20 mg
Caffeine pill: 100 mg

As you see, a double espresso may contain more caffeine than one regular coffee. And if you need to stay awake then decaffeinated coffee is a waste of time unless you don’t drink a whole bucket of it. Then again, a caffeine pill is very small and effective but where’s the beauty in eating pure caffeine?

Of course, it can be fun to stay up all night with the help of caffeine, but don’t get carried away – you need to sleep too.