How Much Caffeine In A Shot Of Espresso? A Surprising Answer!

Why you should trust us

• We spent just over 5 hours reviewing several sources, including 3 different government and/or peer-reviewed academic papers with access to lab-grade equipment. Want more details? We’ll share links to these sources.
• For restaurant and coffee shop numbers, we directly pulled from the respective organization’s websites. 

Table of contents: 

The Range Of Caffeine In An Espresso Shot
Comparison To A Cup Of Brewed Coffee
Caffeine and Coffee Beans
Roasting & Brewing
Popular Espresso Drinks
Caffeine in Different Brands
How To Use This Information

Let’s dive into the numbers on exactly how much caffeine is found in a shot of espresso, what changes that number, and what a typical shop will serve you. We will be looking at your standard single-shot, 1-ounce espresso coffee.

The Range Of Caffeine In An Espresso Shot

There are several sources when it comes to caffeine in espresso shots. Here are a couple of ones we found trustworthy:  

• USDA: Roughly 62.8 mg of caffeine per 1 oz. (30 mL) of espresso
• Journal of Food Science: 47-75 mg of caffeine per 1 oz. (30 mL) of espresso
• James Hoffman: Roughly 55 mg of caffeine per 1 oz (30 mL) of espresso
  • Note this was taken as half of his espresso yield (36 g of liquid) which contained roughly 110 of caffeine, so this number is not exact. 
•  NCBI: Roughly 126 mg of caffeine per 1 oz. (30 mL) of espresso
  • NCBI notes this was full 100% Arabica brew and lists all brewing parameters. 

If we ignore the outlier, we can pretty safely assume the Journal of Food Science is closest on how much caffeine is in a shot of espresso: Between 47-75 mg of caffeine per 1 oz. (30 mL) of espresso. 

Here is a chart illustrating these findings:

Comparison To A Cup Of Brewed Coffee

A common-held myth is that espresso has more caffeine than your average cup of coffee. More often than not, this isn’t the case. A regular 8 oz cup of coffee (something you would typically get if you are ordering at a restaurant) will contain anywhere between 115-175 mg on average. This, of course, depends on a variety of factors. Just like a shot of espresso. We will discuss this further below.  

“Well hold on, I feel an espresso shot much quicker. How can that be the case?” 

• You likely feel the caffeine much quicker due to the speed at which you have consumed the drink. A 1 oz cup of espresso will be much quicker to drink for most people than an 8 oz cup of brewed coffee. Therefore, your body receives a much more concentrated dose over a shorter time span.

Caffeine and Coffee Beans

There’s no specific “espresso” bean (that said we do have recommendations on the best type of coffee bean for your espresso). In the U.S., most espresso is made with Arabica beans, or a mix of Arabica and Robusta.

Most restaurants and store-bought espresso typically feature Arabica or a blend of majority Arabica with some Robusta added in. This is not only because Robusta beans have roughly double the caffeine content of Arabica (a study found here breaks this down into even further specifics), but also due to things like flavor profile. Arabica just tends to taste better (I’m sure someone somewhere will debate this but that conversation is not in the scope of this piece). 

This means a good place to start when trying to understand how much caffeine will be present in your shot of espresso is to know what type of coffee bean it is being made out of. 

Roasting & Brewing

It is no surprise that the coffee brewing methods you use will also affect the caffeine levels. There are a few other factors to keep in mind for this discussion, each of them having some degree of influence on not just caffeine level, but also things like taste. They are: 

Coffee to water ratio

• Classic espresso brewing calls for a bean-to-water ratio of 1:2, meaning 15g of ground coffee should output roughly 30g of liquid espresso. The more watered-down the espresso, the less caffeine. 

Roast level

• Dark roast typically mean less caffeine present in the bean, light and blonde roasts retain the most caffeine. 

Grind Size

• The finer the grind, the more caffeine that is likely to be extracted and present in the espresso. This is because a finer grind creates more surface area for the interaction between the coffee and water. The more coffee that can be exposed to water, the more caffeine that can be drawn out. 

Further factors involved in the brewing method that influence the amount of caffeine in your espresso are outlined in the table below, courtesy of the NCBI study. 

Popular Espresso Drinks 

Finally, let’s take a look at some of the popular drinks and styles of espresso you may run into in the wild. Here are three ways you could typically order an espresso: 

Doppio (or double espresso):

• Think of this like a double shot. This is the default serving size for many coffee shops and cafes. A standard espresso machine commonly comes with two filter baskets so that you can brew a doppio with ease.
• This means you will get roughly 120-150 mg of caffeine.

Lungo:

• Lungo means “long” espresso. It’s made with the same coffee amount as regular espresso but with twice as much water.
• Even though it has more water, it doesn’t really have much more caffeine than a normal espresso. In fact, you would most likely be getting less caffeine per sip. 

Ristretto:

• This is the opposite of Lungo. It’s made with the same amount of coffee but half the water, making it stronger in taste.
• It has about the same caffeine as a regular espresso, but because it’s smaller, each sip has more caffeine in it. People often drink a couple of these in one go.

Caffeine in Different Brands

Let’s take a look at the caffeine levels in popular drinks like Starbucks espresso. Below you will also find a list of popular coffee shops and their reported amount of caffeine per espresso. Notice there is quite a range, with Costa Coffee reporting a higher caffeine level (nearly 92 mg of caffeine per drink) while DutchBros keeps a much calmer 46.75 mg of caffeine. 

How To Use This Information

There is a range of caffeine present per serving of espresso, and now with the info above you should be well equipt to at the very least make a solid guess on how much you will be consuming. Consider keeping your caffeine consumption under the FDA’s recommended daily dose of 400 mg of caffeine.