Starbucks Caffeine: The Big Mystery
UPDATE: We now have a complete table of Starbucks Caffeine here.
A multitude of publications (including the caffeine database here at EnergyFiend) list caffeine content for Starbucks beverages. There is just one problem.
Just today I was reading an article about Caffeinated Kids. In the article they list the nutritional info of a large White Chocolate Mocha Latte – and display 200 mgs of caffeine.
Go to the Starbucks nutrition calculator – and there is no information whatsoever about the caffeine content. Dig deeper and we find this explanation:
Why isn’t the caffeine content listed for Starbucks® beverages?
The caffeine content is variable and Starbucks currently doesn’t have quantitative caffeine information for all of our beverages. We intend on adding caffeine information in a future upgrade.
The current amounts listed here at EnergyFiend are based on figures from CSPI — and I seriously question the validity of these unusually high figures. Two reasons: they are 10 years old, and the CSPI is an activist group that is very much anti-fast-food and other vendors of a similar irk (i.e. Starbucks).
Watch this space. The research will continue.
32 Comments
Hey thanks for the inside info. We’ve managed to obtain Starbucks caffeine amounts from a research paper published in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology.
The espresso-based drinks are very average – but the brewed coffees at Starbucks are high in caffeine.
2 shots in a Venti? That makes it quite a weak drink given the size of the thing.
If it’s a Starbucks Venti White Mocha made to its corporate specifications (unless they’ve changed in the past three months since I left the corporate-coffee world), it should, in fact, have _three_ shots, on top of the steamed milk, five pumps of white mocha syrup (which is mostly HFCS), and (optionally) whipped cream. Standards for Starbucks espresso beverages (except Americanos and Mocha Valencias) are one shot in a Tall beverage, two shots in a Grande, and three shots in a Venti.
Why isn’t the caffeine content listed for Starbucks® beverages?
The caffeine content is variable and Starbucks currently doesn’t have quantitative caffeine information for all of our beverages. We intend on adding caffeine information in a future upgrade.
huh?
I’m a Starbucks Barista from Canada. Starbucks coffee actually has less caffeine then most coffee out there. The reason for this is that they roast the beans for longer. This creates a darker roast with more flavor, but it also removes more caffeine. If you are looking for more of a boost always pick the lighter brew. The venti white mocha you are talking about shound’t have very much caffeine in it either because it only has 2 shot of espresso in it. 5 pumps of white mocha syrup, steamed whole milk, 2 shots of espresso and whipped cream on top. Hope that helps.
^^
Hi there, I’m a Black Apron Shift Supervisor and the Starbucks standard for a Venti (20 oz.) beverage is in fact TWO shots of espresso for most beverages. With the exception of an Americano which has four shots in a Venti, and five for an iced venti (the cold beverage cups are slightly larger than thier hot counterparts), and some frappacinnos. A Venti White Mocha is made with five pumps of white mocha syrup, followed by two shots of espresso (not on top of the milk–that is called “macciato-style”), steamed whole milk, and topped with whipped cream (the WC is part of the beverage standard, so if you order a Venti white mocha, you’ll get whipped on it). All ingredients can be made-to-order. For those people concerned about calories/caffiene, I would recommend they substitute some of the inredients, or perhaps suggest a beverage more suited to thier needs.
This is funny – you call a group an activist group (thus their figures MUST be wrong), but can offer nothing that you researched to counter this.
Then only later, you link to another website. The funny thing is the figures are mostly similar, definitely within the margin of error given sample variance and in fact couple of them are lower in the “activist” website. (After all, Starbucks does not list it either).
Are you ready to eat crow? Who is the activist? I am irritated at people like you who just label a view they don’t agree with activist when they have no real fact to counter them. Just a cheap shot, nothing else.
Weather your an activist, or a starbucks Barista,
the one thing we can all agree on is that Starbucks beverages are delicious and invigorating. If you are worried about your caffeine you should drink decaf.
Wer’e all adults here. Thanks to the world-wide-web we can obtain all the information we need to make informed decisions about the food we eat, the coffee we drink, and the cigarettes we smoke.
Laura – I never thought about your point, but it sure makes sense. Because we roast our coffee more, it could have less caffeine then the less roasted coffees out there.
To Ryan and our black apron S/S. Please refer to beverage resource manual: Most venti hot drinks come with 2 shots, and 4 in the venti americanos regardless of cold/hot – it gets the same amount of shots. All Starbucks should make drinks according to standards: how could we possibly have an accurate caffeine database if we don’t make drinks correctly??
I may be incorrect, but caffeine amount may be variable due to the simple process of pulling a shot. Starbucks standards call for shots to be pulled between 13 – 17 seconds (on the newer machines). That simply means from the time the shots are dispensed to the time it finishes are within 13 – 17 seconds. This is simply to ensure it’s quality. This, in theory, could vary the amount of caffeine. **Brewed coffee has much more caffeine because the hot water brews coffee much longer (~4 mins) compared to the high presure used to make an espresso shot. A longer shot could have more caffeine than a shorter shot.
Again, the difference between 13 seconds and 17 seconds is probably minimal. However, this is a sue happy world, and it is Starbucks.
I am a barista in MA. The standard for a hot venti latte (white mocha or otherwise) is 2 shots, not three. In an Iced venti you’ll get 3, since there’s more dilution going on.
I tend to agree with the toxicology reports on the caffeine content of Starbucks coffee rather than anecdotal evidence of the Baristas. You are right that roasting the coffee longer will lower the caffeine content, but that doesn’t take into account how much coffee you actually use to brew a pot. I have a feeling Starbucks brews insanely strong coffee (based on what it tastes like) which would suggest a high caffeine content. This seems to be validated by the empirical data listed, if it is correct. Anyway I think it is shocking that there is almost 5 times as much caffeine in a grande starbucks as there is in a RedBull.
this is true. im a barista (brewtender we like to call it.) at a caribou coffee in ohio. i know for a full batch, we use a half pound of coffee for it. caribou has a lot more lighter roasts and if thats the case… a small cup of our lighter roasts would be insane. but than again, really any coffee can be brewed for espresso. (its usually a blend that would be best, but really any would work. its just the grind.) and if you can get 80mg out of an ounce and a half out of the same blend… the comment above seems plausable.
Are you insane?
Brewed coffee, ounce for ounce, has FAR LESS caffeine than espresso! A pulled shot of espresso (1 ounce) has 100mg of caffeine. A tall coffee (12 ounces) has 150mg of caffeine. That’s only about 10mg/fl. oz in brewed coffee. That means, ounce for ounce, espresso has TEN TIMES the caffeine of coffee.
And **ALL** Venti drinks, Americanos and the (not defunct) Mocha Valencia excepted, have two shots, iced Venti drinks 3 shots. Please don’t post things if you don’t know what you’re talking about.
And Ryan… get over it. Starbucks hasn’t changed their standards. You just don’t have a clue one way or another.
Also, the time required to pull a shot doesn’t affect the caffeine content. It affects the quality of the shot… caffeine is the same.
Officer Lori, I believe what you said about espresso is wrong. Espresso blend to begin with are usually dark roasts (and what some of my fellow baristas said about the roasting affecting the caffeine content IS TRUE). With that said how could such a small quantity be stronger? The misconception that espresso is stronger came from back in the days when people drank one or two shots at a time and the strong flavor and aroma made them think that it was stronger (caffeine-wise) than it’s less concentrated counterpart. The only reason that espresso is as strong as it is, is due to the fact that MORE IS USED TO PULL A SHOT THAN THE SAME LIQUID VOLUME OF COFFEE.
You are all idiots!
This whole discussion is just speculation. The real suspicion is that the largest coffee retailer in the US, Starbucks, DOES NOT publish the most vital nutrional fact about their coffees. Even McDonalds was forced to do this by the FDA…but that’s another story.
I think we should all be appalled by the glaring absence of two vital statistics from Starbucks’ corporate website:
Caffeine contact (averages?)
Decaffeination Method (chemical, water, swiss-water??)
Even McDonalds (which is not food in my opinion) would argue that nutrional facts may vary widely from one Big Mac to the next…but they still post averages.
Let the consumer decide…it’s our dollars that direct the market.
I’m a Starbucks Barista from Canada. Starbucks coffee actually has less caffeine then most coffee out there. The reason for this is that they roast the beans for longer. This creates a darker roast with more flavor, but it also removes more caffeine. If you are looking for more of a boost always pick the lighter brew. The venti white mocha you are talking about shound’t have very much caffeine in it either because it only has 2 shot of espresso in it. 5 pumps of white mocha syrup, steamed whole milk, 2 shots of espresso and whipped cream on top. Hope that helps.
P.S. Starbucks = Greed, Greed, Greed($$$)
Peets is better. It’s to bad Peet passed recently. He had taste in coffee. Starbucks, blah!
Starbucks is becoming mcdonalds. they have those b-feast samiches now just like mcdonald. can you say triple bypass?
starbucks managers are all greedy bastards
so are their bastard children
I’m a Starbucks Barista from Canada. Starbucks coffee actually has less caffeine then most coffee out there. The reason for this is that they roast the beans for longer. This creates a darker roast with more flavor, but it also removes more caffeine. If you are looking for more of a boost always pick the lighter brew. The venti white mocha you are talking about shound’t have very much caffeine in it either because it only has 2 shot of espresso in it. 5 pumps of white mocha syrup, steamed whole milk, 2 shots of espresso and whipped cream on top. Hope that helps.