Coffee Overdose: 14 Shots of Espresso
From the UK comes the slightly hysterical story of a girl who ended up in hospital after overdosing on coffee.
After a night with only 5 hours sleep she decided to down a double espresso. Then it was no-holds-barred as she foolishly downed a further 6 double shots.
Apparently the girl thought she was drinking single shots. Astonishing because she actually works in the cafe – and was making the coffee for herself.
“My nerves were all over the place.
“I was drenched. I was burning up and hyperventilating.
“I was having palpitations, my heart was beating so fast and I thought I was going into shock.
“I did not realise this could happen to you and I only hope other people learn from my mistake.”
Coffee is, of course, variable in caffeine content due to blend, roasting time, and extraction time. For the caffeine database, we used an average from six different extractions (published in a toxicology journal). We came up with a value of 77mg caffeine per 1.5 ounce shot.
So Miss Wells downed around 1078mg of caffeine – presumably in a short period of time. If she had not eaten much this would account for the side effects she experienced.
Espresso coffee is a very concentrated form of caffeine – and consumed very rapidly compared to a (say) 16oz energy drink can (containing typically 160+ mg).
Enough rambling. The moral of the story: Know your own tolerance to caffeine, and if you are a not a regular drinker – don’t suddenly hit your system with a toxic-dose.
Espresso is one of the finest drinks around (yes I’m biased), and someone who doesn’t know the difference between a straight espresso or a double has no right to operate a machine (okay so I’m sounding like snob).
22 Comments
We would always try and top each other in espresso consumption at the coffee shop I worked at. About 20 shots fit in a large cup, and we drank that a few times. DELICIOUS! I wouldn’t suggest someone who doesn’t normally consume large amounts of caffeine try it though.
Seriously…enough about stupidity….support your local small coffee sPOTS. The coffee is much better and usually the prices are more reasonable.