Does Tea Have More Caffeine Than Coffee? Cup by Cup, With Bedtime Math

No: per cup, tea has less caffeine than coffee. An 8 oz cup of brewed coffee has about 95 mg, while black tea has about 47 mg and green tea about 28 mg. When researchers tested 20 brewed teas, they found 14 to 61 mg per serving and concluded that most brewed teas contain less caffeine than brewed coffee.

The exception is matcha, which can match a small coffee if you use a lot of powder. To see what your own cups leave in you at bedtime, use the caffeine calculator.

Does tea have more caffeine than coffee per cup?

No. A typical cup of tea has roughly a third to a half of the caffeine in a cup of coffee.

Even the strongest teas in that study, at 61 mg, came in below a standard cup of coffee. Two cups of black tea come to about the same as one coffee. For espresso, which is stronger per ounce but smaller per serving, see how much caffeine is in espresso.

Which tea has the most caffeine?

Matcha usually does, because you drink the whole powdered leaf. Among steeped teas, the type matters less than how you brew it.

In the brewed-tea study, white, green and black teas all fell in the same 14 to 61 mg range, with no clear trend by type. Steep time made a bigger difference. So the common idea that white tea is always the mildest isn't something you can count on: a long-steeped white tea can beat a quick-dunked black tea.

What tends to raise the caffeine in your cup:

• Longer steeping. A bag left in the mug pulls out more than a one-minute dip.
• More leaf. Two bags or a heaping spoon of loose tea means more caffeine.
• Matcha instead of steeped tea. You're eating the leaf, not just soaking it.

How much caffeine is in matcha?

About 16 mg per gram of powder, based on lab analysis of matcha. So the dose depends almost entirely on how much you use:

A generous 4 g matcha latte lands in espresso territory. If your tin lists grams per serving, multiply by 16. Our green tea guide covers matcha and evening tea in more detail.

How long does the caffeine in tea stay in you?

With an average 5-hour half-life, a cup of black tea drops below 25 mg in about 4.5 hours, while a cup of coffee takes about 9.5 hours. That's the practical difference between the two drinks for sleep.

"Latest time" is when the drink would fall below about 25 mg by a 10:30 PM bedtime. That's not an official limit, but it's a sensible target. Different bedtime or several cups? The calculator does that math, and the full caffeine in drinks chart lists sodas and energy drinks too.

These are averages. Some people clear caffeine much more slowly, and pregnancy, some medications and liver problems can stretch it out further.

Does tea's caffeine feel different from coffee's?

Possibly, but the evidence is narrower than the marketing. Tea contains L-theanine, an amino acid that coffee doesn't have.

In a controlled lab study, volunteers took measured doses of L-theanine and caffeine, alone and together. The combination improved speed and accuracy on several thinking tasks, and people rated themselves less tired and more alert. The researchers concluded that drinks with both may act a little differently from caffeine alone.

What the study doesn't show:

• It used isolated doses, not cups of tea.
• It measured focus and mood in the daytime, not sleep.
• It found more alertness, not sleepiness. Nothing here suggests L-theanine cancels tea's caffeine at bedtime.

So the lower caffeine dose is the clearest reason tea is gentler on sleep than coffee.

Is tea or coffee better before bed?

Tea, because it usually has less caffeine, but only one cup and only regular tea. A cup of green tea after dinner is usually fine for most people. A pot of black tea through the evening, or a big matcha, is closer to drinking coffee.

• Switch to tea in the afternoon if coffee after lunch is costing you sleep.
• Keep steeps short for an evening cup.
• Go herbal after about 6 PM if you're sensitive. Chamomile, peppermint and rooibos have no caffeine.
• Save matcha for the morning.