How much caffeine is in Pike Place? A grande (16 oz) Starbucks Pike Place Roast has 315 to 390 mg of caffeine, according to Starbucks. That's close to the 400 mg a day the FDA cites for most healthy adults, in a single cup, and more than a grande Caffè Americano (225 mg).
Pike Place is Starbucks' everyday brewed coffee, which is exactly why it's easy to underestimate. To see how much of one is still in you at bedtime, put it into the caffeine calculator.
Free toolCaffeine Cutoff CalculatorHow much caffeine is still in you at bedtime, and your latest cup.How much caffeine is in a grande Pike Place?
315 to 390 mg, according to Starbucks' nutrition information. Starbucks gives a range rather than a single number for its brewed coffee, which is honest: brewed coffee varies from pot to pot. We give only the grande figure here.
| Drink | Caffeine |
|---|---|
| Brewed coffee, 8 oz | about 95 mg |
| Starbucks Caffè Latte, grande | 150 mg |
| Brewed coffee, 16 oz (USDA strength) | about 190 mg |
| Starbucks Caffè Americano, grande | 225 mg |
| Starbucks Pike Place Roast, grande, low end | 315 mg |
| Starbucks Pike Place Roast, grande, high end | 390 mg |
| FDA daily figure for most healthy adults | 400 mg |
A grande Pike Place has roughly three to four times the caffeine of an 8 oz cup of coffee made at USDA strength, and two to two and a half times a grande latte.
Is a grande Pike Place too much caffeine?
For most healthy adults, one is under the 400 mg a day the FDA says isn't generally linked to dangerous effects, but it uses up almost all of it. At the high end, 390 mg leaves room for about 10 mg more, roughly two mugs of packet hot cocoa.
Two grandes in a day come to 630 to 780 mg, well over that line. The FDA also notes that people vary in how sensitive they are to caffeine, and that pregnant people, people on certain medications and people with some health conditions may need less. The caffeine limit calculator adds up a whole day of drinks, and our post on how much caffeine is too much covers the signs you've overdone it.
Why does Starbucks give a range for Pike Place coffee?
Because brewed coffee isn't uniform, even from the same shop. Bean batch, grind, brew time and how long the pot has been sitting all shift the result.
Lab testing backs that up. In a study of specialty coffees bought from coffee shops, the same brewed coffee from the same outlet ranged from 259 to 564 mg per serving when it was bought on six consecutive days. The average 16 oz brewed specialty coffee in that study had 188 mg, so coffee-shop drip can run much stronger than the average suggests.
Pike Place vs Americano: which has more caffeine?
Pike Place, by a lot: 315 to 390 mg for a grande vs 225 mg for a grande Caffè Americano. It's easy to assume the Americano is the strong option because it's made with espresso. At Starbucks, the brewed coffee beats it. Our Americano guide has the shot-by-shot numbers.
How much caffeine is in a Pike Place K-Cup, Nespresso or Vertuo pod?
We don't have verified caffeine figures for Pike Place K-Cups, Nespresso capsules or Vertuo pods, so we don't give one here. Pods hold a fixed, pre-measured amount of ground coffee, so a pod at home is a different drink from a grande poured in the store.
For a standard coffee K-Cup, the site's estimate is about 95 mg, on par with an 8 oz brewed coffee. Our K-Cup guide explains why brew size doesn't change it. If the box lists caffeine, use that number.
How much caffeine is in Pike Place roast at home?
It depends on how much coffee you use. Ground or whole-bean Pike Place brewed at home follows your recipe, not the store's. At USDA strength, 8 oz has about 95 mg. A stronger scoop gives more.
What's the latest time to drink a Pike Place before bed?
For an 11 PM bedtime, a grande Pike Place needs to be finished by about 4:43 AM at the low end (315 mg) and about 3:10 AM at the high end (390 mg). In other words, for most schedules there's no time during a normal day when a grande drops below 25 mg by bedtime. These times use the site's average 5-hour caffeine half-life.
| Drink | Caffeine | Hours before bed | Bedtime 10 PM | Bedtime 11 PM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pike Place grande, low end | 315 mg | 18 h 17 min | 3:43 AM | 4:43 AM |
| Pike Place grande, high end | 390 mg | 19 h 49 min | 2:10 AM | 3:10 AM |
| For comparison: Americano grande | 225 mg | 15 h 51 min | 6:09 AM | 7:09 AM |
| For comparison: coffee, 16 oz | 190 mg | 14 h 38 min | 7:22 AM | 8:22 AM |
| For comparison: coffee, 8 oz | 95 mg | 9 h 38 min | 12:22 PM | 1:22 PM |
Here's what a grande Pike Place leaves at an 11 PM bedtime:
| Pike Place at | Low end (315 mg) | High end (390 mg) |
|---|---|---|
| 6 AM | 30 mg | 37 mg |
| 7 AM | 34 mg | 42 mg |
| 9 AM | 45 mg | 56 mg |
| 11 AM | 60 mg | 74 mg |
| 1 PM | 79 mg | 98 mg |
| 3 PM | 104 mg | 129 mg |
Even a 6 AM grande leaves 30 to 37 mg at 11 PM. The 25 mg line is this site's rule of thumb, not an official limit, and people clear caffeine at very different speeds. But sleeping fine isn't proof of no effect: in an at-home study, 400 mg of caffeine taken 6 hours before bed cut total sleep by more than an hour.
How to drink Pike Place without losing sleep
- Size down. If a grande keeps you up, a smaller cup or a latte cuts the dose a lot.
- Make it your only big caffeine of the day, and have it as early as you can.
- Switch to decaf or half-caf for a second cup.
- Check your own timing with the caffeine calculator, using 315 and 390 mg to see both ends.