How much caffeine is in sweet tea? An 8 oz glass of sweet tea made from brewed black tea has about 47 mg of caffeine, roughly half of an 8 oz cup of brewed coffee (about 95 mg), based on USDA data. Sugar doesn't change the caffeine. What changes it is how strong the tea is brewed and how big the cup is.
Bottled sweet teas vary a lot: an 18.5 oz Pure Leaf Sweet Tea has 54 mg, while a 16.9 oz Lipton Iced Sweet Tea has 21 mg. Chick-fil-A and McDonald's don't list caffeine for their sweet tea on their websites. To see what your glass leaves in you at bedtime, use 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 glass of sweet tea?
About 47 mg per 8 oz glass if it's brewed black tea at normal strength. USDA FoodData Central lists brewed black tea at 20 mg of caffeine per 100 g, which works out to about 47 mg per 8 fl oz cup and about 6 mg per fluid ounce.
Sweet tea is usually served in big glasses, so the ounces add up:
| Home-brewed sweet tea | Caffeine (at USDA strength) |
|---|---|
| 8 fl oz | about 47 mg |
| 12 fl oz | about 71 mg |
| 16 fl oz | about 95 mg |
| 24 fl oz | about 142 mg |
| 32 fl oz tumbler | about 189 mg |
These figures assume tea brewed like a regular cup. If your recipe steeps a strong batch and pours it over ice, your glass can land above or below these numbers depending on how much it's diluted. Steep time and the amount of tea matter most.
Does sweet tea have more caffeine than coffee?
No. Ounce for ounce, brewed black tea has about half the caffeine of brewed coffee. USDA lists brewed coffee at 40 mg per 100 g, double the 20 mg for brewed black tea.
| Drink | Caffeine |
|---|---|
| Sweet tea, 8 oz | about 47 mg |
| Brewed coffee, 8 oz | about 95 mg |
| Sweet tea, 16 oz | about 95 mg |
| Sweet tea, 32 oz | about 189 mg |
So a 16 oz glass of sweet tea matches an 8 oz cup of coffee, and a big 32 oz cup is close to two cups of coffee. For how other teas compare, see does tea have more caffeine than coffee.
How much caffeine is in Chick-fil-A sweet tea?
Chick-fil-A doesn't publish a caffeine figure for its sweet tea. Its online nutrition guide lists calories, sugar and other nutrients for the Small, Medium and Large Freshly-Brewed Sweetened Iced Tea, but no caffeine column. The ingredients are listed as water, sugar and tea.
Since it's brewed black tea, expect it to land somewhere in the same per-ounce range as home-brewed tea, but there's no official number to quote. If you need one, ask the restaurant or Chick-fil-A's customer service.
How much caffeine is in McDonald's sweet tea?
McDonald's doesn't show a caffeine figure for its sweet tea on its US product page. The page describes it as a blend of orange pekoe and pekoe cut black tea, sold in extra small, small, medium and large, and lists calories and other nutrients. It doesn't display caffeine.
As with Chick-fil-A, the tea is black tea, so a large cup can add up. Without an official figure, treat a large restaurant sweet tea as a real caffeine dose rather than a soft drink.
How much caffeine is in bottled sweet tea?
Pure Leaf Sweet Tea has 54 mg per 18.5 oz bottle, and Lipton Iced Sweet Tea has 21 mg per 16.9 oz bottle, according to PepsiCo's product facts.
| Bottled sweet tea | Size | Caffeine |
|---|---|---|
| Lipton Iced Sweet Tea | 16.9 fl oz | 21 mg |
| Pure Leaf Sweet Tea | 18.5 fl oz | 54 mg |
| Pure Leaf Extra Sweet Tea | 18.5 fl oz | 60 mg |
| Pure Leaf Zero Sugar Sweet Tea | 18.5 fl oz | 76 mg |
| Pure Leaf Sweet Tea (chilled jug) | 12 fl oz serving | 45 mg |
Bottled teas are often lighter than home-brewed tea per ounce. Formulas change, so the label on the bottle is the most current source.
What's the latest time to drink sweet tea?
For an 11 PM bedtime, finish an 8 oz glass of sweet tea by about 6:27 PM and a 16 oz glass by about 1:22 PM. These are the times each drink falls below 25 mg by bedtime, using an average 5-hour half-life.
| Bedtime | Sweet tea 8 oz (47 mg) | Pure Leaf 18.5 oz (54 mg) | Sweet tea 16 oz (95 mg) | Sweet tea 32 oz (189 mg) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:00 PM | 5:27 PM | 4:27 PM | 12:22 PM | 7:24 AM |
| 10:30 PM | 5:57 PM | 4:57 PM | 12:52 PM | 7:54 AM |
| 11:00 PM | 6:27 PM | 5:27 PM | 1:22 PM | 8:24 AM |
| Midnight | 7:27 PM | 6:27 PM | 2:22 PM | 9:24 AM |
In hours before bed, that's about 4 h 33 min for an 8 oz glass, 5 h 33 min for a Pure Leaf bottle, 9 h 38 min for a 16 oz glass and 14 h 36 min for a 32 oz tumbler. A Lipton Iced Sweet Tea, at 21 mg, is already under the line.
How much sweet tea caffeine is left at bedtime?
A 16 oz glass of sweet tea with dinner at 6 PM still leaves about 48 mg in you at 11 PM, about half a cup of coffee. The table uses the calculator's math: remaining caffeine = dose x 0.5^(hours / 5), for an 11 PM bedtime.
| Drink at | 8 oz (47 mg) | 16 oz (95 mg) | 32 oz (189 mg) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noon | 10 mg | 21 mg | 41 mg |
| 2 PM | 13 mg | 27 mg | 54 mg |
| 4 PM | 18 mg | 36 mg | 72 mg |
| 6 PM | 24 mg | 48 mg | 95 mg |
This site treats about 25 mg at bedtime as a sensible ceiling. It isn't an official limit, just a useful line. Falling asleep fine isn't proof caffeine had no effect: in an at-home study, a large dose taken 6 hours before bed cut total sleep by more than an hour. For the hour-by-hour curve, see how long caffeine lasts.
These are averages. Some people clear caffeine far more slowly, and pregnancy and some medications can stretch it out a lot. For an evening glass, decaf black tea or an herbal iced tea keeps the ritual without most of the caffeine.
How much sweet tea a day is too much?
For healthy adults, the FDA cites 400 mg of caffeine a day as an amount not generally linked to negative effects. At home-brewed strength, that's about eight 8 oz glasses or two 32 oz tumblers, before any coffee or soda. The sugar is a separate concern. For a full day's count, see the caffeine in drinks chart.