A good cup of coffee tastes great, and leaves you feeling more alert, more energetic and better able to concentrate...
All welcome bonuses of this caffeine-containing drink. But, why is it that an espresso at one cafe can have you bouncing off the walls, whereas an espresso at another cafe hardly feels like it's touched the sides? Can the caffeine content vary substantially between cafes? And if two cafes charge $3.50 for a latte, but one has twice as much caffeine as the other, is that fair? Isn't it our right as consumers to know how much caffeine is in our coffee?
 Until recently very little information existed about the levels of caffeine in hot beverages available in New Zealand and Australia. Older research on coffee consumption suggested that the average cup contains around 100mg caffeine, so public health recommendations about safe coffee consumption have been developed with this information in mind. But, that doesn't mean every cup contains 100mg of caffeine.
A group of Queensland researchers set out to determine exactly what levels of caffeine are contained in New Zealand and Australian hot beverages, and not just the average level but the full range of caffeine levels. So in the name of science they collected nearly 100 espressos from five different shopping precincts in Queensland and analysed their caffeine content. What they discovered was more than a little surprising.
There's How Much Caffeine In My Coffee?!
The Australian researchers analysed 97 cups of espresso and found an average caffeine content of 106mg/serve, which was no great surprise. But, what was a surprise was the variation in caffeine content. In some cases the caffeine content was only a measly 38mg per cup - that's less than half of what we'd normally expect. And at the other end of the scale nearly 25% of the espressos contained over 120mg caffeine per cup, and 12% of the samples contained a whopping 160mg caffeine per serve. The highest caffeine content? One espresso had 214mg caffeine! Several had over 200mg caffeine. Compare that to the lowest, which was 38mg caffeine, and it's clear that a very wide variation in caffeine content exists amongst retail coffee outlets.
The researchers concluded that there was a tendency for the espressos to have an elevated caffeine content. And this does raise some public health concerns for certain groups of people, such as pregnant women and individuals with hypertension, given the effects that caffeine has on our bodies.
How Caffeine Affects Our Bodies
Caffeine stimulates our nervous system and increases our metabolic rate and blood pressure. It's also a diuretic. The magnitude of these effects depends on a number of different factors: such as our physical size, caffeine has greater effects on smaller people; the regularity of our caffeine intake, regular caffeine-consumers build up a certain tolerance to its effects; our stress levels will also affect our response to caffeine, more stressed equals greater effects; and then finally our genetics also affect our response. Due to differing genetics some people metabolise caffeine more slowly than others, meaning they're exposed to the effects of caffeine and by-products from its breakdown for a longer period.
Caffeine also stimulates the gut of some people. Studies have shown that moderate caffeine intake increases the speed at which our food transits through certain regions in our gut. This induces a bowel movement in some people - a very obvious effect of coffee for some members of the population! At higher doses of caffeine, though, the opposite can happen - the diuretic effect of caffeine may actually result in constipation.
Enjoy A Healthy Coffee Intake
We don't yet fully understand the effects of coffee on long-term health so the best option is to moderate our intake - particularly individuals with hypertension. Aiming to limit your intake to a maximum of three to four cups a day is a good idea (pregnant women should reduce their intake to a maximum of three cups/day). Three to four cups a day would normally equate to around 300-400mg caffeine per day, but given what researchers have found about the variation in caffeine intake between retail outlets there is no real way of knowing if four cups will add up to 400mg caffeine or 800mg caffeine - far more than is recommended! If you notice that coffee from a particular outlet has a greater effect on you than normal don't disregard this. You may have just consumed a larger caffeine dose than normal.
Consider how you feel when you drink coffee and if you notice that you're suffering from restlessness, anxiety/irritability, sleeplessness or headaches it might be a good idea to to gradually reduce your coffee intake. Don't attempt to stop your coffee intake suddenly as you'll suffer from withdrawal effects. Instead slowly reduce your intake day by day. You might like to try the odd decaffeinated coffee, a cup of tea or even a herbal tea occasionally to lighten your caffeine intake. At the end of the day, find what works for you by listening to your body, and if you moderate your intake you'll find you can enjoy your coffee more.
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About The Author
Jennifer Bowden Nutritionist, MSc (Dist), BSc (Hons) - Human Nutrition
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