# Does tea have more caffeine than coffee? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 8, 2000, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-tea-have-more-caffeine-than-coffee/44606 "2000-12-08T11:56:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biffer\_Spice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Biffer\_Spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffer_Spice)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-tea-have-more-caffeine-than-coffee/44606/1 "2000-12-08T11:56:42Z")
If I have a cup of tea, am I getting more caffeine than in a cup of coffee? ---
**Author:** ![Gaspode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gaspode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaspode)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-tea-have-more-caffeine-than-coffee/44606/2 "2000-12-08T12:05:18Z")
Not likely unless you make very strong tea. Weight for weight tea has more caffeine than coffee but you use a lot less. When you consider you put tops three teaspoons of tea leaves in a litre pot of tea, and one teaspoon of instant coffee in a cup of coffee it puts it in perspective. Tea bags have a miniscule amount of actual tea leaf in them. I’ve never made real coffee in my life so I don’t know how much bean you use, but I have it on good authority that there’s virtually always more caffine in coffee. So drink coffee. It’s got other health benefits as well, and besides its more civilised. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-tea-have-more-caffeine-than-coffee/44606/3 "2000-12-08T12:07:22Z")
From [Frequently Asked Questions about Caffeine](http://www.cs.unb.ca/~alopez-o/Coffee/caffaq.html) > [@](#): > > By means of comparison, a 7 oz cup of coffee has the following caffeine (mg) amounts, according to Bunker and McWilliams in J. Am. Diet. 74:28-32, 1979: > > Drip 115-175 > Espresso 100mg of caffeine > 1 serving (1.5-2oz) > > Brewed 80-135 > Instant 65-100 > Decaf, brewed 3-4 > Decaf, instant 2-3 > Tea, iced (12 ozs.) 70 > Tea, brewed, imported 60 > Tea, brewed, U.S. 40 > Tea, instant 30 > Mate 25-150mg Obviously these figures would change when talking about specific blends but on average I’d say coffee will always have a higher level of caffine. ---
**Author:** ![AxeElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e99b99/32.png) [@AxeElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AxeElf)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-tea-have-more-caffeine-than-coffee/44606/4 "2000-12-08T12:19:46Z")
Forget coffee; one of those 52 oz. tubs full of Jolt cola will get your day off to a good start, without as much of the negative teeth-staining, breath-polluting effects of java. ---
**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-tea-have-more-caffeine-than-coffee/44606/5 "2000-12-08T14:02:18Z")
You kids today. No spine. In _my_ day we didn’t drink Jolt, we drank Nitro… it has four times Jolt’s level of caffiene. The rumour always was that it was illegal in some states. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Incognito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guy_incognito/32/3920_2.png) [@Guy\_Incognito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Incognito)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-tea-have-more-caffeine-than-coffee/44606/6 "2000-12-08T14:05:47Z")
Oddly enough, this was one of the first questions I asked when I joined this board. Manhattan was kind enough to point me towards the board’s search engine to find a previous thread on the subject. Yojimbo pretty much covered the bases on this one, though. ---
**Author:** ![broccoli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@broccoli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/broccoli)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-tea-have-more-caffeine-than-coffee/44606/7 "2000-12-08T14:39:27Z")
::crotchety old man voice:: Oh yeah, well back in _MY_ day we didn’t have Coffee… no… we had chew on coffee beans after we walked a thousand miles to Columbia to pick’em off the branches… _Int the SNOW_ punk snot dead, broccoli! ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-tea-have-more-caffeine-than-coffee/44606/8 "2000-12-08T14:43:13Z")
So much for the caffeine aspect. Tea has less than coffee. But what about theophylline? Another chemical with mixed reviews. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-tea-have-more-caffeine-than-coffee/44606/9 "2000-12-08T16:07:56Z")
**SDSTAFF Dex** on [coffee v. tea and other caffeine questions](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcaffeine.html).