Starting our business, Caffeine Control Coffee, has been wild, fun, and stressful—but one of the biggest pain points has been defining and communicating caffeine levels in our blends. There’s no standard in the industry, so we had to create our own.
Untangling the Coffee Caffeine Confusion
The coffee world loves to obsess over flavour, roast profiles, processing methods, and other nuances—but we’ve kind of ignored the elephant in the room: caffeine.
Caffeine is the most well-known and widely consumed active component in coffee. It has measurable effects on your body, and more importantly, we actually have official guidelines for daily intake from agencies like the FDA (U.S.), FSANZ (Australia/New Zealand), and EFSA (Europe).
So why don’t we use caffeine as a starting point to define a standard serving of coffee?
Why There’s No Industry Standard
In the café world, we’ve always adjusted our coffee doses based on flavour or cost. But since there’s no overarching authority dictating how much coffee we should use per drink, everyone does it differently—and often dramatically so:
- One café might use 24g of coffee for an espresso, while another uses just 16g.
- Some split double shots into singles, others don’t.
- Pour over recipes can range from 15g to 20g.
- Batch brews vary widely.
- Cold brew is its own wild west of concentration and dilution.
When I asked, “What do you consider a single serving of coffee?” I got numerous different answers, with almost no double ups:
Most responses hovered around 18g—but even that was inconsistent.
All this to say: we’re a mess as an industry. There’s no consistent way to measure or communicate how much caffeine is in a cup. And I’ve been part of that mess too. It’s not a criticism—just a call for change.
Beyond Serving Size: Brewing Complicates Things
By agreeing on a standard serving dose, it can help to bring clarity to things such as brewing, and especially brewing ratio and concentration (or TDS).
One of the clear reasons for confusion is that many people have tracked caffeine by concentration (mg / litre), which is not very useful when comparing drinks that will never have the same volume (such as espresso and filter).
We needed a simpler, more universal way to think about caffeine servings.
Our Solution: 10g of Coffee = 1 Standard Serving
As we built Caffeine Control Coffee, we defined our own serving size standard to bring clarity, consistency, and control—not just for us, but for you too. Here it is:
One standard serving = 10g of dry coffee (Arabica).
Why 10g?
- It’s simple and easy to multiply.
- It lines up well with common brewing sizes.
- It provides a clear caffeine estimate for most Arabica coffees.
Here's What That Looks Like in Practice:
- Caffeine content: 10g yields about 100–140mg of potential caffeine.
- Brewed coffee yield: Most hot brew methods extract ~90–93% of that, meaning 90–130mg of caffeine per serving.
- Daily reference: That’s about 1/4 to 1/3 of the recommended 400mg daily limit.
How You Can Use It in the Café or at Home
- Espresso: A 20g double shot = 2 servings. Easy to split.
- Pour Over: Use 20g to make 2 servings in a V60 or Origami.
- Aeropress: Brew a single 10g serving for controlled caffeine.
This lets you communicate coffee in servings, just like alcohol uses “standard drinks.”
For example:
A large latte with a 22g espresso dose = 2.2 servings.
A 15g pour over = 1.5 servings.
Batch Brew Example:
- 130g of coffee in a batch yields 1800ml → 13 servings @138ml.
- You are able to serve your desired cup size with the standard drinks indicated. A 360ml(12oz) cup would contain 2.6 standard drinks
- Alternatively, if you want 150ml cups, brew to yield 1950ml for 13 servings.
- This may be achievable with a different grind or water pulse setting in order to gain extraction with more water dilution, though there are obviously some limitations with how far you could go with this.
This flow chart can help calculate the drinks being served easily:
Why a Standard Serving of Coffee Matters
Without a defined serving size, nobody really knows how much caffeine they’re getting. That’s not fair to café owners or customers. With a 10g standard, we can:
- Offer clear caffeine content per cup
- Build consistent recipes
- Price drinks more accurately
- Help customers make better-informed choices
Think About Your Caffeine Intake
In cafés, doses can change frequently based on taste goals. But a small change in dose = a big caffeine change:
- A 10g dose = ~125mg caffeine
- An 11g dose = ~137.5mg caffeine
- That’s a 10% difference from just one extra gram.
Multiply that across a few cups and you could easily overshoot your limit.
Knowing that 400mg/day is the advised upper limit means you can plan your coffee intake more intentionally. Not everyone wants less caffeine—but now you’ll know how much you’re getting and can choose accordingly.
With standard Arabica blends, you’re aiming for 3–4 x 10g servings per day to stay within the limit.
Caffeine Control Coffee Makes This Easy
We built Caffeine Control to take the guesswork out of your coffee routine.
Using our 10g standard helps:
- Provide clear caffeine info
- Build consistency across all brew methods
- Let you choose how much caffeine you want—without cutting back your number of cups
We’re not here for the hard sell—you’re already on the site 😉. But if you want a place to start, check out our 4-week reduction plan.
