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Is it true that espresso has less caffeine than regular coffee?
An espresso cup has about as much caffeine as a cup of dark brew. But servings for espresso are much smaller. Which means that the content of caffeine per milliliter are much higher than with a regular brew. Moreover, caffeine is more quickly assimilated when taken in concentrated dosages, such as an espresso cup.
The myth of lower caffeine espresso comes comes from the fact that the darker roast beans used for espresso do have less caffeine than regularly roasted beans as roasting is supposed to break up or sublimate the caffeine in the beans (I have read this quote on research articles, but found no scientific studies supporting it. Anybody out there?).
But espresso is prepared using pressurized water through significantly more ground (twice as much?) than regular drip coffee, resulting in a higher percentage of caffeine per milliliter. Please refer also to Does dark roast coffee have less caffeine than light roast?
Here's the caffeine content of Drip/Espresso/Brewed Coffee:
Drip 115-175
Espresso 100 1 serving (1-2oz)
Brewed 80-135
Does dark roast coffee have less caffeine than light roast?
It really depends on how you measure the caffeine. If you measure by weight you actually have more caffeine in dark roast because the water loss if faster than the caffeine loss. If you measure by volume you have less caffeine because the beans expand as they roast.
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