A coffee with breakfast is perfect to wake up. But is there one specific coffee that helps more than another? Or is every cup of coffee a punishment? We asked barista Joke De Coninck which type of coffee you prefer to drink in the morning for a more than welcome energy boost. But make no mistake: “The effect of coffee is sometimes psychological.”
According to the research agency Euromonitor, the average Belgian drinks about 2.2 cups of coffee per day. That amounts to about 40 to 150 mg of caffeine per day. For comparison: a cup of tea (125 ml) contains 30 to 50 mg caffeine, while a can of diet cola contains approximately 35 mg caffeine. So which cup of that black gold wakes us up the most with caffeine in the morning? “It is very difficult to say exactly how much caffeine there is in a cup of coffee,” says barista Joke De Coninck from coffee bar Black&Yellow. “It depends on how big your cup is and what type of beans you use. For example, the Robusta bean, which is mainly grown in Vietnam, contains up to twice as much caffeine as the Arabica bean from Ethiopia.”
The most important factor determining how much caffeine is ultimately in your cup is the extraction time. “That is the time when the coffee and the hot water come into contact with each other,” says De Coninck. “The shorter the extraction time, the less caffeine the coffee will contain. Whether a coffee tastes soft or strong depends on the ratio between the amount of coffee and water. It simply depends on the recipe.”
Barista Joke Deconinck from coffee bar Black And Yellow. © Irmy Coeckelbergs
Expressed en restricted
© Shutterstock
“It may be surprising, but an espresso is one of the coffees with the lowest caffeine content. After all, the extraction time is only 30 seconds. The effect of an espresso, which would wake people up completely, is therefore rather psychological. A lungo, an espresso with more water, is therefore the coffee with the lowest caffeine content.”
The same goes for ristretto. It is often thought: the finer they grind the coffee, the stronger the coffee, but the opposite is true. Because caffeine is generally released later in the brewing process, ristretto contains slightly less caffeine than espresso. This is also not the best cup of coffee.
Coffees with milk
Cappuccino. © Thinkstock
“A cappuccino, latte or other coffee with milk drink usually contains one espresso. The extraction time here is therefore also 30 seconds. The caffeine content can therefore be compared to that of an espresso,” says Joke. For coffees with milk, keep in mind that the milk you add ‘dilutes’ the caffeine. A cup contains more content, so the caffeine is proportionately less present or less strong than with an espresso.”
Filter coffee or regular coffee
Filter coffee. © Getty Images/EyeEm
“A filter coffee or the coffee you make at home has an extraction time of three minutes. So it definitely gives you a strong caffeine shot,” continues Joke. According to the barista, this is the coffee that is easiest to make at home.
Cold brew
Cold brew koffie. © Shutterstock
The last one in the list is immediately the best example. “The coffee that gives you the biggest caffeine boost is cold brew. This cold coffee has a brewing time of no less than twelve hours. The drink is often diluted, because otherwise it would be too harsh for some people.”
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2023-09-10 05:00:00
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