For some reason, I always believed that those darkly muddy little cups of espresso were much stronger than your average cup of watery brewed.
But one surprsing bit of information I learned today was that espresso has less caffeine then brewed coffee. Why? because when it comes to caffeine content in coffee, it all boils down to the roasting process and preparation.
A 125 ml. cup of coffee has about 80 mg. of caffeine. The same size cup of espresso has only 50 mg., which isn’t far from black or green tea which contains 20-50 mg. Another surprising fact I think, as tea always had the reputaion of being way below coffee in the caffeine stakes – and not such a close contender to espresso.
Rigorously roasted espresso beans not only cut down the caffeine content, but the process also breaks down chlorogenic acid (the strongest acid in coffee) by about 70%, compared to normal roasts which only break down 30%.
Add the increased pressure the water goes through in an espresso maker and the tanins are also reduced – all of which results in a cup of coffee which is marginally lower in caffeine and easier on the stomach.
Originally posted on September 10, 2006 @ 8:15 am