How Much Caffeine Is in Matcha? vs Coffee, Cup for Cup

Pick how much matcha goes in your cup and the coffee you would drink instead. You see the caffeine in each on one scale — matcha as the spread of 143 measured samples, not one guessed number — the L-theanine in the matcha, and, if you add your prices, what each cup costs.

Caffeine in one cup

Less caffeine than 8 fl oz of brewed coffee 2 g of matcha: 50–78 mg (typical 72) · 8 fl oz of brewed coffee: 95 mg

The middle half of all 143 samples measured by Unno et al. puts 2 g of matcha at 50 to 78 mg of caffeine; USDA puts 8 fl oz of brewed coffee at 95 mg.

2 g of matcha: 14–43 mg of L-theanine (typical 28). Coffee: none reported in these sources.

56 of 143 samples measured above the 17 mg/g theanine line Unno et al. tie to their stress trial.

Every sample, lowest to highest: 2 to 100 mg of caffeine in 2 g.

Cost per cup — add your prices

Matcha tin, $

Tin size, g

Coffee bag, $

Bag size

A usual 2 g cup of matcha holds about 50 to 78 mg of caffeine — the middle half of 143 matchas measured by Unno et al. (2018) — against 95 mg in 8 fl oz of brewed coffee (USDA). Matcha sold in Japan measured higher than matcha sold abroad, and the matcha brings 14 to 43 mg of L-theanine.

How to use it

Pick the grams of matcha in your cup — Ippodo, the Kyoto tea house, makes a usual (usucha) cup with 2 g, a latte with 3 g and a thick koicha with 4 g — and where it was sold, if you know. Pick the coffee you would drink instead. You see the caffeine in both on one scale, the L-theanine in the matcha, how many of the measured samples cleared the theanine line Unno et al. tie to their stress trial, and, if you open the price box, what a cup of each costs you.

Where the numbers come from

USDA’s FoodData Central has no matcha at all in its standard tables, so the matcha figures are a laboratory’s: Unno et al. measured theanine and caffeine in 76 matchas sold in Japan and 67 sold overseas, and published every sample in their supplementary tables. The tool reads all 143 and shows the middle half — the 25th to the 75th percentile — and the typical (median) cup, never one average of its own. Their own line: “When a human takes three grams of matcha in a day, a clinical experiment showed that matcha samples that contain levels of theanine exceeding 17 mg/g might have a stress-reducing effect.” And: “As a result, 50 out of 76 samples in Japan met this condition. In contrast, of the 67 samples sold overseas, six samples met this condition”. A review by Kochman et al. (2020) gives a second figure for caffeine — “in matcha it amounted to between 18.9 and 44.4 mg/g” — and for coffee beans: “most coffee beans will contain 10.0–12.0 mg caffeine/g of beans”. Coffee in the cup is USDA’s (brewed: 40 mg per 100 g), the same figure as our Caffeine Content Chart. Theanine, in Kochman’s words: “Theanine is an amino acid found in the tea plant Camellia sinensis.” None of the sources here reports it in coffee.

Caffeine and L-theanine in one cup of matcha (middle half of the samples)
Cup	Sold in Japan	Sold outside Japan	All 143
Usucha, 2 g — caffeine	72–80 mg	40–70 mg	50–78 mg
Usucha, 2 g — L-theanine	28–55 mg	9–27 mg	14–43 mg
Latte, 3 g — caffeine	108–120 mg	60–105 mg	75–117 mg
Koicha, 4 g — caffeine	145–160 mg	80–139 mg	100–156 mg

For comparison, USDA puts brewed coffee at 95 mg in 8 fl oz and 142 mg in 12 fl oz, and a single espresso at 63 mg; the FDA puts 12 fl oz of regular brewed coffee anywhere from 113 to 247 mg.

What a cup costs

Open the price box and type what you paid. A cup of matcha costs the tin’s price times the grams in your cup over the tin’s grams. For brewed coffee, the National Coffee Association’s pour-over ratio — “1 gram of coffee to 13-16 grams of water (1:13 to 1:16)” — gives the grams of coffee in your cup, so its cost is a range, not one number. Espresso is left out of the cost: that ratio is for brewed coffee.

Worked examples

A 2 g usucha against 8 fl oz of brewed coffee: 50–78 mg against 95 mg — less caffeine than the coffee, plus 14–43 mg of L-theanine.
A 4 g koicha from Japan: 145–160 mg — more caffeine than 8 fl oz of brewed coffee, and a little more than 12 fl oz holds (142 mg).
A 2 g cup of matcha sold outside Japan against a single espresso: 40–70 mg against 63 mg — about the same.
Prices: a $28 tin of 30 g makes a 2 g cup cost $1.87; a $15 bag of 12 oz makes 12 fl oz of brewed coffee cost $0.98–$1.20.

Common mistakes

Taking one number for all matcha. The samples ran from under 1 mg to over 50 mg of caffeine per gram; where it was sold mattered.
Comparing a 2 g cup with a 4 g one. Caffeine scales with the grams; a latte or a koicha is a bigger dose of the same powder.
Counting coffee’s L-theanine as zero. The honest statement is that none of these sources reports any.
Forgetting the day’s total. The Caffeine Content Chart adds a whole day against the FDA’s 400 mg.

Frequently asked questions

Does matcha have more caffeine than coffee?

Usually not, cup for cup. A 2 g cup measured 50 to 78 mg across the middle half of 143 samples, against 95 mg in 8 fl oz of brewed coffee (USDA). A 4 g koicha, or matcha sold in Japan made strong, can pass a cup of coffee.

How much caffeine is in a teaspoon of matcha?

Ippodo calls 2 g “1 level teaspoon”. At 2 g, the middle half of Unno et al.’s samples held 50 to 78 mg of caffeine, the typical one 72 mg.

How much caffeine is in green tea vs coffee?

USDA puts brewed green tea at 12 mg per 100 g — about 28 mg in 8 fl oz — and brewed coffee at 40 mg per 100 g, about 95 mg. Matcha is the whole powdered leaf, so a cup holds more than brewed green tea.

Why does matcha feel different from coffee?

This page cannot say how a drink feels. What it can show is that matcha brings L-theanine alongside its caffeine — 14 to 43 mg in a 2 g cup — and that none of these sources reports L-theanine in coffee.

Is matcha cheaper than coffee per cup?

Open the price box: it depends on your tin and your bag. In the worked example, a $28 tin of 30 g makes a 2 g cup $1.87 and a $15 bag of 12 oz makes a 12 fl oz cup $0.98–$1.20.

Matcha vs Coffee