Accurately estimating caffeine in moka pot coffee?

November 4, 2020 8:16 AM

Is there a reliable source for calculating at least a rough range or upper limit? I've found some answers online but they don't usually cite their source so it's unclear how accurate they are.

My coffee brewing method of choice is a "6-cup" moka pot with coffee reservoir loosely filled (20g), making 200-220 ml of strong coffee (not counting a bit left in the pot) that's diluted with lots of milk into a single strong-but-not-6x-strong mug of coffee. I'm currently using Lavazza Rossa coffee (espresso grind, a blend of arabica and robusta in unclear proportions).

If the common rule of thumb of 1% of coffee bean weight is true this would make my normal cup just 200 mg caffeine, but estimates for stovetop espresso by volume (eg 164mg/100ml) put it well above 300 mg instead.

This difference matters since I'm supposed to start limiting my daily caffeine intake to 300mg for medical reasons. Is there a reliable way of calculating it? I think I'll decrease the volume a bit to be safer, but is there a volume where I can be very confident that it's definitely well under 300? I would really strongly prefer to stick to this coffee brewing method so please no suggestions for alternative brewing methods, though I'm ok with switching the coffee beans if necessary. Thanks!

posted by randomnity to Food & Drink (4 answers total)

A true espresso is much more concentrated than a moka pot, but forget about your brewing method and just count up how many grammes of coffee you are starting off with.

Robusta beans can be 2-3g caffeine per 100g which would make your normal cup 500mg-600mg.
If you upgrade to pure Arabica beans it should be possible to just squeeze that under your 300mg limit.

I buy coffee from a specialist, 1 Kilo at a time and then store it in 3 or 4 bags in the freezer. Buying in bulk makes it possible to get much better coffee at a reasonable price.
posted by Lanark at 11:38 AM on November 4, 2020 [1 favorite]

This article in Italian cites up to 120g per 50ml of moka brewed coffee. Other articles in Italian generally cite 100-150g per tazzina, the espresso sized shot that is actually referred to in a 6-cup moka. So very very worst case scenario is 900g for a full 6-shot moka pot.

I have a 6 shot moka, Lavazza Rosso is my regular, and an Italian GP who told me no more than 3 coffees a day “and I don’t mean your American sized malarkey.” Cut it down to half at least, a third I think would be even safer.
posted by romakimmy at 12:27 PM on November 4, 2020 [1 favorite]

As someone for medical reasons doesn't do well with caffine in quantities above about 35mg in an hour and no more than 100 mg in a day, I suggest that you buy commercially available products that specify the caffine content per serving . This isn't much fun, and may cost you a bit more but then you will have an exact idea before trying to parse out your own brewed coffee which can have variations due to the amounts of coffee used, type of brewing, type of bean, water temperature and so on. For me, when I consume an unknown caffine sourse I realized pretty quickly when I've exceeded my limits without getting into problems. Though you are starting at a way way way higher dose than I've ever been able to drink.
posted by AlexiaSky at 11:05 PM on November 4, 2020 [1 favorite]

I also use a 6-cup moka pot for my daily coffee. I can tell you that it consistently produces a weaker caffeine response in me than a 16 oz. coffee from Starbucks, which reportedly has 330 mg caffeine. However, I'm using regular coffee beans (arabica, light roast).
posted by aws17576 at 12:39 AM on November 5, 2020 [1 favorite]