Cold Brew Vs Espresso: Is Cold Brew Stronger Than Espresso?

Let’s Discuss Whether Cold Brew Coffee or Espresso Contains More Caffeine

Have you been looking for the best way to get your daily caffeine fix? Or, perhaps you are trying to reduce your caffeine daily. Knowing which coffee drinks contain the most caffeine can help! For great fresh-roasted coffee, espresso, and decaf brews, click this link to a top-rated online coffee roaster!

Both cold brew and espresso are popular options among coffee drinkers. Here, we will compare the caffeine content and flavor notes of cold brew and espresso coffee and give you some brewing tips so that you can make the most of your daily grind. 

Cold brew VS espresso caffeine content: which drinks are stronger? 

If you're looking for a bigger caffeine punch, a cold brew drink might be the way to go. Since cold brew coffee is prepared using a lengthy steeping process, more caffeine tends to be extracted, leading to a bigger buzz per oz when served in a cold brew style drink. 

An 8-oz cold brew drink usually contains about 68 to 92 mg of caffeine. In contrast, an 8 to 12 oz espresso drink (like a latte with one shot of espresso or an Americano) only has about 54 to 76 mg of caffeine. 

So, if you are getting a pre-made beverage, the cold brew drink is generally going to be stronger. However, ounce for ounce, caffeine levels in espresso and cold brew can vary. Ergo, 2 ounces of pure undiluted espresso will have more caffeine than two ounces of cold brew coffee. 

Caffeine in Espresso VS Cold Brew: Strength Ounce for Ounce 

If you are getting a coffee drink prepared for you, the cold brew beverage will usually be stronger in terms of caffeine than the espresso beverage. There are, however, some caveats to this. 

The caffeine content of a drink will be heavily dependent on how large it is, how it was prepared, what type of coffee was used, and more. Espresso is made using a strong, powdery coffee grind, extracted using pressure and heat with a machine. This means that espresso shots are generally very strong in terms of caffeine and flavor. 

As such, most of the time, espresso must be diluted with milk or water to make it enjoyable. So, an 8 oz Americano will usually contain less caffeine than 8 oz of cold brew coffee. 

Then again, if you are comparing 8 oz of straight undiluted espresso (about 4 shots) with 8 oz of cold brew, the espresso will have WAY more caffeine. However, not many people can stand drinking 8 oz of pure, undiluted espresso. 

Too Much Caffeine? Cold Brew Flavor vs Caffeine Extraction

When making cold brew, most people prefer to use a one-to-four water-to-coffee ratio. This leads to a strong batch of cold brew coffee with a nice, mellow coffee flavor and a big caffeine kick. For some, cold brew coffee is just a little too strong caffeine-wise. So how can you brew flavorful cold brew coffee without going overboard on the caffeine content?

One option is to cut your coffee with decaf while making your cold brew. You can still use a 1 to 4 water-to-coffee ratio, just make sure that you swap some of the caffeinated coffee grounds for decaf. This will allow you to get plenty of coffee flavor without too much caffeine. 

This website (onegreatcoffee.com) sells an amazing selection of freshly roasted decaf coffee blends, flavored and unflavored, that can easily be mixed with whatever you are already using to make your favorite cold brew batches.

How to Make Stronger Cold Brew Coffee

To make your cold brew coffee stronger, you can either steep it longer or add more coffee grounds. To make your cold beer coffee weaker, either reduce the quantity of coffee grounds in your coffee-to-water ratio or cut your coffee grounds with decaf. 

Easy Cold Brew Recipe

Want to make your own cold brew beverages at home? All you need is some sort of a container with a lid (preferably made of glass instead of plastic), some delicious coffee, and fresh water. 

Using a 1:4 water-to-coffee ratio, add coffee grounds and water to the container. Put the lid on your container and keep it in the fridge overnight or for a minimum of 12 hours but no longer than 24 hours. 

Then, simply strain out the coffee grounds and enjoy your homemade cold brew. 

You can start tweaking this recipe and adjusting it as needed. The basis of making cold brew coffee is simply adding coffee grounds and water to a container and letting everything steep cold for an extended period. 

Final Thoughts on Cold Brew Vs Espresso Caffeine 

If you are ordering coffee and want more of a caffeine boost, cold brew is usually the way to go. A serving of cold brew coffee will contain more caffeine than espresso because there's a higher coffee-to-water ratio used when brewing/steeping the grounds.

However, ounce for ounce, espresso is actually often stronger than cold brew. But since most people dilute their espresso to make it palatable, espresso drinks are generally weaker than pure cold brew.