Coffee, Cycling And Caffeine - I Love It

Cycling and coffee are like blood brothers. I love cycling and I love coffee, so whilst drinking my second coffee of the day on this rainy bank holiday afternoon, I thought I’d embrace my inner geek, calculate how much caffeine I’m pouring into my body and find out what some of the scientific community thinks about that.

These days, I’ve got into the habit of drinking 3, 300ml cafetiere/french press brewed cups each day. Despite my love for the little fellas, I’ve given up on espressos for now - at home at least. My machine is knackered thanks to limescale and neglect, and it wasn’t that great to start with.

According to the Harvard School of Public Heath, for the purposes of most studies, a cup of coffee is 227.3ml(8oz) with 100 mg of caffeine. So apparently, each of my 300ml cups contains 132mg of caffeine, making my average daily intake 396mg: equivalent to about 5 cans of Red Bull (but thankfully without the sugar) or about 8 Pro Plus tablets.

Obviously, the 100mg in an 8oz coffee is an estimation. Caffeine content varies considerably according to a number of factors including the variety of bean, roast level, temperature of water, brew temperature, length of brew time, grind level, beverage size, but this figure gives a rough idea. Our Harvard friends suggest that drinking up to six cups a day (1,363ml/4.5 of my cups) of coffee is not associated with increased risk of death from any cause. So I should be alright then... unless I got my numbers wrong or another study comes out.

If anyone actually reads this blog, I’d be interested to hear how much everyone else is drinking/consuming, if only to justify my own consumption/give me a reality check!