How Much Caffeine is in Decaf Coffee?

The Basics

Decaffeinated coffee (commonly referred to as "decaf") is coffee that has the majority of its caffeine removed. A common misconception is that decaf coffee has no caffeine whatsoever--this is false. The caffeine has been mostly removed from the coffee beans and various other substances used to brew coffee during the manufacturing process. It is not possible to completely remove the caffeine from these products as it is a naturally occurring element. Federal regulations in the United States only require a manufacturer to remove 97.5 percent of the caffeine in coffee products in order to legally call them decaffeinated. This means that a standard cup of decaf coffee could have as much as 2.5 percent of the amount of caffeine as a regular cup. There is currently no law that states that in order to be labeled "decaffeinated" a cup of coffee must have no caffeine in it.

Statistics

Bruce Goldberger, Ph.D., director of the Maples Center for Forensic Medicine, stated that drinking between five and ten cups of decaf coffee will see a person take in as much caffeine as they would if they were to drink one to two cups of regular coffee. This is why people who have been advised to cut down on their caffeine are cautioned against drinking any kind of coffee product whatsoever. Even this little amount of caffeine consumed on a daily basis could agitate pre-existing conditions, like kidney problems and anxiety troubles.

Ounces

Researchers at the Maples Center for Forensic Medicine purchased ten different decaf coffee drinks, all 16-oz. sizes. Next, they separated the caffeine from the drinks and weighed them in their gaseous forms using a process called chromatography. Each of the ten decaf coffee drinks had between 8 and 14 mg of caffeine inside them. To compare, a regular cup of coffee that is 8 oz. would have an average of 85 mg inside it. This would correlate with the earlier research that states that for every ten or so cups of decaf coffee, a person ingests as much caffeine as they would with one cup of regular coffee.