Caffeine Content: How High Is Too Much?

Even though coffee – despite its newly-found health benefits – can cause more harm than good in certain people, does this mean that caffeine content awareness of our cup of joe is now of paramount importance?

By: Ringo Bones

Ever since boutique coffee and espresso shops gained mainstream popularity in the wave of the Seattle Grunge boom back in the early 1990s, most commercial coffee shops of varying degrees of craft-cred, had been mandatorily asking their customers if they have a preexisting heart condition before allowing them to consume another cup of their caffeinated brew. Given the clear and present danger posed by caffeine on certain people, should everyone be mindful – especially us patrons and consumers – on the exact levels of caffeine found in our daily cup of joe?

Recent studies have shown that a typical cup of coffee contains 50 mg worth of caffeine, while famous franchised coffee shops – like Starbucks – contain 51 mg worth of caffeine per cup. Surprisingly, some up-market “slow-food” boutique coffee shops have a caffeine content as much as 6 times that normally found in a typical daily cup of coffee. Given that caffeine for a number of years now had been deemed harmful to unborn babies and expectant mothers have since been advised by their physician not to drink coffee or any caffeinated beverage during their pregnancy, should there be more public awareness campaign on the health risks of consuming too much caffeine?

In a BBC interview back in December 2, 2011, Jeffrey Young of the London Coffee Guide says that on the result of an on-going study on the caffeine content of commercial coffee shops around London, it has been found out that some up-market specialist espresso shops serve coffee that contains up to 360 mg of caffeine per cup. That’s a little over 6 times the 50 mg caffeine content of a typical cup of coffee most of us consume. Should up-market specialist espresso shops be mandatorily required to carry health warnings?