Questions? Ask Our Roastmaster

How many milligrams of caffeine are in your coffee?

Although I have been in the coffee business since 1984, I have never been asked how many milligrams of caffeine are in coffee, let alone our coffee. This has been an interesting project for me. Here's what I've discovered:

• Coffee contains between 1.2% and 1.8% of caffeine.
• Caffeine can vary by brand, region, type of tree, altitude, bean size, roast color and brew method.
• One tree can produce different caffeine levels in its beans.
• The higher quality coffee tree is the Arabica. The Arabica has less caffeine than the Robusta, which is lower quality. (We are a Specialty Coffee Roaster, so we only use Arabica beans.)
• The darker the roast, the less caffeine in coffee.
• Between 75 and 130mg of caffeine is in Arabica beans.

With so many varying factors, if you are looking to reduce your caffeine consumption, here are some suggestions:

1. If you want to eliminate the most caffeine, switch to decaffeinated. Ours actually taste good if you don't mind me adding my opinion!
2. Try filling your cup with 1/2 decaf and 1/2 regular and use 100mg as the number, knowing there may be some variance there.

I am still investigating and enjoying the journey so far. Let me leave you with a bit of trivia. Why does a coffee tree produce caffeine? It's the tree's natural pesticide. The sole purpose is to repel insects.

Do your flavor coffees contain sucrose or sucralose?

I recently received this question: Hi, I can't seem to find an ingredient listing for what is in your flavored coffees. Specifically the hazelnut – which I love and drink several times a day. I am looking to find out if any of your flavored coffees contain sucrose or sucralose in the flavoring. I would hate to have to give up my morning cup of excellence!

Café Excellence flavors do not contain Sucralose (artificial sweetener).

Some flavors contain Sucrose (table sugar), but the amount in the flavors are negligible (not of nutritional value). The Hazelnut flavor in particular has no Sucralose, Sucrose or any type of sweetener.

Q: Do your flavors contain nuts?

We contacted Flavormatic, our flavor company, for an official response:

Café Excellence flavors do not contain or come in contact with any ingredients that may be considered allergens (Milk and milk products, egg and egg products, soybean and soybean products, wheat and wheat products, peanut and peanut products, tree nuts and tree nuts products, fish and fish products, crustacean and crustacean products).

Q: Anthony, what makes coffee bitter?

A: Bitter is a way of describing an unpleasant taste in coffee. Bitter can be over extraction of coffee flavor during the brewing process.

When we brew coffee we only want to extract 22% of the natural flavors that are in the coffee. The best flavors come out during the beginning of the brewing and the trick is to stop the brew cycle before the bad stuff comes out. Typical brew time is from 3:30 minutes to 5:15 minutes.

The second part of extraction is grind. The finer the grind, the faster the coffee extracts. For a 3:30 minute brew time you want a finer grind and for a 5:15 minute brew you want a coarser grind.

The exception to this would be the French Press. This brings us to the third factor – water temperature. The hotter the water, the faster the extraction will take place. Because the water is hot going in, but is cooling during the extraction process a French Press needs a coarser grind.

The second part to my answer is dark roast coffee can taste bitter if over roasted or the wrong coffee was roasted to the wrong temperature. If your coffee tastes bitter start with a coarser grind. If it still tastes bitter get a lighter roast coffee.

Q: Is decaffeinated coffee free of all caffeine?

A: Natural coffee has about 4% caffeine. When a roaster advertises a coffee is decaffeinated it generally means 97% of the 4% of caffeine has been removed.

Q: How should I store my coffee? Refrigerator or Freezer?

A: This is probably the question I get most often. The most important thing is coffee must be stored in an airtight container. If you're the type of person who forgets to put things away then keep your coffee in a refrigerator. The reason I say stick it in the fridge is if the coffee is in the freezer the temperature is below 32 degrees. If then left out on the counter condensation will occur. Condensation is moisture and moisture along with air is bad for coffee.

Q: Do dark roast coffees have more caffeine?

A: The answer contrary to perception is NO. The darker the roast the more caffeine is reduced. This is one of the reasons Breakfast Blends are lighter roasts.

Q: Does espresso have more caffeine?

A: Some do, some don’t. The answer is a little more in depth with two main factors. First there are two general species of coffee trees Arabica and Robusta. We only roast Arabica. The Robusta tree has more caffeine, but does not produce a flavor that is desirable by itself. Most espresso from Europe is blended with Robusta giving it a bit more caffeine. The second factor is roast. We use a Viennese roast for our espresso which is lighter so it will have a bit more caffeine then say a West Coast darker roasted espresso. If you fancy a really good espresso then I recommend ours. (If I may brag a bit, we scored a 92 from Coffee review!)

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