For healthy adults, up to 400 mg of caffeine a day raises no safety concerns, and up to 200 mg at once (EFSA). If you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, the limit is 200 mg a day; for children and teenagers it’s 3 mg per kg of body weight. A cup of filter coffee has about 90 mg, an espresso about 80 mg. Add up what you’ve had today.
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For healthy adults, up to 400 mg of caffeine a day raises no safety concerns, and up to 200 mg at once (EFSA). If you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, the limit is 200 mg a day; for children and teenagers it’s 3 mg per kg of body weight. A cup of filter coffee has about 90 mg, an espresso about 80 mg. Add up what you’ve had today.
Whole servings until the limit. Everything else you have that day counts too.
Servings up to the limit
What
Up to 400 mg
Up to 200 mg
Filter coffee (cup, 200 ml)
4 cups
2 cups
Espresso (60 ml)
5 espressos
2 espressos
Black tea (cup, 200 ml)
8 cups
4 cups
Green tea (cup, 200 ml)
13 cups
6 cups
Mate tea (cup, 150 ml)
5 cups
2 cups
Under 18: caffeine by body weight
3 mg per kg of body weight a day (EFSA).
At most per day
Body weight
Caffeine a day
30 kg
90 mg
40 kg
120 mg
50 kg
150 mg
60 kg
180 mg
70 kg
210 mg
How the calculator works
Caffeine per serving from the BfR table (German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, 2026, based on EFSA 2015): espresso (60 ml) 80 mg, filter coffee (cup, 200 ml) 90 mg, black tea (cup, 200 ml) 45 mg, green tea (cup, 200 ml) 30 mg, cola (can, 330 ml) 35 mg, energy drink (can, 250 ml) 80 mg, dark chocolate (half a bar, 50 g) 25 mg.
Mate tea: about 78 mg per 150 ml cup (Ernaehrungs Umschau, a German nutrition journal, 2014). A cappuccino is an espresso topped with milk and milk foam (German Federal Centre for Nutrition), so 80 mg. With a double shot, count it twice.
Total = number of servings × caffeine per serving, for everything you drink and eat in a day.
EFSA limits (2015): healthy adults 400 mg a day and 200 mg at once; pregnant and breastfeeding women 200 mg a day; children and teenagers 3 mg per kg of body weight a day. That’s why the calculator asks for body weight under 18, and it never goes above the adult limits: at most 400 mg a day and 200 mg at once.
Example: Adult, 2 × filter coffee, 1 × black tea, 1 × dark chocolate:
2 × 90 mg + 1 × 45 mg + 1 × 25 mg = 250 mg
EFSA limit for healthy adults: 400 mg a day, 150 mg left
Good to know
Under 18 the calculator uses 3 mg per kg of body weight, as EFSA and the BfR do, but never more than the adult limits. There is no fixed age limit.
UK sources give more for a mug: the FSA says a mug of coffee has about 100–140 mg and a mug of tea about 75 mg. A mug holds more than the 200 ml cup used here, so count a big mug as more than one cup.
Drinks other than tea or coffee with more than 150 mg of caffeine per litre must say “High caffeine content. Not recommended for children or pregnant or breast-feeding women” on the label.
If you have a heart condition, take medicines or don’t tolerate caffeine well, please talk to your doctor.
Frequently asked questions
How much caffeine a day is safe?
For healthy adults, up to 400 mg a day raises no safety concerns, and up to 200 mg at once (EFSA). That’s about 4 cups of filter coffee. If you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, it’s 200 mg a day.
How many cups of coffee a day?
Up to 400 mg is about 4 cups of filter coffee of 200 ml (360 mg) or 5 espressos. Tea, cola and chocolate count too. A big mug holds more than 200 ml: the FSA gives about 100–140 mg for a mug of coffee.
How much caffeine is in an espresso?
About 80 mg in 60 ml (EFSA, BfR). German consumer advice gives 50 to 60 mg for one espresso. It varies with the beans and how it’s made.
Does green tea have less caffeine than coffee?
Yes. A 200 ml cup of green tea has about 30 mg, black tea 45 mg and filter coffee 90 mg (BfR). The NHS gives 38 mg for a mug of green tea.
How much caffeine when pregnant?
No more than 200 mg a day from all sources (EFSA, NHS), about 2 cups of filter coffee. Pregnant and breastfeeding women should avoid energy drinks (BfR).
At what age can you have caffeine?
There is no set age. For children and teenagers EFSA proposes at most 3 mg per kg of body weight a day: 150 mg at 50 kg. In England the government plans to ban selling high-caffeine energy drinks to under-16s from April 2027.
How much caffeine is in mate tea?
About 78 mg in a 150 ml cup (Ernaehrungs Umschau, 2014), nearly as much as an espresso. Mate leaves contain 0.4 to 1.6% caffeine, so it varies (German consumer advice).
Sources
Caffeine. European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), 2015
