It depends: Cold brew concentrate has significantly more caffeine per sip. Diluted to drinking strength, it's similar to filter coffee — about 100–150 mg per 250 ml glass. The long extraction time dissolves a lot of caffeine.

Does cold brew have more or less caffeine than regular coffee?

It depends: Cold brew concentrate has significantly more caffeine per sip. Diluted to drinking strength, it’s similar to filter coffee — about 100–150 mg per 250 ml glass. The long extraction time dissolves a lot of caffeine.

Why that is

Caffeine is water-soluble and dissolves in both hot and cold water. Its solubility is higher in hot water, but the extremely long contact time of cold brew (12–24 hours vs. 3 minutes for filter coffee) largely compensates for that. Ultimately, cold brew contains a similar amount of caffeine per gram of coffee used as hot-brewed coffee.

The concentrate factor: Cold brew is often made as a concentrate — with significantly more coffee per liter than filter coffee (100–200 g/L vs. 60 g/L). This concentrate contains a correspondingly high amount of caffeine. If you drink it undiluted, you’re quickly consuming double or triple the amount of a normal coffee.

Caffeine content comparison (per 250 ml ready-to-drink beverage):

• Filter coffee: 80–120 mg
• Cold Brew (diluted 1:1 from concentrate): 100–150 mg
• Espresso (double shot, 50 ml): 60–80 mg
• Cold Brew Concentrate (undiluted): 200–300 mg

So, cold brew has slightly more caffeine than filter coffee, but the difference is smaller than often claimed — provided you dilute the concentrate. The problem: Many people drink cold brew over ice from large glasses (400–500 ml) and don’t realize they’re consuming significantly more caffeine than with a standard cup of hot coffee.

Why cold brew still feels milder: Cold brew contains less acid than hot-brewed coffee. Acid can amplify stomach irritation, which is often falsely attributed to caffeine. Cold brew is therefore gentler on the stomach, even though the caffeine content is similar or even higher.

In practice at Green Wall Coffee

At Sophienstraße 27, we always dilute our cold brew concentrate 1:1 — keeping the caffeine content in a normal range. To guests who are sensitive to caffeine, I say: Cold brew isn’t caffeine-free just because it tastes cold and gentle. A large glass can pack as much caffeine as two cups of filter coffee.

Related questions

• How to make cold brew at home?
• What is the difference between cold brew and iced coffee?
• What coffee-to-water ratio do I need for cold brew?

Come visit us at Sophienstraße 27 — Mon–Fri 8am–5pm, Sat 10am–5pm.