Caffeine vs WaterCaffeine chart
How Much Caffeine Is in Tea? Black, Green, White, Oolong, Chai and Herbal Compared
How much caffeine is in tea? Black tea has about 47 mg a cup, green 28 mg, white 25 mg, herbal none. Tea bags, chains, and why steep time matters.
The short answer
- Per 8 oz (240 ml) cup: black tea about 47 mg, oolong 38 mg, green tea 28 mg, white tea 25 mg. Brewed coffee is about 95 mg.
- Herbal tea has no caffeine: chamomile, peppermint, rooibos and hibiscus are 0 mg. Yerba mate (80 mg) is the exception.
- Steep time matters as much as the type of tea. Lab tests found 14–61 mg per cup across white, green and black teas, with no clear trend by type, while steep time did change the result.
- Big servings add up: a Tim Hortons Large steeped tea has about 175 mg, close to two cups of coffee.
How much caffeine is in tea? For a normal cup, somewhere between 25 and 50 mg, roughly a third to a half of a cup of coffee. The exact number depends less on whether the tea is black or green than most people assume, and more on how long you steep it, how much leaf you use and how big the cup is.
Here's the full breakdown, using the drink values in our app, from a quick green tea to a builder's brew and a large chain chai.
How much caffeine is in tea, by type
| Tea | Size | Caffeine |
|---|---|---|
| Black tea | 8 oz / 240 ml | 47 mg |
| Oolong tea | 8 oz / 240 ml | 38 mg |
| Green tea | 8 oz / 240 ml | 28 mg |
| White tea | 8 oz / 240 ml | 25 mg |
| Matcha | 8 oz / 240 ml | 70 mg |
| Chai latte | 12 oz / 350 ml | 50 mg |
| Iced tea | 12 oz / 350 ml | 25 mg |
| Yerba mate | 8 oz / 240 ml | 80 mg |
| Herbal tea | any | 0 mg |
| For comparison: drip coffee | 8 oz / 240 ml | 95 mg |
Matcha is the strong one among true teas because you drink the whole powdered leaf rather than an infusion. It gets its own comparison in matcha vs coffee caffeine.
Black tea vs green tea caffeine
On average, black tea has more caffeine than green tea: about 47 mg against 28 mg per cup. But the gap is smaller and less reliable than the colors suggest. Black, green, white and oolong teas all come from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. What changes is processing and, just as important, the way each is usually brewed.
A 2008 lab study of 20 commercial teas measured 14 to 61 mg per 6–8 oz serving across white, green and black teas and found no clear trend by variety. Steep time, however, did change the caffeine. Black tea is typically made with boiling water and a longer steep; green tea with cooler water and a shorter one. That habit, more than the leaf, is why a mug of black tea usually ends up stronger.
A 2025 study that brewed six tea types at two temperatures for 2, 5 and 10 minutes found the same thing: longer brewing significantly raised caffeine in every type. Yellow tea, for example, reached about 53 mg per 200 ml after 10 minutes. It also found that cup-sized black tea bags released more caffeine than loose leaf (about 39 mg vs 24 mg per 200 ml in their test).
How steep time changes the caffeine in your cup
You control more of your tea's caffeine than you do your coffee's. Mayo Clinic's advice for cutting caffeine is simply to brew tea for less time. In practice:
- 1–2 minute steep: a light cup at the lower end of the ranges above.
- 3–5 minute steep: a standard cup, around the table values.
- Long steep or bag left in: toward the top of the 14–61 mg range, and more in a big mug.
- Two bags, big mug: double the leaf, double the caffeine, whatever the color.
Caffeine in tea bags by brand
| Tea bag | Cup | Caffeine |
|---|---|---|
| Tazo Awake English Breakfast | 8 oz / 237 ml | 61 mg |
| Lipton black tea | 8 oz / 237 ml | 55 mg |
| Yorkshire Tea | 8 oz / 237 ml | 50 mg |
| PG Tips | 6.8 oz / 200 ml | 50 mg |
| Twinings Darjeeling | 6.8 oz / 200 ml | 50 mg |
| Twinings English Breakfast | 6.8 oz / 200 ml | 47 mg |
| Tetley black tea | 8 oz / 237 ml | 45 mg |
| Bigelow black tea | 8 oz / 237 ml | 45 mg |
| Lipton green tea | 8 oz / 237 ml | 45 mg |
| Twinings Earl Grey | 6.8 oz / 200 ml | 38 mg |
| Twinings Green Tea | 6.8 oz / 200 ml | 32 mg |
| Yogi Green Tea Super Antioxidant | 8 oz / 237 ml | 15 mg |
| Celestial Seasonings herbal | 8 oz / 237 ml | 0 mg |
Note Lipton green at 45 mg: a green tea bag can easily match a black one. The label on the box beats the color in the cup.
Tea at coffee chains and in bottles
| Drink | Size | Caffeine |
|---|---|---|
| Tim Hortons Steeped Tea, Small / Medium | 10 / 14 oz | 90 / 125 mg |
| Tim Hortons Steeped Tea, Large / XL | 19 / 23 oz | 175 / 210 mg |
| Panera Sweet Iced Tea | 20 oz / 591 ml | 111 mg |
| Dunkin' Chai Latte, Small / Medium / Large | 10 / 14 / 20 oz | 54 / 80 / 107 mg |
| McDonald's Sweet Tea, Small / Medium / Large | 16 / 21 / 32 oz | 50 / 65 / 100 mg |
| Starbucks Chai Latte, Tall / Grande / Venti | 12 / 16 / 20 oz | 35 / 55 / 75 mg |
| Starbucks Iced Chai Latte, Grande / Venti | 16 / 24 oz | 60 / 90 mg |
| Starbucks Earl Grey or Royal English Breakfast, Grande | 16 oz / 473 ml | 40 mg |
| Starbucks London Fog Latte, Grande | 16 oz / 473 ml | 40 mg |
| Starbucks Emperor's Clouds & Mist (green), Grande | 16 oz / 473 ml | 20 mg |
| Starbucks Iced Black or Green Tea, Grande | 16 oz / 473 ml | 28 mg |
| Starbucks Mint Majesty (herbal), Grande | 16 oz / 473 ml | 0 mg |
| Pure Leaf Unsweetened | 18.5 oz / 547 ml | 54 mg |
| Gold Peak Unsweetened | 18.5 oz / 547 ml | 48 mg |
| Snapple Lemon Tea | 16 oz / 473 ml | 37 mg |
| Gold Peak Green Tea | 18.5 oz / 547 ml | 25 mg |
| AriZona Green Tea | 23 oz / 680 ml | 22 mg |
| Brisk Lemon Iced Tea | 12 oz / 355 ml | 11 mg |
| Guayakí Yerba Mate (can) | 15.5 oz / 458 ml | 150 mg |
Tim Hortons is the standout. Its steeped tea is brewed strong and served big, so an XL has more caffeine than a medium Tim Hortons coffee (205 mg). More in caffeine in Tim Hortons coffee. Bottled teas are the opposite: mostly 10–55 mg, less per ounce than a home-brewed cup. For how tea stacks up against every other drink, see the caffeine content chart.
Does herbal tea have caffeine?
No. True herbal teas are made from plants other than Camellia sinensis and contain no caffeine. In the 2008 lab study, caffeine was not detected in any of the herbal teas tested. That includes:
- Chamomile, peppermint and other mint teas
- Rooibos (red bush) and honeybush
- Hibiscus, ginger, lemon balm and most fruit infusions
Two catches. First, yerba mate and guayusa are often shelved with herbal teas but naturally contain caffeine: about 80 mg a cup for yerba mate, and 150 mg in a can of Guayakí. Second, blends can hide real tea: a "chai" or "herbal breakfast blend" may be built on black or green tea, so check the ingredients.
Decaf tea is low but not zero. The same study measured under 12 mg per serving, about what you'd get from a cup of decaf coffee. The coffee version is covered in how much caffeine is in decaf coffee.
Tea and sleep
An ordinary cup of black or green tea is below 50 mg, a sensible level to have left at bedtime, from the moment you drink it. That's why an evening cup of tea rarely causes trouble on its own. It adds up when tea is stacked on top of earlier coffee, or when the cup is large: with a typical 5.5-hour half-life, a Tim Hortons Medium steeped tea (125 mg) takes about 7.5 hours to fall under 50 mg, and a Large (175 mg) about 10 hours. If you want a warm drink after dinner, herbal is the zero-caffeine choice. The full cutoff table by dose is in when to stop drinking coffee before bed. Test your own evening cup with the bedtime caffeine calculator.
Tea also counts toward your daily fluids, which is covered in what counts as water intake. In Caffeine vs Water, a cup of tea adds both its caffeine to your curve and its volume to your water.
Frequently asked questions
How much caffeine is in a cup of tea?
An 8 oz (240 ml) cup of black tea has about 47 mg of caffeine, oolong about 38 mg, green tea about 28 mg and white tea about 25 mg. Herbal tea has none.
Does black tea have more caffeine than green tea?
Usually, about 47 mg vs 28 mg per cup, but not always. Lab tests found no consistent difference by tea type; black tea tends to be stronger because it's brewed hotter and longer. Some green tea bags, such as Lipton green at 45 mg, match black tea.
Does steeping tea longer increase caffeine?
Yes. Studies consistently find longer steeping releases more caffeine. A short 1–2 minute steep gives a noticeably lighter cup than a 5-minute or longer brew.
Does herbal tea have caffeine?
No. Chamomile, peppermint, rooibos, hibiscus and other herbal teas are caffeine-free. Yerba mate and guayusa are exceptions: they contain caffeine even though they're often sold alongside herbal teas.
How much caffeine is in chai?
A 12 oz chai latte has about 50 mg. Starbucks Grande has 55 mg; a Dunkin' Large has 107 mg.
Is tea better than coffee for less caffeine?
Cup for cup, yes. Black tea has about half the caffeine of an 8 oz brewed coffee (95 mg), and green tea less than a third.
Sources
- Chin JM, et al. Caffeine content of brewed teas. J Anal Toxicol, 2008.
- Ayakdaş G, Ağagündüz D. Determination of L-theanine and caffeine contents in tea infusions with different fermentation degrees and brewing conditions using the chromatographic method. Foods, 2025.
- Mayo Clinic. Caffeine: How much is too much?
- Brand nutrition pages and caffeine databases, as compiled for the Caffeine vs Water drink catalog (September 2026).
General wellness information, not medical advice. If you're pregnant, have a heart condition, or take medication that affects caffeine, check your limits with a doctor.