Coffee is essential for surviving university, but you wanna make sure you’re getting the best bang for your buck. I’m sure everyone has wondered why that Starbucks drink is $5 when a Timmies coffee is $1.50, or why some coffees make you bounce off the walls and some don’t affect you at all. The reason? Caffeine.
The most popular drinks from your favourite coffee chains are ranked below with help from Caffeine Informer from least caffeine to the most, so you can keep that buzz going all exam season long.
7. McDonald’s
Photo courtesy of @mccafesg on Instagram
A McCafé brewed medium coffee has about 145 mg of caffeine. A little on the low side, but hey, it’s cheap.
6. Tim Horton’s
Photo courtesy of twitter.com
Tim’s says that their medium coffee (about 14 oz) contain 205 mg of caffeine. The American chains do tend to have bigger cups, but if we’re going by the standard medium size at every chain, Tim Horton’s doesn’t hold up to the big guys.
5. The Coffee Beanery
Photo courtesy of @coffeebeanery1976 on Instagram
Their website states that an 8 oz cup of their brewed coffee would have between 100-150 mg of caffeine. Since the other coffees have been calculated for a 14 oz–16 oz cup, we can double this and estimate around 200-300 mg of caffeine for a 16 oz cup of coffee.
4. Peet’s Brewed Coffee
Photo courtesy of @peetscoffee on Instagram
Peet’s is on the lower side compared to their competition. A 16 oz cup contains about 267 mg of caffeine.
3. Dunkin’ Donuts
Photo courtesy of @dunkindonuts on Instagram
A Dunkin Donuts medium brewed coffee contains 302 mg of caffeine. They’ve come a long way since they changed the formula for their brew, bumping up the caffeine content from a mere 178 mg. If you ruled out Dunkin Donuts as your go-to pick me up joint, you might wanna think again.
2. Starbucks
Photo by Lauren Anzevino
Bet you thought this was gonna be #1, huh? Wrong. Starbucks is pretty damn close to having the highest caffeine content but their grande brewed coffee has 330 mg of caffeine, making it a close runner-up. That’s still a ton of caffeine, though.
1. Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
Photo courtesy of @thecoffeebean on Instagram
It’s true. According to Caffeine Informer, a The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf’s regular-sized brewed coffee contains around 333 mg of caffeine. That’s sure to keep you up for days.
#SpoonTip: If you’re feeling like you wanna stay awake for the rest of your life, try Death Wish.