How many calories are in a coffee?

An espresso coffee, without milk or sugar, contains between 0 and 0.3 kilocalories. As brewed coffee consists only of water passed through dry and ground coffee beans, this beverage has an insignificant amount of calories.

Calories (cal) are the unit of measurement we use to quantify the energy contained in food where a gram of protein contains 4 kilocalories, a gram of carbohydrate, another 4 kcal, and a gram of fat 9 kcal.

As coffee contains hardly any proteins, carbohydrates, or fats, it delivers hardly any energy. However, it provides caffeine that stimulates our central nervous system but cannot be confused with energy intake.

Coffee additives are the ones that provide the calories to coffee

Coffee is a delicious beverage with great nutritional virtues and health benefits, although its caloric contribution is not one of its properties. It is important to highlight that some types of coffee that contain additives are the ones that add Calories to your diet.

Most people consume their coffee with sugar, milk, and other additives. And most of them usually contain many Calories, especially sugar and milk.

• Taking sugar as an example, it is important to highlight that its composition is mainly based on carbohydrates. And as previously explained, each gram of carbohydrates contributes approximately 4 kilocalories. Therefore, a 15-gram teaspoon of sugar contributes approximately 60 kilocalories.
• In the case of whole cow’s milk, 100 ml contains 3.8 grams of fat, 3.1 grams of protein, and 4.7 grams of carbohydrates. That means it has a total of 65 kilocalories (3.8 x 9) + (3.1×4) + (4.7×4) = 65.5 kcal.

So, if you drink a Cappuccino with two spoonfuls of sugar, you will drink 0 kcal from an espresso, 120 kcal from the sugar, and 65 Kcal from 100 ml of milk, a total of 185 kcal.

Note: The World Health Organization recommends a daily caloric intake range of between 1,600 and 2,000 kilocalories for women and between 2,000 and 2,500 kilocalories for men. (Source)

Don’t confuse calories with kilocalories

One kilocalorie (kcal) is equivalent to 1,000 Calories (cal). However, it is common to mix both units when discussing how much energy food provides.

Although the unit of food energy is the Calorie, the kilocalorie is normally used since the Calorie is too small a unit to measure what we ingest. However, many people call Calories what kilocalories are.

Where does this confusion come from? Beware of capital letters!

“Calorie” and “calorie” are often used interchangeably but are not synonymous. “calorie” with a lowercase “c” means an amount of heat. In contrast, “Calorie” with a capital “C” means 1,000 calories, also known as “kilocalorie”.

The most common mistake is to use “calorie” instead of “Calorie” when referring to the energy value of a food. It is important to remember to use “Calorie” with a capital “C” when referring to the energy value of food.

How many calories does each type of coffee has

Now that we know that what contributes Calories to coffee are the additives. Next, I will summarize how many Calories each type of coffee and its ingredients have.

Note: What is said for espresso applies to Lungo, Americano, and any filtered and Moka pot coffee.

As coffees can be customized, use the values in the table above only as a reference. It depends on how much sugar, milk or other additives make a coffee have more or fewer Calories.

How many calories does a decaffeinated coffee have?

As I explained before, there can be confusion between the caffeine and Calories of coffee. Caffeine stimulates our central nervous system but does not deliver energy, although the body’s sensations may be similar.

Having said this, decaffeinated coffee will not stimulate the nervous system and will still not provide Calories. So, the answer is that decaffeinated coffee has the same Calories as normal coffee; practically zero.

Can I get weight by drinking coffee?

A question that many coffee lovers ask themselves is related to diet and the caloric content of coffee; if I drink a lot of coffee, will I get fat?

If a person drinks black coffee without additives, this will not contribute hardly any Calories. Therefore, the number of Calories in their diet will not increase.

Another very different thing is that the person drinks coffee with milk, sugar, and other additives. Let’s think that a normal cappuccino with milk and sugar contains between 5 and 10% of the calories a person should ingest daily.

If you drink 3 or four cappuccinos and add a lot of sugar, cocoa, etc., it will be easy to overdo it. It will be very easy for you to go over the Calories ingested and get fat if you do not lead an active life with which to burn all those extra calories.

Frequently asked questions and answers