Coffee has 4 times caffeine of Red Bull

A HIGH street coffee had four times the amount of caffeine compared to a can of Red Bull, tests have revealed.

Consumer group Which? found a medium cappuccino at Costa contained 325mg of caffeine. By comparison, a 250ml can of Red Bull has 80mg.

Costa packed the biggest caffeine punch among popular chains, with the equivalent of four cups of tea.

At the other end of the scale, a Starbucks cappuccino had the lowest caffeine content, with at least 66mg, which means Costa had nearly five times that amount when tested.

Which? looked at the caffeine found in espresso, cappuccino and filter coffee drinks from Caffe

Nero, Costa, Greggs, Starbucks, Pret a Manger and Starbucks.

The second and third-highest cappuccino caffeine levels, Greggs and Pret a Manger, were significantly below Costa, at 197mg and 180mg respectively.

A Starbucks single espresso also had the lowest caffeine content, at 33mg.

The same drink at sandwich chain Pret had 180mg which is almost six times more.

A Starbucks filter coffee was also found to have less than half the caffeine, 102mg, as in those served at Pret and Greggs.

Shefalee Loth, Which? nutritionist, said:“Many of us rely on coffee to get us through dark winter mornings, but our research shows that you may be consuming significantly more, or less, caffeine than you bargained for.

“Our analysis has shown that there are big variations in caffeine content between drinks from different high street coffee shops.

“Most of the time this shouldn’t be an issue.

“But if you drink a lot of coffee, or need to limit caffeine, you might want to consider what you’re ordering and where from.”

A Costa Coffee spokesman said:“The amount of caffeine included within each coffee varies, depending on the coffee and size of drink.

“All Costa coffees can be enjoyed with decaf coffee and we offer a wide range of non-caffeinated drinks.”

The cappuccinos tested by Which? were all medium and between 341ml at Greggs, and 362ml at Costa.