How much caffeine per day? The EFSA limit, drinks compared, and what your genes have to do with it

14. September 2026 ca. 15 Minuten

What to expect in this article

1. How much caffeine per day is considered safe?
2. What 400 mg of caffeine means in everyday life
3. Caffeine per serving: coffee, tea, energy drinks, cola, chocolate
4. Red Bull and cola: the amounts, without judgment
5. Sleep, pregnancy, children: where different amounts apply
6. Three myths about caffeine
7. What a DNA test can tell you about caffeine
8. Keep track for one day
Frequently asked questions
Sources

How much caffeine per day is considered safe?

Caffeine is the substance found in coffee, tea, dark chocolate, cola, and energy drinks. A government agency has answered the question of how much of it is okay per day: EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority, which advises the EU on food matters based on scientific evidence. It published an assessment of caffeine in 2015, citing several amounts.

The wording matters. EFSA does not recommend that anyone drink caffeine. It only says up to what amount it sees no cause for safety concerns. This is not a seal of approval or a daily target, but an upper limit without concerns.

Total intake means everything added together

400 mg is not a coffee limit. It means everything you consume over the course of a day: coffee, black tea, the cola in the afternoon, the energy drink before your workout, the dark chocolate in the evening. If you only count coffee, you’re undercounting.

For children and adolescents, the EFSA gives a different way of calculating intake: 3 mg per kg of body weight per day, meaning milligrams per kilogram of body weight, an amount that increases with weight rather than being the same for everyone (paraphrased from EFSA 2015). For adults, 400 mg is equivalent to about 5.7 mg per kg of body weight, while 200 mg as a single dose is about 3 mg per kg (EFSA 2015).

The most common objection at this point is: I tolerate coffee well, so this doesn't affect me. That may be true. Even so, something else is decisive: the figure doesn't describe how you feel, but an amount below which the authority has expressed no safety concerns. If you lie awake at night, the same assessment includes the guidance on 100 mg before bed.

What 400 mg of caffeine means in everyday life

Cups don't list milligrams. Still, you can convert the figure because the EFSA provides example amounts for individual servings in the same publication. This turns an abstract limit into a number of cups.

The calculation for filter coffee: one 200 ml cup contains 90 mg in the example (EFSA 2015). 400 mg divided by 90 mg per cup equals 4.4 - so about four cups a day. For espresso: 400 mg divided by 80 mg per 60 ml cup equals exactly five. For energy drinks: 400 mg divided by 80 mg per 250 ml can also equals five.

These figures are calculation aids, not measurements from your kitchen. The caffeine content of coffee varies depending on the preparation, beans, and amount of grounds. The EFSA examples give you a rough idea that you can use to estimate your daily intake without weighing anything.

Caffeine per serving: coffee, tea, energy drinks, cola, chocolate

The following table compares EFSA example servings with two manufacturer specifications. The last column shows what share of the 400 mg daily amount one serving accounts for. For a closer look at black tea, see the article on caffeine content in black tea.

Counting rule for the last column: caffeine per serving divided by 400 mg, rounded to the nearest half percentage point. The amounts are example servings and manufacturer information, not measurements of your drink.

Red Bull and cola: amounts, without judgment

There is manufacturer information for two drinks. It is shown here as an amount, not an assessment.

Red Bull lists 80 mg of caffeine for the 250-ml can and says that this is about the amount in a cup of coffee (manufacturer information, 2026). For larger cans, the manufacturer lists 105 mg for 330 ml, 114 mg for 355 ml and 151 mg for 473 ml. Two large 473-ml cans therefore contain 302 mg, calculated as 151 mg times two.

In its answers to frequently asked customer questions, Coca-Cola lists 10 mg of caffeine per 100 ml (manufacturer information, 2026). For a 330-ml can, that means: 10 mg per 100 ml times 3.3 equals around 33 mg. The manufacturer puts the amount in context itself.

What does this mean for your day? Just the arithmetic. A 330-ml can of cola with around 33 mg accounts for less than a tenth of the 400 mg, while a 250-ml can of Red Bull with 80 mg accounts for around a fifth. None of these figures says anything about taste, sugar or benefits.

Sleep, pregnancy, children: when different figures apply

The 400 mg figure applies to healthy adults. EFSA gives separate figures for three groups and one time of day, and they are lower.

Regarding sleep: single doses of 100 mg of caffeine can affect sleep duration and patterns in some adults, especially close to bedtime (paraphrased from EFSA 2015). 100 mg is a little more than a 200 ml cup of filter coffee. If you have trouble falling asleep in the evening but think the espresso after dinner is harmless, here is a figure you can check. The relationship between genetics and sleep is discussed in the article on genes, sleep and caffeine.

During pregnancy and breastfeeding, EFSA cites 200 mg per day from all sources as an amount of no safety concern (paraphrased from EFSA 2015). The assessment says no more than that, so neither does this article.

For children and adolescents, EFSA suggests 3 mg per kg of body weight per day as a safety level for habitual consumption (paraphrased from EFSA 2015). The figure increases with weight, which is exactly why there is no calculation example here: the relevant reference is the individual child’s weight, not an average.

A practical side note: Before a blood test, separate rules apply to what you’re allowed to drink. You can find out what’s permitted in the article Fasting Before a Blood Test.

Three myths about caffeine

EFSA’s example caffeine contents dispel a few persistent assumptions. Each of the three corrections below is based on the same figures as the table.

What a DNA test reveals about caffeine

So far, we’ve covered amounts that are the same for everyone. Readers who come across this topic often have a different question: Does my body have anything to do with it? Here, mybody®x (MYBODY Lab GmbH) offers a starting point, not an answer about tolerance.

The INFINITY DNA test includes a report titled “Caffeine Metabolism” in the “Metabolic Traits” chapter. It looks at the CYP1A2 gene, a section of genetic material that contains the instructions for making a protein. The same chapter also includes reports on alcohol metabolism, lactose metabolism, and gluten intolerance.

And here’s the limit, frankly: the report doesn’t predict how much coffee you can tolerate, and it doesn’t replace EFSA figures. It looks at this one gene and is intended as a starting point for dietary and lifestyle advice. It says nothing more about your tolerance.

Who it’s for: readers who already want to know what their genetic makeup can tell them about nutrition and who see the caffeine report as one part of that. If you’re only looking for a daily amount, the table above is enough.

Track your intake for one day

The most useful exercise on this topic takes exactly one day. Write down what you drink and the time you drink it. Then use the table in chapter 3 and note the milligrams for each serving.

Then compare two numbers. Your daily total against 400 mg, and your last serving before bedtime against the 100 mg in the sleep guidance (in line with EFSA 2015). The time of day is the part that’s easy to overlook - you can figure it out in a single day without giving anything up.

Back to the beginning of this article: The question was how much caffeine per day is okay. The honest answer has two parts. A number for everyone, which you can convert into four cups. And a time of day that only your own routine can answer. If you’d like to know how coffee fits into the bigger picture, continue reading about whether coffee is healthy.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. European Food Safety Authority (EFSA): Caffeine topic page for the Scientific Opinion on the safety of caffeine, EFSA Journal 2015;13(5):4102, DOI 10.2903/j.efsa.2015.4102 (as of 2015) – efsa.europa.eu
2. Red Bull GmbH: Manufacturer's information on caffeine content, answers to frequently asked customer questions (as of 2026) – redbull.com
3. Coca-Cola (Austria): Manufacturer's information on caffeine content, answers to frequently asked customer questions (as of 2026) – coca-cola.com

All quantities for daily amounts, individual doses, pregnancy, children, and sleep, as well as the example amounts per serving, are based on [1], rendered in German in substance. The information about Red Bull comes from [2], and the information about Coca-Cola from [3]. Information about the INFINITY DNA test comes from mybody®x product pages and was checked on 14.09.2026.