Canonical data: Every caffeine figure on this page is taken from our label-transcribed caffeine dataset — each number tied to a published label with its source and date. Where a brand publishes no caffeine figure, this page says so rather than guessing.
How much caffeine is in cold brew? Across the black, ready-to-drink cold brews whose labels we transcribed, caffeine runs from 125 mg to 320 mg per container or labelled serving, and from 10.4 mg to 26.7 mg per fluid ounce. Bare Brew is 320 mg in a 12 fl oz can — 26.7 mg per fluid ounce — and all of it comes from the coffee itself.
Below is every product whose label we could actually read, named by SKU, because a brand's 8 fl oz can and its 48 fl oz bottle are genuinely different drinks. Where a brand publishes nothing, we say "not published" instead of borrowing a number from an aggregator. Transcribed 22 September 2026.
Caffeine by SKU: black, unsweetened ready-to-drink cold brew
Sorted by caffeine per fluid ounce, which is the only like-for-like measure once container sizes differ. Every product here is black coffee with no added sweetener and no dairy unless the notes say otherwise.
| Brand | SKU (size + variant) | Caffeine as labelled | mg per fl oz | Sugar (g) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bare Brew | Cold Brew, black — 12 fl oz can | 320 mg per can | 26.7 | 0 | Two ingredients: Honduran Arabica and water. 20 calories, 5 g total carbohydrate |
| Wandering Bear | Original Black — 8 fl oz can | 200 mg per can | 25.0 | 0 | — |
| Wandering Bear | Original Black — 32 fl oz carton | 150 mg per 6 fl oz serving | 25.0 | 0 | Label is written per 6 fl oz serving, not per carton |
| RISE Brewing | Original Black — 11 fl oz can | 270 mg per can | 24.5 | 0 | — |
| Starbucks | Cold Brew Black Unsweetened — 40 fl oz bottle | 255 mg per 12 fl oz serving | 21.3 | 0 | Multi-serve bottle; label is written per 12 fl oz serving |
| Death Wish | Cold Brew Unsweetened — 48 fl oz bottle | 250–265 mg per 12 fl oz serving | 20.8–22.1 | 0 | Label states a range. The manufacturer does not describe this product as adding caffeine |
| Bizzy | Organic Medium Roast — 48 fl oz bottle | 250 mg per 12 fl oz serving | 20.8 | 0 | — |
| High Brew | Black Triple Shot — 11 fl oz can | 225 mg per can | 20.5 | 0 | — |
| La Colombe | Black Unsweetened — 11 fl oz can | 220 mg per can | 20.0 | 1 | — |
| High Brew | Nitro Cold Brew, black — 10 fl oz can | 200 mg per can | 20.0 | 0 | — |
| La Colombe | Cold Brew, black — 9 fl oz can | 180 mg per can | 20.0 | 1 | — |
| High Brew | Black & Bold — 8 fl oz can | 140 mg per can | 17.5 | 0 | Cane sugar is a declared ingredient on this SKU |
| Starbucks | Nitro Cold Brew Black Unsweetened — 9.6 fl oz can | 155 mg per can | 16.1 | 0 | — |
| STōK | Un-Sweet Black — 48 fl oz bottle | 125 mg per 12 fl oz serving | 10.4 | 0 | Multi-serve bottle; label is written per 12 fl oz serving |
Products that publish no caffeine figure
These are widely compared and widely mis-quoted. In each case we checked the brand's own product page and packaging and found no caffeine declaration, so this page states none. Any figure you see circulating for these products is an aggregator estimate, not a label.
| Brand | SKU | Caffeine | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chameleon | Black Ready-to-Drink — 10 fl oz (UPC 851220003605) | Not published | Absent from the product page, the brand FAQ and all four label photographs |
| Chameleon | Cold Brew Concentrate — 32 fl oz | Not published | A concentrate: the drinker controls dilution, so a per-serving figure would be meaningless |
| Califia Farms | Pure Black, Medium Roast | Not published | Califia's own FAQ explicitly declines to state a caffeine figure |
| Starbucks | Cold Brew Black Unsweetened — 11 fl oz bottle | Not published | No declaration on this SKU, unlike the 40 fl oz bottle and the 9.6 fl oz nitro can |
| Peet's | Baridi Black | Not published | — |
| Dunkin' | Ready-to-drink cans and bottles | Not published | Widely quoted Dunkin' numbers are for in-store cups, not packaged product |
Four further products — Explorer, Black Rifle Just Black, STōK Extra Bold Black and Bizzy Light Roast — are not in our transcription pass, so this page states no figure for them either. They will be added once a label is in hand.
Why we removed numbers from this page rather than adjusting them. This table previously carried figures for several products whose brands publish nothing, including a per-ounce figure for Chameleon's 10 fl oz RTD. Those figures traced back to third-party aggregators rather than to a label. A sourced "not published" is more useful than a confident guess, so that is what the table now says.
Read per fluid ounce, not per can. A 6 fl oz serving at 25.0 mg per fluid ounce and a 12 fl oz can at 26.7 mg per fluid ounce are close in strength and far apart in total dose. Both numbers are in the table because you need both: concentration tells you how strong the coffee is, total tells you how much caffeine you actually drink.
Two ingredients. 320mg. Zero sugar.
320mg of clean caffeine per 12 fl oz can, 0g sugar, 20 calories, and a two-ingredient label: Honduran Arabica coffee and water. Shelf-stable, ships in 24 hours.
Add a 12-pack — $4.50/can →$8.99 flat shipping on every order — no minimums · 30-day money-back guarantee
Why the numbers vary so much
Cold brew uses a higher coffee-to-water ratio than drip — typically 1:5 to 1:8, against drip's 1:15 to 1:18 — and steeps for 12 to 18 hours instead of four minutes. More grounds and more contact time means more caffeine extracted. That is the whole mechanism.
It also means caffeine in coffee is genuinely variable. The FDA puts regular brewed coffee at 113–247 mg per 12 fl oz — a better than twofold spread driven by bean, roast, grind and ratio. Any single number for "a cup of coffee" is a midpoint, not a guarantee. A canned product is the opposite: the dose is fixed and printed on the label, which is the main practical argument for buying it in a can — provided the brand prints it at all, and several do not.
Natural caffeine vs added caffeine
Caffeine in cold brew occurs naturally in the coffee bean. Energy drinks typically use caffeine anhydrous, manufactured separately and added in. Caffeine from coffee arrives alongside the other compounds in the bean: chlorogenic acids, antioxidants, and the rest of the matrix that came with it. Added caffeine arrives on its own.
Bare Brew's 320 mg comes entirely from the coffee — Honduran Arabica and filtered water, two ingredients, nothing added. We do not characterise other coffee brands' caffeine as added unless their own label or manufacturer says so.
Is 320 mg of caffeine safe?
The FDA considers up to 400 mg per day generally safe for healthy adults. One 12 fl oz Bare Brew at 320 mg sits inside that. Individual tolerance varies, and anyone pregnant, nursing, or sensitive to caffeine should talk to a clinician. We recommend one can a day.
How caffeine actually works
Caffeine blocks adenosine receptors, which is why it reduces the feeling of tiredness rather than adding energy. It also increases dopamine signalling, which is the focus and mood effect. Blood levels peak 30 to 60 minutes after drinking and effects last four to six hours depending on your metabolism.
The spike-and-crash people blame on caffeine is usually sugar. Strip the sugar and the additives out and what is left is the caffeine curve on its own.
How we sourced this
Every figure above is transcribed from a published label or nutrition panel, tied to a specific SKU and size, and normalized to milligrams per fluid ounce. Nothing on this page comes from a nutrition database, a retailer listing, or a third-party aggregator. Where a brand publishes a range, we publish the range. Where a brand publishes nothing, the row says "not published" and carries no number.
The full sourced record — product, size, figure, source and date — lives in our label-transcribed caffeine dataset, which is the single source of truth for every caffeine figure on this site.
Nutrition panels get reformulated without notice. This page was transcribed on 22 September 2026 and is re-checked on a recurring basis. If you find a figure that has changed, tell us at miles@drinkbarebrew.com and we will correct it.
The short version
Among the black cold brew SKUs whose labels we transcribed, caffeine runs 125–320 mg per container or labelled serving, and 10.4–26.7 mg per fluid ounce. Bare Brew is 320 mg in a 12 fl oz can, or 26.7 mg per fluid ounce, with two ingredients, no added caffeine, no sweetener and no dairy. Several widely compared products — Chameleon's 10 fl oz RTD and 32 fl oz concentrate, Califia's Pure Black, Starbucks' 11 fl oz bottle, Peet's Baridi Black and Dunkin's RTD line — publish no caffeine figure at all, and this page does not invent one for them.
Two ingredients. 320mg. Zero sugar.
Bare Brew is cold brew for people who read labels. Try a 12-pack at $4.50/can.
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