Calories in Coffee
A cup of black coffee is 2 kcal. Nearly every coffee calorie comes from milk, sugar and syrup, not from coffee.
2 calories in a cup of black coffee
A 240 ml cup of brewed black coffee carries about 2 kcal. For practical purposes it is zero: you would need more than 500 cups to reach a day of energy. The calories in coffee almost never come from coffee — they come from what is added.
| Drink | Portion | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Brewed black coffee | 240 ml | 2 |
| Espresso | 1 shot, 30 ml | 2 |
| Instant coffee, black | 240 ml | ~5 |
| Americano | 355 ml | ~5 |
| Coffee + 30 ml whole milk + 2 tsp sugar | 270 ml | ~52 |
| Cappuccino, whole milk | 12 oz, 355 ml | ~150 |
| Latte, whole milk | 12 oz, 355 ml | 190 |
| Latte, skim milk | 12 oz, 355 ml | ~100 |
| Mocha with whipped cream | 12 oz | ~300 |
What adds the calories
| Addition | kcal | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar, 1 tsp | 16 | 4 g of sugar |
| Sugar, 1 tbsp | 48 | Most café sachets are 2–4 g |
| Flavoured syrup, 1 pump | ~20 | Vanilla, caramel, hazelnut |
| Whole milk, 30 ml | 18 | Skim milk is about 10 |
| Half & half, 1 tbsp | 20 | |
| Heavy cream, 1 tbsp | 52 | Where "just a splash" gets expensive |
| Whipped cream, 1 tbsp | ~10 | A café serving is usually 4–6 tbsp |
Ordering a large latte with two syrup pumps is roughly 230 kcal — a snack, not a drink. The same coffee black is 2 kcal. The choice is entirely in the additions.
Caffeine, briefly
- Amount: brewed coffee is about 95 mg per 240 ml; a single espresso shot about 63 mg; a 12 oz latte 120–150 mg depending on the shop.
- Limit: 400 mg a day is the usual guidance for healthy adults — about four cups. Pregnancy guidance is lower, around 200 mg.
- Half-life: roughly five hours, so a 16:00 cup still has a quarter of its caffeine in your system at midnight. That matters more for sleep than for calories.
- Metabolism: the effect on energy expenditure is real but small, and tolerance develops within days. Coffee is not a weight-loss tool.
What a drink costs in movement
A black coffee is 50 steps. That is not a useful comparison — which is the point: the calories are negligible, and treating coffee as a problem distracts from the milk and sugar.
For a 190 kcal latte at 70 kg: about 4,750 steps, or 16 minutes of running. Three of those a week is the equivalent of an extra meal.
Coffee is not hydration-neutral in practice. The mild diuretic effect is offset by the fluid in the drink, especially at habitual intakes. The real risks are sleep disruption when drunk late, and the sugar load when it is served as a dessert.
Questions
Does coffee break a fast?
Black coffee has about 2 kcal and does not meaningfully raise insulin, so most people treat it as compatible with a fast. Milk, sugar, syrup and cream do break it — and a "bulletproof" coffee with butter is a 200 kcal meal.
Is decaf lower in calories?
Essentially the same, around 2 kcal a cup. Decaffeinated coffee is not a lower-calorie drink; it is the same drink without the stimulant.
Why does my café latte taste sweeter than 190 kcal?
Because many cafés use whole milk and add syrup by default, and a "medium" is often 16 oz rather than 12. A 16 oz whole-milk latte with two pumps is closer to 300 kcal.
Does coffee raise blood pressure?
Acutely, yes, by a few points in people who do not drink it regularly. Habitual drinkers develop tolerance, and long-term effects are small. If your blood pressure is being managed, ask your clinician rather than relying on a calculator.