This Starbucks Iced Coffee Boasts The Most Caffeine

I know a thing or two about the most caffeinated iced beverage on the menu at Starbucks — it's been my coffee order everyday for almost a decade and I really don't know how I would have graduated college without it! My friends, this Starbucks iced coffee is a grande nitro cold brew, coming in at 280 milligrams of caffeine. In comparing the caffeine content in other grande sized (16-ounce) iced coffees from Starbucks, an iced coffee contains 185 milligrams of caffeine, a standard cold brew contains 205 milligrams of caffeine, while both an iced americano and an iced shaken espresso come the closest in caffeine content to a nitro cold brew, containing 225 milligrams. If you're thinking the infusion of nitrogen is somehow what contributes to the high amount of caffeine, this is actually not why.

Similar to the purpose of nitrogen infused into some draft beers, when the nitrogen gas is added to coffee,  it creates tiny bubbles that don't dissolve easily, so the result when poured from a tap is an ultra creamy foam texture that settles a few inches from the surface and a mellow, slightly sweet flavor that resembles this 2-ingredient sweet topper for iced coffee. That's it — that's all the nitrogen is doing in a nitro cold brew. The caffeine is coming from Starbucks' original cold brew before the nitrogen is added. And although a nitro cold brew is considered an iced coffee, by default it's not actually served with ice because it can deflate the nitrogen. This allows for a higher volume of coffee to be poured, which automatically yields a higher amount of caffeine.

If you're not familiar with how cold brew is generally made, whether it's store-bought or from a coffee shop, coffee grounds are steeped in room-temperature or cold water for 12 to 24 hours on average. The coffee is then strained, with the final product being a coffee concentrate. Since it's concentrated, it now has a higher caffeine content and an overwhelming strong flavor, which is why the concentrate is then diluted with water during preparation. Starbucks steeps its cold brew for 20 hours and then dilutes the concentration with water at a one to one ratio when ordered. Aside from caffeine, the other added bonus of brewing coffee cold is a smoother, less acidic, and less bitter flavor like what is found in hot brewed coffee. These tasting notes and textures are complemented perfectly with the addition of nitrogen.

Although an iced quad shot of espresso is not a default menu item at Starbucks, it would technically put a grande nitro cold brew in second place, as the four shots alone contain 300 milligrams of caffeine before being served over ice. If a grande nitro cold brew was poured over ice, about a third to half the volume of coffee would decrease, depending on how much ice is added, therefore drastically reducing the amount of caffeine and making many of Starbucks' other iced coffee drinks better options for caffeine. However, if you'd like to cheat the system, as I do, then you can steal my coffee order and ask for a grande nitro cold brew poured over ice in a venti cup.