Caffeine Testing Canned Coffee

[@janklausa]

For those confused about the Korean pouches - they're sold in convenience stores there, with cups of ice available separately. The idea is that you buy a cup of ice _and_ the pouch (or maybe the ice comes free with the pouch? I forget.) and combine them yourself. The idea behind is that you can save quite a lot of shelf (and fridge!) space by not having to have each "drink" in a can/bottle.

[@bosstowndynamics5488]

You can definitely save fridge space since you can store it at room temperature, but I'm skeptical those bulky pouches take up less space than the cans. Just the comparison between the first 2, the strongest canned coffee looked much smaller but was actually larger than the strongest pouch option. Remember a can is nearly completely full and stacks fairly well while a pouch has to be tapered so that it can stand up.

[@elimik31]

I'm always surprised a bit how much Koreans are into iced coffee ("iced americano", or 아아/AA ), which seems to be the standard there. I have a Korean partner and she was very disappointed that some European cafés don't offer iced drinks, even in summer. On the other hand Korea seems to have a big coffee culture, so I hope to visit soon and see what good specialty coffee there is, beyond just iced americano.

[@Shocker99]

I thought it was the coffee equivalent to a wine in a bag - keeping it classy 😂

[@rinzor]

@@Shocker99I was hoping it was more the “capri sun” of coffees, to be drunk with a straw.

[@blakksheep736]

​@@rinzor side question: does Capri Sun contain any juice? Like any whatsoever? I always felt that it tastes like a weak cleaning reagent, and that's at best. At worst it makes me want to throw up.

[@Maduc]

The fact we still don't require caffeine content on nutrition labels is wild to me. I wish I could tell how much I'd consume especially now after this video I know how dramatically it can vary. I love caffeine but I'm also sensitive enough to it that once it's past, say, 2pm I need to know how much I'm about to have.

[@lordoftherats2387]

Here in Sweden it's always shown, crazy that it's not standard in the world.

[@Bigdude0444]

Maybe it's my state but I also saw it in PR. They do show the caffeine in any drink that may have it from what I've noticed. Edit: just grabbed a brisk bottle, on the bottom of the nutrition label, "Caffeine content: 11mg/12fl oz; 30mg/1L"

[@joanbriceno2327]

In the US most drinks have the caffeine content right under the nutrition label or right next to it, from coca cola, teas to obviously energy drinks. Surprised other countries don't do that honestly.

[@joebob2311productions]

@@Bigdude0444 Some drinks where I live do this as well, but its really inconvenient when the can is like 330 ml or 410 ml

[@Tef164]

They have it on labels in Canada. I just thought that was pretty standard everywhere

[@real_kdbanman]

If this doesn’t come with a taste test of each, I will be devastated. EDIT: Tasting. No complaining. Devastated.

[@Triv1umxxx]

I am equally devastated.

[@ColinCarFan]

I agreed with you initially but seeing James' face contort when he tasted almost every one of them, I now think it would be cruel to ask him to taste again!

[@stephenlee5929]

@@ColinCarFan Yes, so he should be asked.

[@ricardo.mazeto]

That's not the purpose of the video.

[@CaveyMoth]

Not enough slurping.

[@Emily-fh8en]

As someone who is extremely sensitive to caffeine and takes meds that interact with it I find it really important to know how much caffeine is in a drink. I wish it would be listed in large print by the nutrition label not hiding at the bottom in 5 point font

[@worawatli8952]

I am very surprised to know that it is not common practice in other countries, it's required by law to display caffeine contents in Thailand as it is considered "health risk". People overdose on energy drinks and coffee, especially people working overtime or driving jobs, so they display it along with daily recommendation, so people can add up if they went beyond limit or not by consuming more of it.

[@coreypowers2988]

Hiding in 5pt font and that's only if it's even there! I always check and just avoid it if it doesn't have it printed - some companies definitely lose business by not testing/printing it

[@ruleset]

@@worawatli8952 damn, Thailand seems so far ahead of everyone and they're drink, it's dangerous to drink so much caffeine because you depend on it, that's how accidents happen, when you don't function correctly or at all and fall asleep

[@veganpotterthevegan]

​@@rulesetfew people will ever have a dangerous experience with caffeine. Walking and driving is significantly more likely to really harm someone

[@ruleset]

@@veganpotterthevegan driving while severaly underslept and relying on 5 cups of coffee to keep you awake IS dangerous, which is what of the America does

[@kubagornowicz]

Japanese coffee vending machines was something I really missed after a trip to Tokyo. Especially the fact, that they were heated - you can first warm your hands holding the can.

[@AAARREUUUGHHHH]

They're heated?! That's amazing.

[@ficus3929]

They’re both heated and cooled. If it’s a hot day they’re cold, if it’s a cold day they’re hot.

[@ita.p]

@@AAARREUUUGHHHH It's genius. Both in vending machines and there are heated shelves on the aisles of convenience stores

[@peter_smyth]

I didn't like the hot ones. Maybe the drink just tastes better cold, but I suspect being kept hot for an extended period harms the flavour.

[@chucklebutt4470]

@@ita.p Heated shelves blows my friggin mind! That's amazing. I'm picturing those things that keep the whole chickens hot in grocery stores stocked with coffee but I'm sure they're not that hot lol.

[@lighttells8048]

Hi James, thank you for using our meter for testing the caffeine. The reagent-coffee-mixed sample is recommended to cover the whole white square area on the chip to get more precise result. For your reference.

[@AS-wi6hr]

Just a question, does your machine work equally with 'milk+coffe'/'black coffee' {water+coffee}/energy drinks?

[@charizable]

9:16 Now that's my dream too. I would love to see James taste all of the canned coffee in Japan.

[@MeteorMark]

And Japanese Gin & Whisky at Bar Fishbowl in Kyoto 😉

[@nicodarkly]

I would love to join James for tasting all of the Japanese canned coffee...

[@Mertl.]

I’m an analytical chemist and one thing my lab does for pharmaceutical products is determining a release profile. Would be interesting to see the caffeine levels during different time points of an extraction

[@singerofsongss]

I’m a materials scientist who takes an extended-release medication every day, and I’ve always wondered about how my medication was developed and tested. Would you mind sharing a little bit about what your lab does?

[@Mertl.]

@@singerofsongss sure! We’re not on the development side, rather the qc side of things, but when we have an ER medication, we drop them in what’s called a dissolution apparatus, and have a sampler take pulls from them as they dissolve in some form of liquid. We then analyze the sample across different times to make sure the drug is releasing as intended (example: 24 hour extended release medication should only reach 100% released by the end of run, and the 3hr sample should be less than 20%)

[@Repsyzz]

I'm an analytical chemist as well, let's goooooo

[@iemozzomei]

I second this, anecdotally I've found tea impacts me over a very long period compared to coffee, but I need a substantially greater amount of tea for the same impact.

[@R-pu8my]

He did this in a previous video from last year!

[@isocle]

I feel like it is a missed opportunity to not show us how the actual caffiene content compares to the contents on the label.

[@eschybach]

I'm sure that's something an overachiever/curious community member could research and post below us!

[@bosstowndynamics5488]

A lot of these don't actually tell you, that's what James was discussing at the end

[@eschybach]

@@bosstowndynamics5488 definitely true, a frustration I've discovered first hand. But some do!

[@BSaunders87]

Cool to see that at least the La Colombe came in right on the nose.

[@Naabeille]

Where I live companies have to put the caffeine content on the can (it’s a law) so at first I thought exactly that, and then I realized it’s probably not like that everywhere. It seems wild to me, I always check the caffeine content of my drinks since I am quite sensitive to it. I am not sure what I would do if I lived elsewhere 😂

[@eclairamisu2517]

In Germany we have a variety of canned coffee ever since Starbucks decided to sell them in supermarkets. Funnily enough almost every supermarket chain nowadays stocks their own brand of canned coffee and while they mostly taste quite tame compared to any kind of freshly brewed coffee, a lot of them aren't bad at all. Given the massive popularity of specialty coffee in Berlin, quite a few of the roasteries nowadays also have their own canned cold brew (or similar) in stock and there taste tends to be a lot more intense an puristic. Overall I would love to see this series continue and James do a comparison of them.

[@mju135]

Which Berlin roasters have canned cold brew? Haven't seen any at the large roasters like Bonanza, Barn, Five Elephant, or Flying Roasters.

[@eclairamisu2517]

@@mju135 I saw fridges with bottled cold brew at several roasteries over the years. Don't know the places or names anymore though, only that it happened more often in summer. Might be a seasonal thing but I bet there are still a bunch of roasteries offering bottled cold brew even now. I'll be sure to update this when I see some again.

[@agwasp]

There’s a certain beauty to watching a man unintentionally drink undiluted coffee ‘squash’

[@mussdem]

When it said (I believe) there is 10 cups per that bottle on the front I figured it was concentrate.

[@bluedaisy352]

I saw 割るだけ and immediately thought "oh no, that couldn't have been good"

[@rollingtroll]

Actually in one of those tiny squash bottles... That's not a bad idea.

[@imightbebiased9311]

I'm fairly certain that I have in fact, just straight up drank one of those before on accident. :D

[@hongkongdad928]

The comedic timing of him being surprised at how caffeinated it was, and us seeing the bottle's label is hilarious

[@danielstewart5208]

You know the coffee is kicking in when James starts talking faster

[@Doooshty]

Most things in the US have caffeine indicated on the label. Soda, energy drinks, canned coffee. It has the amount per serving and per bottle/can

[@mattrivera9210]

I was going to say the same thing. I imagine the UK would also have some type of transparency when it came to what is inside their drinks.

[@MeiinUK]

@@mattrivera9210: But then again... UK's imported goods.. both legitimate and legal... as well as illegitimate and illegal are sound bloomin everywhere in the UK. So now.. you are in that bad territories of "hit and miss" place. GODDAMN the people who do this kind of sly thing!!!!! (For the record, I burned a hole in my stomach once... and had to go to A&E.) I finally tweaked what's happened. If you don't trust the pre-manufactured items. Then best to buy fresh produce and eat that instead.

[@notactuallymyrealname]

So interesting, thank you! I haven't been much of a canned coffee drinker because where I am in the US, the Stumptown cold brew is kind of the standard, and I drank one of those one day and I could hear colors. I'm happy to learn that I'm not the most caffeine-sensitive person in the state.

[@aleksandrakrupina4680]

Taking Japanese coffee?!!! Yes please! I got hooked on canned coffee during my trip to Japan and it was so fun to taste all the different kinds. There is soooo much more variety there and I would love to see James go through them!

[@tewaewae]

I've lived here over 25 yrs and haven't had a canned coffee for nearly 20. Pretty horrible stuff.

[@rh9909]

I only drink those when I'm too hurry for eveb brewing 1 cup, and/or when weird things comes out. Recently the muscat grape latte is my go to. (There are just too many good local roasters to not buy from.)

[@dananskidolf]

Isn't it marvellous? :) It was delightful and convenient having these everywhere in the vending machines that do both cold and hot cans! Plus they're like 70p... I'm used to vending machines only being there to extort people at train stations. In terms of quality, I generally preferred them to 7/11's hot jug of filter, but it's not at all the same experience as a specialty coffee.

[@tewaewae]

@@dananskidolf 7_11 has fresh ground and brewed coffee here for cheaper than a can from a vending machine. It's not sitting in a jug

[@dananskidolf]

@@tewaewae Huh, I have a mental image of it as seen through the window of a 7/11 in Osaka, but might be misremembering, it's been a good six years or so. Hope to go back again soon, so I'll get a chance to try many things again. :)

[@macmcleod1188]

This is a fantastic, "Project Farm" level video. We need more people like you guys doing indendent testing and publishing the facts to be informed consumers.

[@Shocker99]

James is far better than PF because he actually knows what he's talking about when it comes to coffee. PF has clearly never used a lot of the type of products he tests. Half of the tests are nonsense and the final results table can be taken with a pinch of salt. James does spot on testing with a well thought out conclusion.

[@macmcleod1188]

@@Shocker99 Going to have to disagree with you on Project Farm. He sets up tests, explains how you can duplicate them, the tests always test things I want to know about the products. Not surprised to find someone dislikes him tho. 5% of people will hate anything- they'll even hate it if you give them a free $20 bill. At 5% of people will love anything-- even the worst drek. That's just human nature.

[@Doooshty]

@@macmcleod1188 I agree. He's very thorough. He may not have experience using everything but he's good enough at engineering and smart enough to create entertaining and useful tests that provide useful results you can use to compare products

[@Shocker99]

@@macmcleod1188 You clearly don't use the any of the products he tests. You also don't engage your brain to think about how relevant a test is for the product or the importance of one specification over another. I've seen a video where he didn't test half of the products for a particular test even though they would have done the job perfectly fine. I've seen videos where he tests products for applications they were never designed for and rated them badly, whilst not doing the same the other way around. Not surprised to find you drink PF's cool aid. of people will always drink the cool aid of a person - they'll even drink the cool aid if the person killed their family.

[@macmcleod1188]

@@Shocker99 yes I do and since your first response was personal insults I'm going to mute notifications from your account now. What a jerk

[@AAARREUUUGHHHH]

I totally agree that caffeine levels should be listed. They are in the UK anyway. But as a drug enjoyer, it's absolutely essential to know what dosage of anything I'm putting in my body.

[@BrettVano]

I agree! Caffeine content should be prominently featured on packaging! Thanks for your review.

[@Orodrethxvx]

At least here in the US, caffeine content is generally listed on most if not all beverages containing caffeine. It is something I look at whenever it’s available

[@DrMcCoy]

Here in Germany as well. In fact, it's a EU regulation that mandates it for "high caffeine" (more than 150 mg/l) products, EU 1169/2011.

[@danydaib12]

I'd love to see Australia and New Zealand included in future region comparisons. The coffee culture here is really big (There's at least 7 coffee roasters within a 10 minute drive from my house, in North Auckland, New Zealand), and I really wonder how different it is over here compared to the rest of the world

[@johntaylor4193]

I doubt its much different honestly, specialty coffee or corporate coffee

[@duncanwilson5262]

Was just thinking this. Now i can't speak to their sample size representing their variety on shelves, but we have easily more than twice the variety of these just on the 2 big supermarkets' shelves, and if im remembering correctly almost all of them have caffeine content specified on their labels.

[@liamscotchmer7668]

@@johntaylor4193what’s corporate coffee? And which roasters are corporate coffee companies?

[@Kitsunelanie]

heh heh. coffee culture

[@meremeth]

I don't see any Australian roasters doing mass produced ready to drink products in Sydney. It's all products from international brands like Starbucks, BOSS & minor figures. Sydney's cafe culture is too strong for supermarket coffee to really take off I think.

[@rebeccawiens4224]

Maybe this is just a Canadian regulation, but all the caffeinated drinks I've seen come with strict labelling requirements. Even chain restaurants have to say how much caffeine is in their products. If you got a hold of some Canadian coffee products, I'd be really interested to see you do a test and compare the caffeine content to the labelled amount.

[@FlashGeiger]

I buy a little can labelled Mr Brown coffee and it doesn't have a caffeine content listed. Imported from King Car in Taiwan and labelled or Canadian stores.

[@d.b.cooper1869]

In US they all say it

[@lanskandal1181]

​@@FlashGeigerI was hoping that brand would be included in the video, alas.

[@worawatli8952]

In my country, Thailand, the FDA required canned coffee displaying its caffeine content in mg/ml on the label, so we have a comprehensive chart of caffeine contents, the strongest one is insane, really make your heart rate increase immediately.

[@MrIanrocks]

Fascinating to watch-I would’ve expected all of the US products to have their caffeine content listed, and when traveling I’ve both under and over caffeinated myself because I didn’t really know what I was drinking

[@jcnash02]

Many US products do have it on the label.

[@coreypowers2988]

​@@jcnash02I find it a toss up for canned coffees. It's only required to be listed if it added so many don't have it. Interestingly the smaller coffee companies are more likely to have it printed (Starbucks/Dunkin don't have it labeled on their canned/bottled coffee drinks - just the energy drinks)

[@MrCrunch808]

@@jcnash02 All brands that consider their drink to be an "energy drink" have it listed on the can. Starbucks only lists the caffeine content on their triple shot can which is 225mg. There is a lack of caffeine content labeling in the US though.

[@andrewsimms3426]

There are some pretty good quality Australian canned/ bottled coffee drinks from specialty coffee roasters. Some have found their way into major supermarkets which is handy when your caffine deprived and in an area with dodgy coffee! Also those cold drip concentrates are great to take camping. Just pour a shot, top up with water and grab a couple of ice cubes out of the esky and you have yourself an refreshing and easy beverage.

[@sandrahuibers8081]

What is an Esky? I assume it's a cooler?

[@ianabeck]

You nailed it in one 🙃

[@Viniter]

7:36 In case you wonder about the caffeine content of diluted drink for the Boss Cafe concentrate, with 1+4 dilution it would be 21.8 mg/100 ml, placing it last in the line-up.

[@secium6967]

I'm from Korea and thanks for covering our canned coffee! personally I think our canned coffee tastes terrible but this is a pleasant surprise😊 + i usually drink TOP or americanos from cheap cafes to get caffeinated the most famous coffee drink for caffeine is the coffee milk from CU and I thought that was quite strong until I traveled to Japan recently😂

[@user-hs1dd4tc7t]

I never thought they're that bad, considering canned coffee only goes so far. I wish he ranked them by taste, though, so I can choose without having to taste test all of them myself cos there's just so many..

[@convection20]

​@user-hs1dd4tc7t yeah I really wish this was a taste test instead of caffeine test

[@Adamsmasher23]

I always check the label to see if it lists the caffeine content. This is especially helpful now that I don't regularly consume caffeine, but even when I did, given how much variation there is, it's pretty important to know.

[@low-key2520]

As an Aussie, I really want a video about the coffee culture in Aus and comparing coffee between the states of Australia, because I think it’d be fascinating to hear James Hoffman’s, certified Weird Coffee Person’s, thoughts and opinions.

[@Secretlyanothername]

James, please come to Australia!

[@sandrahuibers8081]

Yes, James please go to Australia so you can tell us about their coffee culture. As a Canadian I want to know.

[@DLisa-yn6re]

For the Japanese selection, the bottle is meant to be diluted. One bottle is the equivalent of 10 cups. It might explain why it tasted so concentrated. For the cans, Boss recently released milk coffees (vanilla latte, caramel latte) that contain around 200 mg of caffeine. Pokka is mainly distributed in vending machines and it is not as good as the overall selection available.

[@sikachu]

I felt like James could do a whole video alone on the canned coffee selection in Japan. Each major drink companies do have their own brand of canned/bottled coffees, and they all sure taste different. I'm not sure honestly if it'd be cheaper for James to fly to Japan to do a taste-test, or shipping all the varieties you find in both supermarket and vending machines to UK 😂

[@ppatternn]

Yeah it's a shame there was so much Pokka.. it's like the worst one I never see anyone drinking it. Its the cheapest tho i guess

[@vincentng4596]

I usually buy Boss Black, its more smooth than cold brews in the USA for some odd reason.

[@scottv1600]

It also skewed the results by not having it dilute - as it was the strongest (by far) of all the products, it also skewed the average caffeine content for Japan way high - 54mg/100ml on average was the average with it non-diluted. As it said on the bottle to dilute it 1:4, if you do that it would be closer to 22 mg/100ml (or 27 is 1:3) - and thus the average for Japan should have been somewhere between 36 and 38 - a little stronger than the UK, significantly stronger than South Korea, but way, way down on the USA

[@PoikSpirit]

The caramel latte from boss you mentioned, that I've referred to by the tagline on the can "Design for Caffeine" since coming back from Japan, is my favorite canned coffee tied with the Rainbow Mountain Blend by Boss as well. The rainbow one, I think, is the same one they used to call "Espresso" when I was in Japan in 2014. Took years to get them overseas in the kind of rural area I'm in, but I hope the Design for Caffeine line is successful enough to make it over here too.

[@brekkoh]

I wish he would have put a comparison next to each measured test as to the advertised level of caffeine on the packaging, because that's really all we have to go on as a consumer.

[@BeaBea-54]

most of them dont list it which is the problem he talks about at the end

[@cody9430]

Usually the Korean coffees include the caffeine amounts on the packaging! Would be interesting to see if they align with your tests. Look for the Korean text 카페인

[@drjello777]

As someone who is from Portland and has had those Stumptown coldbrews many times, I knew based on feeling not taste that they were quite strong compared to other coffees. Quite liked this video!

[@karlcrash]

As much as I love specialty coffee, my (now to so) secret shame when I have an *ahem* alcohol induce headache is the Starbucks Caramel Frappacino thing. Looking forward to finding out more!

[@surrealchemist]

We need like an Anthony Bourdain style James Hoffman travelogue in asia exploring the local coffee culture and then doing all the taste tests.

[@scmstr]

Results by country: UK: 6:20 Japan: 9:22 Korea: 11:55 USA: 15:47 Country-average comparison: 16:14

[@insederec]

As somebody with a caffeine restriction and a love of coffee, this is EXACTLY the sort of content I love to see.

[@TonyNaggs]

Interested to learn of the Minor Figures black coffee cans. 👍 As someone with a milk allergy it has been very frustrating to only find milk or milk substitute ready to drink products in the UK. Such a contrast with visits to Japan and USA, where the black coffee products dominate.

[@meganrolfe7703]

Jimmys has an oat latte in a green bottle which is really yummy!!

[@kg-Whatthehelliseventhat]

9:27 James, please come to Japan. Last weekend my wife and I went to a coffee festival. It was great. We need you here. I try so share a bit of coffee when I home roast and there are many people who love coffee but do not yet understand the importance of ratio, grind size and other variables. Much love from Kanazawa, Japan.

[@xadian101]

In Poland all our caffeinated beverages in stores come with the caffeine content on the label. I thought that was fairly standard The Starbuck espresso is stated to be 32 and the frapuccino is 20 so good to know that it checks out 😊

[@Shocker99]

per ml or per can/bottle? The Starbucks Frapuccino James has should state 27ml/10ml on the bottle. I'm drinking one as i watch the video - it's also UK bought.

[@lunasophia9002]

It's standard in civilized countries, yes. Meanwhile, the US

[@vaelophisnyx9873]

it's standard in the US too, just...he didn't...look? (they're also possibly lying since no one ever double checks) @@lunasophia9002

[@mortisCZ]

I think it might be mandatory in EU as we have them too in Czechia.

[@kira-chan9676]

​@@mortisCZGermany as well. So it probably being an EU thing checks out.

[@Continuity]

I don't know when or why, but there was a high-caffeine boom in Korea, and as they boast, all coffees have the caffeine amount written on them. And pouch coffee is the cheapest coffee you can find at convenience stores. Even high-caffeine coffee milk was popular. Korea is a country obsessed with coffee, with the world's second-largest coffee consumption and world's third-largest coffee importer.

[@boy638]

Would love to see a red herring where the whole lineup is decaffeinated coffee

[@tomvedstedvonsild3137]

Would love this - I have a sneaking suspicion that "decaffinated" coffee varies quite a lot

[@laylakhoney]

Never thought I'd see j-hope on this channel, so that's a pleasant surprise. Also very interesting to note the Korean coffees have a significantly lower amount of caffeine, and makes sense in a lot of ways.

[@kylelanger8611]

There really needs to be more prominent caffeine labels on things, especially in the US. There was a case very recently where someone just died from presumably drinking too much caffeine from a certain chain here in the US. They have warnings in that store now, but it shouldn’t take a death for that to happen

[@JohnA...]

"shouldn't take a death for that to happen", and it usually doesn't take one death for that to happen... it usually take 100s if not 1000s, or a substantial lawsuit. And even then it depends on if the profit out weighs the fines.

[@spamcan9208]

Came to the comments section looking for this. I wish humans were more proactive but sadly it usually takes something bad happening to create the impetus for change.

[@billc7211]

Warning labels mostly are ignored. If someone feels like abusing a product, they do. Take alcohol for example. However, that said, I do wish the actual caffeine levels were listed. I can get all the other nutritional info off the can, so adding caffeine to the list doesn’t seem like a stretch.

[@cM-np3no]

That charged lemonade is dope though

[@skeetsmcgrew3282]

I find it hard to believe a label would have changed anything. As if someone who takes a lethal dose of caffeine would be like "Idk bro, 2000mg sounds like a lot." Fun fact, it used to be common for bars to have BAC meters so people could drive safely, but it ended up being used for drinking competitions so they are almost all gone now.

[@fscottqc]

I’m part of a taste/odor panel for the company I work for. We use pure, diluted caffeine as a bitter taste marker or standard. The taste of caffeine is quite bitter on its own, but otherwise nondescript. In these concentrations, it would be hard to discern apart from the bitterness of the roast. I think if you can assume a standard caffeine content of the beans, a person might be able to tell brew strength and associate that with caffeine content. But I don’t think there is much chance of tasting the caffeine strength difference inside a drink that is already bitter otherwise. Thanks for the great content and experiments as always!

[@veganmonter]

I am curious about the results. On road-trips I have bought some of the products shown and my heart felt like it was about to jump out of my chest.

[@thekeywitness]

I live in Seoul and I've never noticed any coffee products in pouches. Granted, I hardly ever buy "canned" coffees with so many coffee shops around (literally everywhere you look). I was recently in Japan and resorted to canned coffee a lot because I was in rural areas. I have to say the best tasting I had was Tully's Barista Black. I did not notice the caffeine content.

[@p1mason]

I'd like to see you do Australian coffee. Granted, it'd be tricky because most prepacked coffee here is a refrigerated product. I think you'd find a broad range of caffeine. Brands describing themselves as "iced coffee" (eg ice break, dare, farmers union) offering fairly small doses of 10 - 30mg/dL. Meanwhile, brands describing themselves as "cold brew coffee" (eg, hunt and brew, kind coffee, first press) often have doses up round 60-70mg/dL when prepared to bottle directions.

[@AD_AP_T]

One caution with the "iced coffee" flavoured milks: we've got to bear in mind the relatively large serving size. FUIC's standard product is 18mg/dL, but that still comes out to 108 mg/serve, which isn't as trivial as that 18mg/dL might initially imply. I think most of us here view Australian coffee RTDs as falling in two disctinct categories - milk drinks like FUIC and Dare, and "real" coffee like First Press and Hunt & Brew. I'd be really interested if he'd see the same clear distinction, or if he'd categorise them differently again...!

[@p1mason]

@@AD_AP_T I think you are spot on, especially with the two categories. It's a really interesting question that you finish with.

[@remcovanhartevelt588]

I personally began tasting caffeine in products after I had the single taste of caffeine. You have 100% cafeïne monohydrate in the EU for your pre workout convenience, and it is a very distinct taste.

[@agwasp]

Costa’s canned coffee makes me so sad - I used to work there and they insisted we stocked it in store but don’t think we ever sold a can. Who would buy it in a can when they can have it fresh?! Plus it did not taste good… (Although despite it being fast coffee, we care about keeping the quality good for customers! Think the company have lost that a bit in the last few years)

[@billc7211]

I was rooting for Stumpton because I use their bean coffee since it’s one of the very few that puts a roasted on date on the bag and I can get it at the supermarket. Plus I like their flavors.

[@Odseus]

You're missing the best one! Monster 300 French Vanilla. There are way too many people missing out on this. It's so damn good.

[@tejavaroyalmilktea]

fyi: there *is* a government regulation over coffee and caffeine drinks in Korea. All drink which contains caffeine more than 500 ppm must present how much caffeine in it. You may find these infos even in Starbucks Korea homepage.

[@unbindingfloyd]

I like a canned coffee from my home town in Austin Texas called "High Brew". Especially the Mexican Vanilla, Dark chocolate mocha, and the double espresso cans. You might be interested specifically because High Brew does label the caffeine amount on their cans last I checked. I'm not sure if that is a newer thing or if its on some cans and not others. I've just seen it for sure on some of their cans I have gotten before.

[@zaidkidwai7831]

La Colombe is my go to. Really enjoy it personally.

[@MarcusTheDorkus]

I love that at the start of the US round James said he just presumes they're all highly caffeinated because that was exactly what I was thinking. And funny enough, for the Korean ones I had a strong feeling that the one he put last was actually first with absolutely nothing to go on other than the packaging.

[@AudiuX]

Im glad you got Stumptown from USA, its a very good company, their canned drinks dont taste quite as good as bottled, but if you get down and actually have some fresh at the shop its another thing entirely.

[@FriggenCawfee]

Lovely experience James! I love how polite you always are even when something is a rough taste.

[@jonathanpusar5931]

Don’t think the US one was a fair comparison, because those are really high end speciality brands I barely see at retail. The only prepared coffee that does well at mass (Walmart/Target) are ones in the fridge aisle. They’re also mostly cold brew but a fair bit weaker. Energy drinks are far more popular here than canned coffee for single serve, and they probably have on average more caffeine per oz/ml nowadays with 300mg per 500ml can becoming more and more standard.

[@Irithylli]

Korean coffee drinks being low in caffeine makes sense as it's drunk almost like water throughout the day there, more like a tea. People have coffee drinks from morning to night, and coffee is part of almost any time of the day as a drink. Lower caffeine would make that more possible.

[@jaredwallace3852]

As someone who lives in Japan, +1 on the "best canned Japanese coffee tournament" idea. It would be a life saver for days I'm out and about and don't have time to prep a filter brew for the thermos from home.

[@montyvr6772]

The amount of caffeine is listed on the bottle in the US... at least for every soda, energy drink, pre workout, and alcoholic drink (with caffeine) I've ever seen.

[@NateNakao]

I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Until watching your videos on caffeine, I hadn't thought about checking the labeled caffeine content on a can of cold brew, but now I'm searching for it. Glad to see my almost-local Stumptown getting featured here!

[@ashleyg3357]

James - Not sure if you've ever visited Korea before but - coffee is everywhere!!!

[@fingkhan]

i recently came to japan for school and of course coffee is needed to power through. so many choices. So I hope you would soon fulfill your dream and come here to do a coffee face off. Japan coffee plus James Hoffman is THE dream. 🙏

[@samueljbooth9124]

Rarely comment on things on KZbin. But always in enjoy your videos. Thank you to you and the team for Great quality, entertaining and educating videos presented in a beautiful way. Thank you

[@RealMattHaney]

I’d like to see Italy. Also at least in the US, in Medicine the general recommendation is to limit to a max of 200mg of caffeine per day. I personally think it depends on an individual’s chronic use and how up-regulated their adenosine receptors are (I know several people who routinely intake more than 200mg). But I would also say if you’re regularly pushing 500mg that might have longer term adverse effects. And it’s still important to pay attention to how your body feels when you have it. I personally wean myself to decaf periodically (and I also take advantage of caffeine intake and withdrawal to adjust to time zone differences when traveling). I enjoy coffee for the ritual more than the caffeine boost, and I think preparing it in a consistent way each day helps to mitigate the differences across companies/roasts (as long as your method uses an appropriate amount!).

[@Crew0303]

Always check, I tend to like the higher proof drinks. Blue Bottle is excellent!

[@BaronFirespawn]

I recently noticed that Frappuccinos don't have any labeling on the bottle or case (or even on their website!) with regard to caffeine content, so it was really nice to see it included in the test.

[@laurabednarova1869]

I’m an exchange student in Asia and I got hooked on japanese canned coffee so much haha. Do the giant taste-off pleease.That would be GOAT

[@dameneko]

Glad to see my beloved La Colombe here, and I love that they put the caffeine level on the can!

[@Griffin519x]

I always check the caffeine especially if I already had a coffee this morning. The blue bottle can, I believe, is concentrate as well. I think it recommends to mix with milk/milk sub or water before drinking

[@mattcrosson401]

God I love his sweaters. I need to know where he buys them or if they're homemade

[@zaidkidwai7831]

I get La Colombe's 1.5 L bottle. Great stuff.

[@d5gaming]

Yes, please come to Japan to test all of our canned and bottled coffee. We also have Costa here and I would like to know your comments on the flavour differences between UK and Japan. When you took the zip of that Boss concentrate, I was in a bit of shock as it was supposed to be relatively strong by itself. In general it is recommended to dilute the bottle to 10 cups of coffee. Thank you for the entertaining and informative video. Always a blast to see and hear your commentary on coffee.

[@davidmonaghan1896]

Love the no-flinch taste of the concentrate and also was surprised by the Korean pouched versions. Brand extension time "Cafe-Sun"

[@mattmugiwara]

Hey James and team, love your content! I want to (as all annoying comments want to do) nitpick / suggest something. I'm a molecular biologist delving into data science, so I am quite familiar with experiments, data and presentation. Technical measurements like this should ideally be carried out in triplicates or duplicates (which I understand triples or doubles the cost, but it's quite an essential thing to do) from the same can if we want to make sure we measure that can accurately, and from different cans if we want to measure brand consistency. I also normally really like your graphic displays and they tend to be quite elegant and implemented into the video. However, I really missed at the end a boxplot/violinplot/ just a normal jitter plot with all the results per country. That would allow to see the mean/median (with the big number as you did), but also the spread of the data, the range that was mentioned throughout the video. Maybe this has already been taken into account as well, but i guess the machine is a spectrophotometer / fluorometer? Milk content could really alter those kind of readings, so I guess you used different blanks and standard curves for the milk vs the black drinks! P.S.: if you do that in Japan do it with CDawgVA and Chris Broad, two fellow brits there!

[@livemynd]

Yes please come to Japan and do a tasting! There's so many brands and varieties of canned / bottled coffees (I'm personally quite fond of Tully's Barista's Black) in addition to a growing specialty coffee scene alongside very old-school kissaten (classic cafes) serving mostly second-wave style. And of course convenience store coffees (machine-brewed in a minute or so) are also not to be sniffed at.

[@beaudanner]

YES. all caffeinated beverages should be legally required to list the amount of caffeine per unit. Not some sneaky per serving or ml. I’m very sensitive to caffeine and too much even in the morning will keep me up until 2am if I’m not careful

[@Tomohoiro]

Totally agree with the need for transparency around caffeine dosage. Most energy drinks will specify the caffeine dosage so why not drinks like Coke, Pepsi, or coffee? Great video!

[@jasonhill9088]

Although Starbucks is everywhere, it did originally start in Seattle, Washington US. So that might change the average if you put it in the USA category. Interesting comparison though.

[@jmason0622]

I remember the "BOSS" bottle is for multiple coffee cups you either mix with chilled water or milk. But for the JP drinks, Pokka aren't really exemplary. I'd always go for UCC, Georgia or Suntory in vending machines. Or Key Coffee is good too. Having Pokka is like going from a good Shake Shack burger to a McDonalds Big Mac. And I hope James does the Japan coffee head-to-head thing in the future, would be a great watch.

[@Johnnybananass-_]

new zealand canned drinks have caffeine percentage on the labels . super handy,

[@HollowayGamingOfficial]

Hi I love your channel and, of course, coffee!! It would be pretty cool to see your view of the best machine for roasting coffee at home.

[@MrFowl]

100% I would check. I do check, and often dont buy if its not stated

[@MrLukeviolin]

I always check the amount on the can. It’s worth noting that the 180 number is a legal limit in some areas, so I’m not surprised that two of the American ones were at that value

The Boss coffee from Japan is not to consume as it is. It is concentrated. You can do 10 cups with that bottle.(written in the golden circle at the bottom)

[@siffrin_]

i hope someday your dream of going to japan and ranking japanese canned coffees comes true-they're one of my favorite things to keep around because they're so convenient (living close to a japanese grocer) and more to my taste than most of the american market's canned coffees.

[@bpelectric]

Next time you're doing something like this, make sure you put a stinger in a few of your videos leading up to it, and I'm sure you'll get a lot more coffee options shipped to you from around the world. I would have been happy to send you some more mainstream offerings from Japan; Pokka is definitely one of the smaller domestic brands you don't see as often.

[@73Kaarn]

In Australia we have caffeine content on the label. The defence force only sell energy drinks over the counter to its members and have them sign for them in order to limit 2 per day due to the high caffeine level.

[@Catssonova]

If I lived in Tokyo I'd be happy to show James around all the canned/bottled coffee available in Japan. Craft Boss and Georgia seem to be the best tasting bitter black (as opposed to sweet black) coffees. I find that the canned varieties just can't help leave a metallic flavour.

[@areichental]

I often check caffeine content on bottles and cans and actively look for it. Its fairly common in cold brew since it's often stronger. At least here in the states

[@coldbrewbabyy]

I’m currently pregnant and can only have a limited amount of caffeine per day, so I’m very interested to find out the results. (Typing the comment at the beginning because I’m impatient.) I will add: in the U.S. at least, the bottled Starbucks beverages vary in caffeine content by flavor! I looked into it while trying to find a lightly caffeinated drink at a gas station while on a road trip with minimal sleep. I ended up going for the vanilla one, but the mocha had about twice the caffeine! I believe caramel and regular coffee flavor were somewhere in between. Much more variation than the Costa coffee!

[@TiredKnitter]

Sodas where I am in the US do come with caffeine content labeled. I really appreciate it as someone who only uses caffeine once a week at most.

[@willbaren]

James proving once and for all that you can’t tell how much caffeine is in coffee by tasting it especially if you can’t taste the bitterness of caffeine itself. I enjoyed this a lot :-).

[@masudashizue777]

I was waiting for this! I've never had one that I considered perfect.

[@jasonGreenVw]

In the USA we do have the Caffeine levels listed in sodas, energy drinks and Canned Coffee. It's listed in milligrams usually near the bottom below the nutrition facts.

[@ManyOtter]

I drink a lot of Monster, and it was interesting to get context on the caffeine I'm drinking. Definitely should be standard product information alongside calories and all the other stuff.

[@SmilingJ]

That's something I would be interested in, too: How do coffee-drinks compare to energy drinks like RedBull or anything like that. Say you're driving late and want to stay awake. Should I rather buy a cold coffee or an energy drink?

[@aubreychristofersen5115]

While it's not currently required by law, I think most caffeinated beverages in the US now put caffeine content per serving on the label, often right below the ingredients. It's definitely helpful in figuring out what dosage of caffeine works well for you/is too much (even if they aren't always actually correct).

[@eenygreenmeanie8142]

I am from the US and I do check for caffeine content on bottling, it is important to me. A lot of our energy drinks and sodas do list caffeine content, and it's a marketing thing for both those seeking and avoiding caffeine.

[@igottmituns]

Japan has a truly unique and special coffee culture. Glad to see them (and others!) included in this.