Caffeine Testing: Specialty vs Chains

I took my caffeine meter out and about in London to compare caffeine levels in espressos around the city.

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[adammonks]

When you’re stoned at your minimum wage coffee shop job and James Hoffman walks in with a camera and a scale.

[Namasu]

Just imagining James running around to these shops on 1000+ mg of caffeine.

[sk-smsh]

Now I know why Costa is my fav chain in London. Had no idea why but now I know - my addiction to caffeine.

[adhdgaming]

The product he is using is the Lighttells CA-700 Caffeine & CGA Meter

For anyone wondering

[mcst]

One coffee please.
'pulls out a laptop and several gadgets' 😆
(I love it!)

[drmedwuast]

"Today, I took my caffeine-meter to 10 different coffee shops"
Of course you did!

[Unitedstatesgov]

imagine working at a specialty coffee shop and James walks in. id half expect the employees to start whispering when James brings out the $2000 caffeine meeter 😂

[RedfishCarolina]

James needs to release his own brand of coffee called the King James Version.

[oz]

i am so glad that james is enjoying his new toy :)

[ytsucksnowwiththisrealname]

Imagine working the Costa counter and James Hoffman comes in and orders an espresso 😓😓😓

[natus]

Someone who works at Nero here. I wouldn’t be surprised if you went back to each of these chains you might get a very different result, the reason being we don’t weigh the doses before each cup. I rate Kiss the Hippo btw, great place!

[whosgonnadotcom]

The only thing I'd say in response to the conclusion is that variation from chain to chain doesn't really mean inconsistency. If you went to 10 Starbucks and they were all at 85mg, then that's very consistent, even if some other chain is double that

[bekky]

My boyfriend and his company made this device!!! So cool to see you using it!!!❤️

[zandraling]

Used to work as a barista for a small UK chain. The training was ongoing (you never stop learning) and that included minor machine maintenance! We also quality checks the coffee (grind extraction etc) several times throughout the day, even recalibrate grinds to account for changes in the temp and humidity levels in the air. Still love geeking out about it.

[juxtapode]

Man has to be the most stressful client to serve coffee to ever, but i still love his work lol

[Willjum]

Kiss the hippo has got to be my favourite coffee in the UK, so cool to see it here

[mitchylai]

The coffee shop recommendations we’ve been waiting for 🙏

[CocoNut-bo]

I remember, over a decade ago, I would have a cappuccino from time to time in Costa. Right after, I would be quite nervous and start shaking a bit. Now I know why. I knew back then, it must've been their coffee, but didn't know it has a such high percentage. Insane😂

[alanz]

Can we all just take a moment to appreciate how fabulous his hair is

[andrewsmylie]

I'd love to see a TikTok/shorts series where you get a double shot from a coffee shop 10 different days and see how much variation there is within each shop over multiple days/baristas. I'd guess due to quality of beans and better puck prep, we'd find a much higher consistency in specialty compared to chains.