Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages in the world due to its mouthwatering aroma, robust flavor, and caffeine boost.
The amount of carbs a cup of coffee adds to your daily allotment may be a concern if you’re watching your intake, though.
Coffee beverages can contain zero to a significant amount of carbs. By knowing more about the number of carbohydrates in various coffee varieties, you can order or prepare coffee at home in a healthier way.
In this article, we examine the carbohydrate content of coffee and discuss how to pick a type of coffee that complements a low-carb diet.
Read More: Is Coffee Vegan?
Does Coffee Have Carbs?
As we hinted at in the introduction, if you’re picky about what you call coffee, it doesn’t contain any carbohydrates. If you’re only talking about coffee beans, then, no, coffee doesn’t have carbs. However, when people refer to coffee, they typically aren’t being very specific, and many coffee drinks do contain a sizable amount of carbohydrates.
A typical cup of coffee with milk and sugar will primarily contain sugar as the source of carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates like sugar are typically listed in the carbohydrate section of food labels. Remember that 1 teaspoon of sugar is equivalent to about 4 grams of carbohydrates if you’re counting your carbs and want a quick way to determine how many you’re getting from sugar. It is helpful to keep in mind that most people use teaspoons to measure their coffee’s sugar.
Once you start drinking specialty drinks, you may notice that the amount of carbohydrates in each drink varies greatly. For instance, the carbohydrate content of a grande Starbucks caffe latte is around 19 grams, a grande cafe mocha is 40 grams, and a grande white chocolate mocha is over 60 grams. Comparatively speaking, a 12-ounce bottle of soda contains 50–70 grams of carbohydrates, mostly sugar.
How Many Grams Of Carbohydrates Are In Coffee?
The short answer is, “it depends.”
Coffee has long been regarded as the perfect alcoholic beverage for those who are watching their diets, including those who follow low-carb diets like the keto diet. Between 2 and 5 calories, 0.74 grams of protein, and 0.4 to 1.1 grams of carbohydrates are present in one hot cup of brewed black coffee. A daily cup (or two, or three) is considered to be very diet-friendly when the metabolism-enhancing properties of caffeine are taken into account. Even if you only consume decaffeinated coffee, the decaffeination process doesn’t add carbohydrates, so the nutritional value remains essentially the same.
Nothing much differs with espresso. It has fewer carbohydrates than 1 gram, similar to black coffee.
Carb Contents Of Various Popular Coffee Beverages
Americanos and other drinks made solely from espresso and hot water don’t have any carbohydrates.
The majority of coffee or espresso drinks made with ingredients other than water do, however, contain carbohydrates. Common sources include milk and flavored syrups.
The ingredients that go into the majority of coffee shop drinks determine their carbohydrate content. In comparison to unsweetened almond milk, whole milk has more carbohydrates.
Here are a few well-known coffees and espresso drinks along with their potential carbohydrate content:
- Black coffee and steamed milk are mixed one to one in a café au lait. Your beverage will have 6 grams of carbohydrates if it is made with 4 ounces (120 ml) of whole milk and only 1 gram if it is made with unsweetened almond milk.
- espresso, milk, and milk foam combined in a cappuccino at a ratio of 1:1:1. 12 grams of carbohydrates are contained in a 16-ounce (480 ml) Starbucks cappuccino made with 2% milk.
- Espresso and milk are diluted in a latte (1:3). Given that it consists primarily of milk, this beverage contains more carbohydrates. Just one ounce (30 ml) of flavor-infused syrup, like vanilla, can add 24 grams of carbohydrates to your meal.
- (1:3:2 espresso to milk foam ratio) This beverage offers a comparable amount of carbs because it has a similar amount of milk content to a latte.
- (A chocolate cappuccino) Mochaccino. This beverage, which is also known as a cafe mocha, is made with milk and carb-filled chocolate syrup. There are 44 grams of carbohydrates in a 16-ounce (480 ml) mochaccino from Starbucks made with 2% milk.
Added whipped cream is a common addition to coffeehouse favorites. 1 gram or more of carbohydrates can be added to your beverage by adding just 6 grams (or 2 tablespoons) of whipped cream.
As you can see, coffee or espresso beverages can have a wide range of carbohydrate contents.
Why Do Cold Brews Contain Carbs?
Because the coffee beans used to make cold brew coffee are partially made of carbohydrates, it contains only a small amount of carbohydrates. Additionally, the final beverage contains carbohydrates because the small bits and oils from these coffee beans make it into the final product.
This means that your cold brew will still contain a small amount of carbs even if you drink it black, just with coffee and water.
All coffee beverages, from filter coffee to french press to espresso, contain some carbohydrates, but the amount varies depending on the brewing technique because some methods extract more coffee beans and their oils than others.
For instance, regular coffee made with a filter contains almost no carbohydrates, whereas espresso, which is made by squeezing hot, pressurized water through finely ground coffee beans, extracts more of the bean and yields a stronger final beverage with 1-2g of carbohydrates.
Therefore, most cold brews end up having about 3g of carbohydrates because the cold brew brewing method produces an even more concentrated dark coffee drink with a lot of the bean extracted from the prolonged soaking time.
Approximately 15 grams of carbohydrates are present in one slice of white bread.
Decaffeinated cold brew will contain the same amount of carbs as caffeinated, which is an interesting fact about caffeine.
Does Pumpkin Spice Coffee Have Carbs?
It’s not common to find pumpkin spice coffee. But they were first made available to drinkers by coffee shops like Starbucks. 12 to 13 grams of carbohydrates are present in a standard serving.
We can ignore the carb content and focus on its nutritional advantages.
Does Sugar-Free Coffee Syrup Have Carbs?
While syrups without sugar do contain some carbohydrates, the amount is less than syrups with sugar.
Depending on the brand that produces these syrups, a tablespoon of sugar-free syrup could contain 2 to 4 grams of carbohydrates. Therefore, avoid using such flavoring sweeteners if you are following a low-carb or ketogenic diet.
Tips To Make Coffee Low-carb-friendly
You might be unsure if you can indulge in particular coffee drinks while following a low-carb diet.
The majority of low-carb diets advise keeping your daily carb intake to less than 130 grams, based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
You can still fit in a rare coffeehouse favorite even if you’re sticking to this limit by using some of the following advice:
- Downsize. If you want a smaller serving, request a drink with less milk.
- Spend less time with the extras that are high in carbohydrates. Request it sans whipped cream et sans syrups flavorés.
- Opt for sugar-free. Get flavored drinks with sugar-free syrups, which have fewer carbs than regular syrups.
- Serve yourself. You can precisely control how much milk is in your black coffee by adding it yourself at the coffee shop.
- Try nondairy. To your coffee, add unsweetened, non-dairy milk. Nondairy milk like soy, almond, cashew, hemp, or coconut has a lot fewer carbohydrates than dairy milk or nondairy milk that have been sweetened.
The Bottom Line
Although saying that coffee has no carbs can be misleading, black coffee does not contain any. A low-carb diet should not include any of the specialty drinks you’ll typically find on a coffee shop menu because they are typically high in carbohydrates.
Thankfully, you can still enjoy that delicious latte, cappuccino, or mocha whether you’re on a low-carb diet or simply watching your intake of carbohydrates.