Does Green Tea Have Caffeine? How Much Is in Every Type, in mg
By Kiyomi Koike, Founder and ITMA Certified Tea Master · Updated October 2026
Does green tea have caffeine? Yes. Every green tea comes from the same plant as black tea, Camellia sinensis, and every leaf of it carries caffeine; "green" describes how the leaf was processed, not whether it was decaffeinated. A brewed 8 oz cup of green tea usually holds 24–40 mg, about a quarter to a third of a cup of coffee, and the amount swings widely with the type: shade-grown matcha and gyokuro sit at the top, sun-grown sencha and roasted hojicha in the middle, rice-blended genmaicha and the later-harvest teas lower, and decaffeinated green tea at a few milligrams. We test our own teas: in our most recent batch testing our Organic Matcha came in at about 41 mg a serving, Sencha 20, Hojicha 17, Decaf Matcha 6, Genmaicha 5 and Decaf Sencha 4; results vary by lot and by packaging. On this page I give the figure for every type of green tea, brewed and powdered, explain why they differ so much, compare green tea with coffee, black tea and energy drinks, and say how much is too much.
| Brewed green tea, 8 oz | 24–40 mg (industry range); the FDA's own table puts a 12 oz green tea at 37 mg |
| Our powders, per serving | Matcha about 41 mg, Sencha 20, Hojicha 17, Decaf Matcha 6, Genmaicha 5, Decaf Sencha 4, from our most recent batch testing; results vary by lot and by packaging |
| Highest | Shade-grown teas: matcha (you drink the whole leaf) and gyokuro (40–60 mg brewed) |
| Lowest | Decaf green tea (2–5 mg brewed; our powders 4–6 mg), then genmaicha, bancha and kukicha |
| Versus coffee | Coffee 95–240 mg per 8 oz; black tea 14–61; energy drinks 80–200 |
| Safe amount | FDA: 400 mg a day for healthy adults; ACOG: under 200 mg in pregnancy. Our guidance for any of our teas: four or five cups a day, an hour or two apart |
How much caffeine is in each type of green tea?
There is no single number for "green tea", because the types differ by a factor of ten. Two things decide most of it: whether the bush was shaded before harvest, and whether you drink an infusion of the leaf or the leaf itself. The table gives our own teas per serving, from our most recent batch testing (results vary by lot and by packaging), and the brewed types as industry ranges per 8 oz cup.
| Type | Caffeine | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Yu Tea Organic Matcha, 1.5 g serving | about 41 mg | Shaded for at least 20 days, usually three to four weeks, which raises caffeine, and you drink the whole leaf |
| Gyokuro, brewed 8 oz | 40–60 mg | Shaded like matcha; brewed strong in small cups |
| Brewed green tea (sencha, kabusecha), 8 oz | 24–40 mg | Sun-grown or lightly shaded leaf, steeped and discarded |
| Yu Tea Sencha powder, 0.75 g serving | about 20 mg | Sun-grown leaf, which holds less caffeine than shaded leaf; a small serving drunk whole |
| Yu Tea Hojicha, 1 g serving | about 17 mg | First-harvest leaf, roasted; roasting drives off some caffeine |
| Bancha and kukicha, brewed 8 oz | lower than sencha | Later harvests, larger leaves and stems carry less caffeine than young leaf |
| Yu Tea Decaf Matcha, 1.5 g serving | about 6 mg | Shaded leaf decaffeinated with water, then CO₂, before stone milling |
| Yu Tea Genmaicha, 1 g serving | about 5 mg | Green tea blended with toasted brown rice, so a good share of the serving is not tea at all |
| Yu Tea Decaf Sencha, 0.75 g serving | about 4 mg | Sun-grown leaf decaffeinated with water alone |
| Decaf green tea, brewed 8 oz | 2–5 mg | Most of the caffeine removed before drying; never zero |
Two of those rows surprise people. The first is matcha: because you whisk the ground leaf into water and drink all of it, a serving carries the leaf's entire caffeine, where a steeped cup carries only what the water pulled out. That is why a 1.5 g serving of matcha, less than a teaspoon, lands near the top of the table. The second is our sencha powder, which sits below a brewed cup of sencha: the serving is small, 0.75 g against the 2–3 g of leaf that goes into a brewed cup, and sun-grown leaf holds less caffeine to begin with. More on each of those teas is on our complete guide to matcha and what sencha is and how it is made.
Why the caffeine in green tea varies so much
- Shade. Caffeine is part of the plant's defense, and a bush covered for the weeks before harvest makes more of it, along with the L-theanine and chlorophyll that give matcha and gyokuro their sweetness and color. Sun-grown sencha and bancha carry less.
- Leaf age and harvest. Young buds and the first harvest of spring hold the most caffeine; the larger, older leaves of later harvests, and the stems used for kukicha, hold less. This is the main reason bancha is a gentler cup than first-harvest sencha from the same bush.
- Roasting and blending. Hojicha is roasted at roughly 160–220°C, above the temperature at which caffeine sublimes (178°C), so some of the caffeine is driven off, and most hojicha is made from later-harvest leaf and stems that start with less; that is why a brewed cup is quoted anywhere from about 8 mg to the same as sencha, depending on the leaf and the roast. Ours is made from first-harvest leaf, so it keeps more than a bancha-based hojicha: about 17 mg per 1 g serving, less per gram than our sencha (about 20 mg per 0.75 g) and a little less per serving as well. Genmaicha is lower because much of the blend is toasted rice rather than tea.
- Powder or infusion. Brew a leaf and you drink part of its caffeine; grind it and drink it whole and you get all of it. The same rule applies to the catechins and the L-theanine, which is the reason we make every one of our teas as a whole-leaf powder; the trade-off is explained on the benefits of green tea powder.
- Water temperature and time. For brewed tea, hotter water and a longer steep pull out more caffeine, which is one reason Japanese green tea is brewed cooler and shorter than black tea. For a powder, none of this applies: the dose is set by the amount of powder, not the brewing.
- Decaffeination. Decaf is not caffeine-free. Done with water or carbon dioxide, it removes most of the caffeine and keeps most of the catechins; done with a solvent, it keeps less, and the label rarely says which. How the four methods compare, and how we decaffeinate ours, is on our decaf green tea guide.
Green tea vs coffee, black tea and energy drinks
| Coffee | 95–240 mg |
| Energy drinks | 80–200 mg |
| Black tea | 14–61 mg |
| Gyokuro (shade-grown loose leaf) | 40–60 mg |
| Green tea (brewed) | 24–40 mg |
| Hot chocolate | 5–25 mg |
| Decaf coffee | 2–12 mg |
| Decaf green tea (brewed) | 2–5 mg |
So a cup of green tea has roughly a quarter to a third of the caffeine in a cup of coffee, and even our matcha, the strongest tea we make, is well under half a cup of coffee's worth. The number is only part of the story, though. Green tea also carries L-theanine, an amino acid that smooths the edges of caffeine; people describe the result as alert without being wired, and that is the main reason someone switching from coffee to matcha reports fewer jitters and no crash, even though they are still drinking caffeine. The effect is real and mild, not a free pass; if 400 mg of coffee a day bothers you, 400 mg of matcha will too. The FDA considers 400 mg a day a level generally not associated with negative effects in healthy adults and lists a 12 oz green tea at 37 mg (FDA, Spilling the Beans), and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advises staying under 200 mg a day in pregnancy (ACOG).
How much green tea can you drink in a day?
Our guidance for any of our teas is four or five cups a day, spaced an hour or two apart. At our figures that is about 80 to 100 mg a day from sencha, around 200 mg from matcha, and 20 to 30 mg from a decaf, all under the FDA's 400 mg. The timing matters as much as the total: caffeine's lift is felt within the hour and lingers for several, so my advice is matcha in the morning and early afternoon, sencha through the day, and hojicha, genmaicha or a decaf after about three in the afternoon if you want to sleep well. If you are pregnant, taking medication or have been told to limit caffeine, count green tea like any other caffeinated drink and ask your doctor; the decafs, at 4–6 mg a serving, are the ones most people in that position choose. For children, who are more sensitive to caffeine by body weight, I wrote about how green tea is served to kids in Japan, and which of our teas suit which ages, in can kids drink green tea?
Green tea with less caffeine, or almost none
If you want green tea's taste and catechins with little caffeine, you have four routes, in descending order of caffeine. Choose a sun-grown powder in a small serving: our Sencha at about 20 mg. Choose a naturally low type: genmaicha at about 5 mg, or bancha and kukicha if you brew loose leaf. Choose a decaf: our Organic Decaf Sencha at about 4 mg, decaffeinated with water alone, or our Organic Decaf Matcha at about 6 mg, the full matcha taste with the caffeine taken out by water and then CO₂; both keep most of their EGCG, and the whole process, step by step with photographs, is on how we decaffeinate our green tea. Or, if you need zero, choose an herbal tea, which is not tea at all; no green tea, decaf included, is caffeine-free. For the whole decaf picture, including what each method keeps, start with does decaf matcha exist, and how it is made.
Does caffeine change the benefits?
Not much. The compounds people drink green tea for are the catechins, led by EGCG, and L-theanine, and both survive gentle decaffeination; our Decaf Sencha keeps 56 mg of EGCG a serving against 65 mg in the regular, and our Decaf Matcha keeps 86% of its EGCG and most of its L-theanine. What caffeine adds is the lift itself, and the calm-alertness pairing with L-theanine that the research on green tea and attention is mostly about. If you drink green tea for the antioxidants, the decaf gives you almost all of them; if you drink it for focus, the caffeinated matcha is the one. My longer look at what the research does and does not show is on the benefits of green tea, and the types are compared side by side on the best types of green tea. However much caffeine you want, the serving sizes and water temperatures for every tea we make are on how to make matcha and our other teas.
Green tea caffeine FAQ
Does green tea have caffeine?
Yes. All true tea comes from Camellia sinensis, and every green tea carries caffeine: usually 24–40 mg in a brewed 8 oz cup, more in shade-grown matcha and gyokuro, less in genmaicha, bancha and decaf. Only herbal teas are caffeine-free.
How much caffeine is in a cup of green tea?
About 24–40 mg per 8 oz brewed, as an industry range; the FDA lists a 12 oz green tea at 37 mg. Our whole-leaf powders test at about 41 mg (Matcha), 20 (Sencha), 17 (Hojicha), 6 (Decaf Matcha), 5 (Genmaicha) and 4 (Decaf Sencha) per serving, from our most recent batch testing; results vary by lot and by packaging.
How much caffeine is in matcha green tea?
Our Organic Matcha tests at about 41 mg per 1.5 g serving. Matcha carries more than a brewed cup of green tea because the leaf is shaded, which raises caffeine, and because you drink the whole leaf rather than an infusion. It is still less than half a cup of coffee.
Is green tea caffeine-free?
No. Even decaffeinated green tea keeps a little: 2–5 mg in a brewed cup, and about 4 mg (Decaf Sencha) or 6 mg (Decaf Matcha) in our powders. A caffeine-free "tea" is an herbal infusion such as rooibos or chamomile, not green tea.
Which green tea has the least caffeine?
Decaf green tea, at a few milligrams. Among teas that have not been decaffeinated, genmaicha is lowest because much of it is toasted rice (ours tests at about 5 mg), followed by bancha and kukicha. Among ours, the order from lowest to highest is Decaf Sencha, Genmaicha, Decaf Matcha, Hojicha, Sencha, Matcha.
Which green tea has the most caffeine?
Matcha, when you count a serving you drink whole, and gyokuro among brewed teas, at 40–60 mg a cup. Both are shade-grown; shading raises the caffeine in the leaf along with its L-theanine.
Does green tea have more caffeine than coffee?
No. A brewed cup of green tea has roughly a quarter to a third of the caffeine in a cup of coffee (24–40 mg against 95–240 mg). Even a serving of our matcha, at about 41 mg, is under half a cup of coffee's worth.
Does hojicha have caffeine?
Yes. Roasting above the temperature at which caffeine sublimes drives off some of it, and most hojicha is made from later-harvest leaf and stems, so a brewed cup is usually low. Ours is made from first-harvest leaf and tests at about 17 mg per 1 g serving, a little less than our sencha. For an evening cup with very little, choose genmaicha or a decaf.
Can I drink green tea while pregnant?
ACOG advises keeping caffeine under 200 mg a day in pregnancy, which a few cups of green tea stay within; our decafs, at 4–6 mg a serving, are the usual choice. Ask your doctor about green tea itself, as you would about any daily habit.
Why does green tea not give me the jitters that coffee does?
Green tea pairs its caffeine with L-theanine, an amino acid that takes the edge off the stimulant, so the lift feels calmer and tails off without a crash. The caffeine is still there, so the daily limits still apply.
