Nov 30, 2007 5:55 pm US/Eastern
Decaf Coffee Not Always Caffeine-Free
(KDKA)
Americans drink more coffee than people from any other country in the world. But while most may depend on coffee for a quick pick-me-up, others say they want theirs caffeine-free.
But just because you ask for decaf doesn't mean your coffee is caffeine-free.
So Consumer Reports tested to see just how caffeine-free many big-name coffees are.
"People may be surprised to learn there's no law that says how much caffeine a cup of decaf can contain," says Kim Kleman, from Consumer Reports. "So we decided to find out just how much they're getting."
Consumer Reports bought the smallest size decaf coffee from six different locations of big coffee chains: Starbucks, Burger King, McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts, 7-Eleven, and Seattle's Best sold at Borders bookstores.
Chemists in Consumer Reports' labs ran the samples that were anywhere from 10 to 12 ounces through a machine to measure the amount of caffeine.
Of the 36 cups of decaf, more than half had less than 5 milligrams, but there were exceptions:
-Starbucks: 21 mg caffeine
-Seattle 's Best: 28 mg caffeine
-Dunkin' Donuts: 32 mg caffeine
"A typical cup of caffeinated coffee has about 100 milligrams, so this is less, but if you drink more than one cup or order large sizes, you could be getting more than you bargained for," says Kleman.
Consumer Reports says if you love coffee but not caffeine, you may want to limit yourself to just one cup, especially at night.
Thirty-six cups of caffeinated coffee from the big chains were also tested.
According to Consumer Reports, the amount of caffeine was all over the place, anywhere from 58 milligrams up to 281, so you can't be sure of how much of a jolt you'll get even when you order regular coffee.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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