The Caffeine Question (And Why Chai Hits Different)

By Joshua, Founder & Chief Experimenter

We get this one a lot. At farmers markets, in emails, from friends who've tried the chai and want to know if they can drink it after 3pm without staring at the ceiling at midnight.

The short answer: Yes, chai contains caffeine - typically 40-70mg per 8 oz cup according to Internet sources, roughly half the amount in drip coffee. We think that estimate is wrong. We may be the first to send our canned coconut milk chais to a lab to test its caffeine content, and they were measured to have 105mg of caffeine. Either our chais are incredibly strong, or no one has bothered to actually check. It’s probably both!

The more interesting answer: That number doesn't tell you much about how it actually feels. Or why chai has been the centerpiece of conversations for generations while coffee became the thing you drink alone, fast, and on the way to somewhere else.
Let’s talk about it.

Chai Wasn't Always Caffeinated

Most people don't know this, but for about 5,000 years, chai had zero caffeine.
The original drink (called kadha) was a medicinal brew of ginger, black pepper, cardamom, cloves, and tulsi. Ayurvedic practitioners prescribed it to balance the body's systems, and it also included ginger for digestion and cloves for pain. The spices were the point.
No tea leaves or caffeine either. Just a warming, restorative tonic you'd drink when you needed to feel better - or when someone stopped by and you wanted an excuse to sit together.
Tea entered the picture in the 1820s, when British colonizers discovered Camellia sinensis growing wild in Assam. The turning point came in 1823, when Scottish explorer Robert Bruce obtained samples of the indigenous tea plant while working with Bessa Gam, chief of the Singpho people. The plant was eventually identified as Camellia sinensis var. Assamica - distinct from the Chinese variety.

"The Assamese plant had larger leaves and produced a robust, dark liquor. The first commercial shipment of Assam tea was auctioned in London on January 10, 1839."
— Historical records via Tea Research Association, Tocklai

For decades, Indians weren't particularly interested. The thin, bitter British-style brew didn't appeal to a culture built around rich, spiced, foods. So the chai wallahs adapted. They added more milk, more sugar, and, crucially, they brought back the ancient spices. The result was a hybrid: colonial commodity wrapped in Ayurvedic tradition. A caffeinated drink that still felt like home.
That's what you're drinking when you drink masala chai. The caffeine is the newer part. The soul of it - the spices, the ritual, the excuse to pause - that's been there all along.

The Numbers (For Those Who Want Them)

Lack of data. We may be the first to send our chai to a lab to test its caffeine content, and they were measured to have 105mg of caffeine. Significantly higher than the 40-70mg you will find on internet sources. We’re expert brewers, but either our chais are incredibly strong, or no one has bothered to actually check. It’s probably both!

Preparation matters. Traditional chai is boiled, not steeped. The decoction method of simmering tea and spices in water and milk extracts more caffeine than dropping a tea bag in hot water. Caffeine solubility increases dramatically with temperature: approximately 22 mg/mL at room temperature versus 670 mg/mL at boiling.

The "dirty chai" math. If you add a shot of espresso to chai as strong as ours (a dirty chai), you're looking at 200-300mg total. That's coffee plus plus territory, but most coffee shop chais are just plain terrible, so it’s really hard to compare.
Decaf exists. CO2 decaffeination removes 97–99% of caffeine while keeping the flavor intact. You're left with under 5mg - basically negligible.

Sources: Verywell Health, Coffeeness, The Tea Smith, PMC/NIH

None of this shows up in the caffeine numbers.
People who switch from coffee to chai often describe the energy as "cleaner" or "smoother." They're not imagining it - there's actual chemistry behind this.

L-theanine

Tea leaves contain an amino acid called L-theanine (gamma-glutamylethylamide) that crosses the blood-brain barrier and stimulates alpha wave production - the brain state associated with relaxed alertness. It also increases GABA, a neurotransmitter that promotes calm. Coffee doesn't have this.

"L-theanine is associated with promoting a state of relaxed alertness... The combination of caffeine and L-theanine is associated with improved alertness and attention without the jitteriness sometimes associated with caffeine alone."

— PMC4787341, "Theanine and Caffeine Content of Infusions Prepared from Commercial Tea Samples"

Peer-reviewed research quantified L-theanine content across tea types: green tea contains 6.56 mg/g dry leaf, while black tea (the typical base for chai) contains 5.13 mg/g. A strong cup of chai delivers both the caffeine and the buffer.

The synergy effect

When caffeine and L-theanine work together, the L-theanine blunts caffeine's harsher edges - the blood pressure spike, the jitters, the crash. You get focus without the vibrating-through-your-skin feeling (if you know, you know.)

The milk factor

Fat slows gastric emptying, which means the caffeine enters your bloodstream more gradually. Instead of a sharp spike and crash, you get a sustained curve. This is why chai feels like it lasts differently than coffee—and why we use coconut milk in our Masala Chai Latte (link to product). The fat content creates exactly that sustained energy curve.

What We Actually Care About

We didn't start making chai because we wanted to optimize anyone's caffeine intake.
In Kerala, chai is what you make when someone stops by. Not as fuel for productivity, but as an excuse to pause. To sit down together and see where the conversation goes.

The caffeine in chai isn't there to help you power through your to-do list alone. It's enough energy to stay present. To listen. To let a spark of an idea turn into something neither person expected.
That's the difference we're after. Not "more energy", but "better energy."
Coffee culture has become about speed and individual performance. We're not against coffee - we make a coffee latte too. But we're interested in what happens when the beverage slows you down just enough to be with other people.

Practical Stuff

When to drink it

Caffeine sticks around longer than people expect. The half-life is 5–6 hours in healthy adults, meaning a 4pm chai still has half its caffeine in your system at 10pm. A late evening chai can help you stay alert late into the night to complete special projects after a sudden flash of inspiration, but it’s not a pattern you want to establish.

"Research suggests that consuming caffeine as early as 6 hours before bedtime can affect sleep quality."
— NCBI Bookshelf, "Pharmacology of Caffeine"; FDA guidance

For most people, keeping chai to the morning or early afternoon works best. Ayurvedic tradition suggests the same thing - chai in the morning (6–10am) helps counter the heaviness of waking up. After about 2pm, the caffeine can aggravate the nervous system's wind-down phase.

If you're caffeine-sensitive

You probably already know who you are. Chai is gentler than coffee for most people - the L-theanine and milk fat slow things down. But it's not caffeine-free. If you're highly sensitive, try our chai in the morning only.
Note: Factors that extend caffeine half-life include pregnancy (may extend to 15 hours), oral contraceptives (approximately doubled), and liver function. Smoking reduces half-life by 30–50%.

If you want zero caffeine

Rooibos chai is your move. It's made from Aspalathus linearis, a shrub native to the Cederberg region of South Africa - naturally 100% caffeine-free. Lower tannins than black or green tea mean a naturally sweet, non-bitter taste.

Sources: Monks Chai, Banyan Botanicals, Arbor Teas, ScienceDirect