How Many Calories in Coffee

Coffee is the first choice of a number of people, as an early morning drink. Many of us cannot fathom facing a grueling day without that first cup of coffee. But ever wondered how many calories your ‘wake-up drink' has?
A lot of us consume coffee without thinking twice about how many calories it may contain. It is a must-have to be able to keep ourselves going. Many consider it to be the oil that keeps the human machine running. However, it is not coffee itself, but the way you have it that determines the amount of calories in a cup of coffee. Choosing the right kind will not affect your weight, but the wrong one may increase the chances of failure in that diet you are following religiously, to desperately lose weight.
Calories in Coffee
As mentioned earlier, the calorie count in coffee completely depends on how you like it. Now coffee is a bitter drink, and it is natural for us to add some kind of food additives to sweeten it, at least until we develop a taste for bitter coffee. It is however, interesting to note that the calories in black coffee are much lesser than those in coffee with cream and sugar.
The average calories in cup of coffee – plain brewed, black (8 oz portion) is 2-5 calories. Similar is the case with an espresso. These calories come from some protein and mono-unsaturated oils present in coffee beans. It is the addition of milk and sugar, and various other toppings, that add to the calories in coffee. The addition of one teaspoon of sugar, increases the average calories in a cup of coffee by almost 15 calories.
Moreover, as the quantity consumed increases, for example, medium or large servings, so do the calories in that cup of coffee. To give you an idea about how many calories coffee has, given below is a table, that mentions the amount of calories in a cup of coffee.
Beverage Serving (per ounce) Calories
Instant Coffee 8 4
Espresso 1 1
Cafe Latte – Whole Milk 16 260
Cafe Latte – Non-Fat Milk 16 165
Cafe Mocha – Whole Milk – With Whipped Cream 16 400
Cafe Mocha – Non-Fat Milk – With Whipped Cream 16 330
Cafe Mocha – Non-Fat Milk 16 220
Cappuccino – Whole Milk 16 150
Cappuccino – Non-Fat Milk 16 100
Cafe Americano 16 15
Calories in Additives in Coffee
Here's a list of the calories in the additives that go into making our coffee a special (and calorie-filled) treat.
Additive Calories (per tbsp)
Cream 52
Whole Milk 9
Non-Fat Milk 5
Skimmed Milk 6
Soy Milk 6
Sugar 48
Whipped Cream 52
Chocolate Syrup 50
Coffee Creamer – Liquid, Regular 20
Coffee Creamer – Liquid, Fat Free 10
Coffee Creamer – Powder, Regular 60 (20 – 1tsp)
Coffee Creamer – Powder, Non-Fat 30 (10 – 1 tsp)
Reducing the Calorie Count in Coffee
By cutting down the number of calories consumed in coffee, you need not give up your favorite coffee drink.
a. Try to develop a taste for black coffee. It may take a while, but as you have seen, it is almost a zero-calorie drink. To start off with, purchase a black coffee and add the additives on your own. In this way, you can slowly reduce the amount you put and in turn, reduce the amount of calories consumed.
b. Try to reduce the serving size of the coffee. Go in for a medium instead of a large, or a small instead of a medium. By reducing the serving, you can reduce the total amount of calories you consume through coffee. Moreover, if you reduce the number of servings you have per day, it will make a vast difference in the long run.
c. In coffees that contain syrups, try to reduce the number of pumps that go into making the coffee as sweet as it is. For instance, even 1 pump of syrup is enough, rather than 4 pumps that are usually present in one cup of coffee. Also, a number of sugar-free syrups are available that taste the same, yet are relatively calorie-free.
d. You can also begin to reduce the calorie count in coffee, by having your coffee without the whipped cream you may have always liked. The calorie count in coffee can reduce by almost 80 calories when you decide to avoid whipped cream.
e. Opt for substitutes such as saccharine instead of sugar, and try to avoid having coffee with additives like chocolate in it. Slowly, you can try to get out of the habit of adding sugar or sweeteners at all.
You might not be able to tell the difference immediately after reducing your calorie intake via coffee. Nevertheless, over a period of time, say in a span of one year, you will realize how many calories you may have saved yourself from, by finding other suitable and effective alternatives to your favorite drink foodchem. Even then you will be able to relish it in the same manner.
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