How Many Calories Are in Coffee? From Black Coffee to Lattes
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A cup of black coffee: about 2 calories. Add a splash of half-and-half: about 22. Turn it into a 12 oz whole-milk vanilla latte with two tablespoons of syrup: about 220. Same coffee, a hundred times more energy, and almost all of it comes from what you pour in.
So how many calories in coffee should you count? According to USDA data, plain brewed coffee has about 2 calories per 8 oz cup and a single espresso has about 3. The numbers only climb once milk, cream, sugar, syrups or toppings join the party. This guide breaks down each add-in, shows calculated totals for popular drinks and gives you easy ways to lighten your cup without losing flavor.
Key takeaways
- Plain black coffee is nearly calorie-free: about 2 calories per 8 oz (237 ml) cup and about 3 per 1 oz espresso shot, according to USDA FoodData Central.
- Milk is the biggest variable: one cup (8 fl oz) ranges from about 39 calories for unsweetened almond milk to 149 for whole milk.
- Sweeteners add up quietly: about 15 calories per teaspoon of sugar and roughly 30 per tablespoon of homemade simple syrup.
- A homemade 12 oz latte ranges from about 44 to 154 calories depending on the milk, and over 200 with syrup or whipped cream.
- Flavored beans change the aroma, not the nutrition label: our flavored coffees use natural flavoring oils with no sugar or calories added.
In this article
- Calories in black coffee and espresso
- Milk, cream and plant milks
- Sugar, syrups and other sweeteners
- Calories in popular coffee drinks
- Added sugar: the number worth watching
- Lighter swaps that still taste great
- Do flavored coffee beans add calories?
- Coffee calories FAQ
Calories in black coffee and espresso
Brewed coffee is about 99% water. The rest is a tiny amount of dissolved coffee compounds, and that is why the calorie count is so low. USDA FoodData Central lists plain brewed coffee at about 1 calorie per 100 g, which works out to roughly 2 calories in an 8 oz (237 ml) cup. A 1 oz (30 ml) espresso shot comes in at about 3 calories, so even a double shot stays around 5.
A few practical points follow from this:
- Strength doesn’t change much. A stronger brew, a darker roast or a higher-caffeine blend tastes bolder, but black coffee stays in single-digit calories.
- Americanos and long blacks are just espresso plus hot water, so they share the same near-zero count as the shots inside them.
- Iced coffee and cold brew served black are also very low in calories. The calories arrive with milk and sweetener, just as with hot coffee.
If you track your intake in kilojoules, as many European labels do, multiply calories (kcal) by 4.184. A cup of black coffee comes to about 10 kJ.
Milk, cream and plant milks
Milk is where your coffee picks up most of its calories, and also some protein. The table below uses USDA values for one cup (8 fl oz) of each milk. Plant milks are the unsweetened versions; sweetened, flavored or barista editions can contain more calories, so check the label of the carton you actually buy.
| Milk (1 cup, 8 fl oz) | Calories | Sugars | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole milk (3.25%) | 149 | 12.3 g | 7.7 g |
| 2% reduced-fat milk | 122 | 12.3 g | 8.1 g |
| Skim (nonfat) milk | 83 | 12.5 g | 8.3 g |
| Oat milk, unsweetened | about 117* | about 5.6 g* | about 2 g* |
| Soy milk, unsweetened | 80 | 1 g | 6.9 g |
| Almond milk, unsweetened | 39 | 2.1 g | 1 g |
Source: USDA FoodData Central. *Calculated from USDA’s per-100 g values for a 244 g cup. Brands vary.
Most people don’t pour a full cup of milk into a mug of coffee, so it helps to think in smaller amounts:
| Add-in | Amount | Approx. calories |
|---|---|---|
| Whole milk | 2 tbsp (1 fl oz) | 19 |
| Half-and-half | 1 tbsp | 20 |
| Light (coffee) cream | 1 tbsp | 30 |
| Heavy whipping cream | 1 tbsp | 51 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp | 100 |
| Coconut oil | 1 tbsp | 121 |
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central values.
One detail surprises many people: the sugar in plain milk is lactose, which is naturally present. Under FDA labeling rules, naturally occurring sugars in milk do not count as added sugars. A plain latte therefore contains about 12 g of sugar per cup of milk but no added sugar unless you sweeten it.
Sugar, syrups and other sweeteners
Sweeteners are small in volume but dense in energy, which is why they are easy to underestimate.
| Sweetener or topping | Amount | Approx. calories |
|---|---|---|
| Granulated sugar | 1 level tsp (4 g) | 15 |
| Honey | 1 tbsp (21 g) | 64 |
| Maple syrup | 1 tbsp (20 g) | 52 |
| Homemade simple syrup (1:1) | 1 tbsp | about 30 |
| Unsweetened cocoa powder | 1 tbsp (5 g) | 11 |
| Canned whipped cream | 1/4 cup (15 g) | about 39 |
USDA FoodData Central values; the simple syrup figure is our calculation for 1 cup (200 g) of sugar dissolved in 1 cup of water, which gives about 8 g of sugar per tablespoon.
Coffee-shop syrups vary by brand and by how generously they are pumped, so the most reliable number is the one on the chain’s own nutrition information. As a rule of thumb, every tablespoon of a sugar syrup adds roughly as much energy as two teaspoons of sugar.
Calories in popular coffee drinks
Here are calculated totals for common drinks made at home. Each row lists exactly what goes in, so you can adjust it to your own recipe. Coffee-shop versions are often larger and sweeter, so treat these as a baseline rather than a match for any particular chain.
| Drink | Recipe used | Approx. calories |
|---|---|---|
| Black coffee | 8 oz brewed coffee | 2 |
| Espresso | 1 oz single shot | 3 |
| Americano | Double shot + hot water | 5 |
| Coffee with half-and-half | 8 oz coffee + 1 tbsp half-and-half | 22 |
| Coffee with cream and sugar | 8 oz coffee + 2 tbsp half-and-half + 2 tsp sugar | 73 |
| Café au lait | 4 oz coffee + 4 oz whole milk | 76 |
| Small milk drink (cappuccino or flat white style) | Double shot + 4 oz whole milk | 80 |
| Latte, whole milk | Double shot + 8 oz whole milk | 154 |
| Latte, 2% milk | Double shot + 8 oz 2% milk | 127 |
| Latte, skim milk | Double shot + 8 oz skim milk | 88 |
| Latte, unsweetened oat milk | Double shot + 8 oz oat milk | about 122 |
| Latte, unsweetened almond milk | Double shot + 8 oz almond milk | 44 |
| Vanilla latte | Whole-milk latte + 2 tbsp simple syrup with vanilla | about 218 |
| Homemade mocha | Whole-milk latte + 1 tbsp cocoa + 2 tsp sugar | 197 |
| Mocha with whipped cream | Mocha above + 1/4 cup canned whipped cream | about 235 |
| Sweet iced coffee | 8 oz coffee + 2 tbsp half-and-half + 2 tbsp simple syrup | about 106 |
| Butter coffee | 8 oz coffee + 1 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp coconut oil | 224 |
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values and rounded. A double shot is counted as 2 oz of espresso (about 5 calories).
Two patterns stand out. First, cup size matters more than coffee type: a latte is mostly milk, so a 16 or 20 oz version scales up quickly. Second, sweeteners can matter as much as the milk choice: two tablespoons of syrup add about 63 calories, almost exactly the gap between a skim-milk and a whole-milk latte (66 calories).
Added sugar: the number worth watching
Calories are only part of the picture. The FDA sets the Daily Value for added sugars at 50 g per day for a 2,000-calorie diet, and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans advise keeping added sugars under 10% of daily calories. The American Heart Association goes further, suggesting no more than about 6 teaspoons (100 calories) of added sugar a day for most women and about 9 teaspoons (150 calories) for most men. The AHA also lists sweetened coffee and tea among the common sources of added sugars.
Put those numbers next to a typical sweet coffee and the impact is clear:
- Two teaspoons of sugar (8 g) use about 16% of the FDA Daily Value.
- Two tablespoons of simple syrup (about 16 g of sugar) use roughly a third of it, and more than half of the AHA’s suggested limit for women.
- Small amounts repeat. Two teaspoons of sugar in one coffee a day add up to roughly 11,000 calories of added sugar over a year.
The milk sugars in a plain latte don’t count toward those added-sugar limits, which is one reason a simple milk coffee is a different choice from a syrup-sweetened one, even when the calorie totals look similar. If you live with diabetes or another condition that affects how you handle sugar, a doctor or registered dietitian can help you decide how sweetened drinks fit into your day.
Lighter swaps that still taste great
You don’t have to drink your coffee black to keep it light. These small changes make a real difference to the totals above:
- Size down. Going from a 16 oz to a 12 oz cup cuts the volume by a quarter, and the milk and syrup shrink with it.
- Ask for half the syrup, or skip the extras. The CDC’s Rethink Your Drink advice suggests skipping flavored syrups and whipped cream at the coffee shop. Halving the syrup halves the added sugar it brings.
- Switch the milk, not the drink. Moving from whole to 2% milk saves about 27 calories per cup; unsweetened almond milk saves about 110.
- Taper the sugar. Go from two teaspoons to one and a half for a week or two, then to one. Small steps are easier to stick with than going cold turkey.
- Use spices for sweetness cues. A pinch of cinnamon, a drop of vanilla extract or a spoon of unsweetened cocoa (11 calories) adds flavor without much energy.
- Choose a smaller milk drink. A double shot with 4 oz of milk has about half the calories of a full latte made with the same milk.
- Brew coffee you enjoy black. Fresh, well-extracted coffee tastes naturally sweeter and less bitter, so many people find they need less sugar to enjoy it.
That last point is about taste, not magic. Stale or over-extracted coffee often tastes harsh, which is when people reach for sugar and cream to cover it. Our guide to fresh roasted vs supermarket coffee explains why freshness changes the flavor, and how to make espresso at home covers the basics of a balanced shot.
Do flavored coffee beans add calories?
Flavored coffee beans and flavored syrups are often confused, but they are very different things. A syrup is sugar dissolved in water with flavoring. Flavored beans are roasted coffee coated with a small amount of flavoring oil, and you brew them like any other coffee.
At Feel Espresso, our flavored coffees start as specialty-grade single-origin beans roasted in small batches to a smooth medium, then flavored with natural flavoring oils while still warm. As our product pages state, no sugar or calories are added with the flavoring. If you love the taste of a vanilla or caramel latte, try brewing French Vanilla, Caramel or Hazelnut and drinking it black or with a splash of milk instead of adding syrup. You still get the aroma you like, and the calories in your cup come only from the milk you choose. Browse the full flavored coffee collection for more ideas.
Coffee calories FAQ
How many calories are in a cup of black coffee?
About 2 calories in an 8 oz (237 ml) cup of plain brewed coffee, according to USDA FoodData Central. A single 1 oz espresso shot has about 3 calories.
How many calories does milk add to coffee?
Two tablespoons of whole milk add about 19 calories. A full cup (8 fl oz) adds 149 calories with whole milk, 122 with 2%, 83 with skim and about 39 with unsweetened almond milk.
How many calories are in a latte?
A homemade 12 oz latte with a double shot and 8 oz of milk has about 154 calories with whole milk, 127 with 2%, 88 with skim and 44 with unsweetened almond milk. Syrups and whipped cream add more, and coffee-shop sizes are often larger.
Is cream or milk better for fewer calories?
Per tablespoon, whole milk has about 9 calories, half-and-half about 20 and heavy cream about 51. Cream is richer, so you may use less of it, but milk is the lighter choice spoon for spoon.
Does espresso have fewer calories than brewed coffee?
Both are nearly calorie-free. A shot of espresso has about 3 calories and an 8 oz cup of brewed coffee about 2. The difference only becomes meaningful once you add milk or sugar.
Sources
- USDA FoodData Central. Beverages, coffee, brewed, prepared with tap water (FDC 171890). Read
- USDA FoodData Central. Beverages, coffee, brewed, espresso, restaurant-prepared (FDC 171891). Read
- USDA FoodData Central. Milk, whole, 3.25% milkfat (FDC 171265); Milk, reduced fat, 2% (FDC 171267); Milk, nonfat (FDC 171269). Read
- USDA FoodData Central. Soymilk, unsweetened (FDC 175215); Almond milk, unsweetened (FDC 174832); Oat milk, unsweetened (FDC 2257046). Read
- USDA FoodData Central. Cream, half and half (FDC 171255); Cream, light (FDC 170857); Cream, heavy whipping (FDC 170859); Whipped cream topping, pressurized (FDC 170860). Read
- USDA FoodData Central. Sugars, granulated (FDC 169655); Honey (FDC 169640); Syrups, maple (FDC 169661); Cocoa, dry powder, unsweetened (FDC 169593); Butter, salted (FDC 173410); Oil, coconut (FDC 171412). Read
- US Food and Drug Administration. Added Sugars on the Nutrition Facts Label. Read
- American Heart Association. Added Sugars. Read
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rethink Your Drink. Read
Facts checked in October 2026.
This article is for general information only and is not medical advice. If you have a health condition, are pregnant or take medication, ask your doctor before changing your caffeine intake.
Keep reading: Why fresh roasted coffee tastes better · How to make espresso at home · Shop flavored coffee