How much caffeine in a cortado? Usually about 120–130 mg, because most cafes build the drink on a double shot of espresso cut with an equal splash of warm, steamed milk. A single-shot cortado sits closer to 65–80 mg, and the milk itself adds none. Treat every figure here as a hedged ballpark: the real number shifts with the beans, the shot size and the barista's hand.
How much caffeine in a cortado, exactly?
A cortado is a small drink — usually 4 to 4.5 oz, about 120–130 ml — so people assume it is gentle. The catch is the coffee-to-milk ratio. A cortado is espresso "cut" (from the Spanish cortar, to cut) with roughly an equal amount of steamed milk, and in a great many specialty cafes the espresso underneath is a double. That double shot is where almost all of the caffeine lives.
- Double-shot cortado (the common cafe build): about 120–130 mg.
- Single-shot cortado: about 65–80 mg.
- The steamed milk: 0 mg — dairy and plant milks carry no caffeine of their own.
Those espresso figures come straight from the shots themselves. For the full breakdown of what a shot actually holds and why it swings, see our guide to caffeine in espresso; here we are just adding milk on top of it.
Why a cortado is stronger than it looks
Cup size is a poor guide to strength. A cortado can look like a modest little glass sitting next to a 12 oz latte, yet the two are often built on an identical double shot, so they can carry almost the same caffeine. The latte simply buries its espresso under far more milk. Because a cortado keeps the milk to a minimum — roughly one-to-one with the coffee — the espresso tastes bolder and the caffeine is more concentrated per sip. In short, its size undersells its punch. If you want the anatomy of the drink itself, including the ratio, the glass and where it comes from, read what a cortado is.
Why the milk does not change the caffeine
Caffeine is a compound found in the coffee, not in the dairy. Steaming milk, foaming it, or swapping cow's milk for oat, almond or soy changes the texture and the flavor of a cortado but not its caffeine total. So a cortado and a plain double espresso pulled from the same shots deliver essentially the same caffeine — the milk in the cortado only softens the taste and rounds out the mouthfeel. That is why the question of how much caffeine is in a cortado always comes back to two simpler ones: how many shots, and which beans?
Cortado caffeine content vs other drinks
Here is how a cortado's caffeine content stacks up against the neighbours you might order instead. Every figure below is a typical range or a rounded average — brands, beans and baristas vary widely, so read them as guides rather than exact counts.
| Drink | Approx. caffeine per serving |
|---|---|
| Single-shot cortado | ~65–80 mg |
| Double-shot cortado (typical) | ~120–130 mg |
| Single espresso | ~63–80 mg |
| Double espresso | ~125–160 mg |
| Flat white or latte (same double shot) | ~120–130 mg |
| Brewed drip coffee (8 oz / 240 ml) | ~95 mg |
| Decaf cortado | ~2–10 mg |
The pattern is clear: a double-shot cortado lands in the same zone as a same-shot flat white and comfortably above a single mug of brewed coffee. It only feels lighter because the serving in front of you is so much smaller. A single-shot cortado, by contrast, is roughly on par with a straight espresso and a touch below a full cup of drip.
What changes the caffeine in a cortado
Because the coffee does all the work, anything that changes the espresso changes the number. The main levers, roughly in order of impact:
- One shot or two. This is the single biggest factor. A second shot essentially doubles the caffeine, which is exactly why the same-sized cortado can read as ~70 mg in one cafe and ~130 mg in another.
- Arabica vs robusta. Robusta beans carry roughly twice the caffeine of arabica by weight. Most espresso blends lean arabica, but traditional blends that add robusta for body and crema will push the caffeine higher.
- The cafe's house shot. Grind size, dose, roast level and how long the shot runs all nudge the extraction. Two "double" cortados from different bars can still differ by 20 or 30 mg.
- Decaf. Choosing decaf strips the number down to a trace, whatever the shot count (more on that below).
None of these is precise enough to memorise a single figure. When in doubt, count the shots first and treat everything else as fine-tuning.
What about a cortadito?
A cortadito is the Cuban cousin of the cortado — a small espresso "cut" with steamed milk, but sweetened, traditionally with sugar whipped into the first drops of the shot to make a pale, syrupy foam. The sugar transforms the taste, not the chemistry. A cortadito carries the same caffeine per shot as a cortado, so a double-shot cortadito again sits in that 120–130 mg band, and a single-shot one nearer 65–80 mg. We look at the two side by side, including how the sweetening is built into the pull, in our cortado vs cortadito guide; for caffeine purposes, treat them as interchangeable per shot.
Decaf cortado: only a trace
Decaf is not caffeine-free, but it is close. A decaf espresso shot typically holds only a few milligrams of caffeine rather than the 60-plus of a regular shot, so a decaf cortado — single or double — usually lands somewhere around 2–10 mg total. That makes it a genuine option late in the day for people who want the ritual and the flavor of a cortado without the lift, though "decaf" never means "zero".
Does a cortado have a lot of caffeine for your day?
For most healthy adults, one cortado is a moderate amount of caffeine rather than a large one. A double-shot cortado's ~120–130 mg is roughly a third of the 400 mg per day that health authorities frequently cite as a general upper guide for healthy adults. So the honest answer to "does a cortado have a lot of caffeine" is: not on its own — but two or three across a day add up quickly, and that ceiling is lower if you are more sensitive to caffeine. For how those daily totals are usually framed, see our overview of how much caffeine per day is generally considered reasonable.
Caffeine tolerance varies a great deal from person to person, and pregnancy, breastfeeding, certain medications and some health conditions can all lower the amount that feels comfortable. Responses vary, and this is general information rather than medical advice — if you are unsure how caffeine fits your own situation, ask your healthcare provider.
The bottom line
So, how much caffeine in a cortado? Plan on about 120–130 mg for the double-shot version most cafes pour, or roughly 65–80 mg if it is built on a single. It is a small glass with the punch of a much bigger drink: the milk mellows the flavor, but the espresso underneath is doing all the work. Order it knowing the number, and a cortado slots neatly into a normal day's caffeine.