As an Amazon Associate, Barista Life earns from qualifying purchases.
A matcha latte made with the standard 1 teaspoon (2 grams) of matcha powder has about 64 mg of caffeine, per Caffeine Informer. Order one at Starbucks and the menu lists a grande Matcha Latte, hot or iced, at 65 mg. That puts a matcha latte at less than half the caffeine of a grande Caffe Latte and around a fifth of a grande brewed coffee. The milk contributes nothing. Every milligram comes from the powder, so the real question is always how much matcha went into the cup.
Why every chart you find gives a different number
Three reasons, and they stack.
First, matcha itself is not one number. Research compiled by Caffeine Informer puts matcha at 18.9 to 44.4 mg of caffeine per gram, depending on grade and harvest. That is still well above regular steeped green tea at 11.3 to 24.7 mg per gram, because with matcha you drink the whole ground leaf instead of an infusion.
Second, cafes do not agree on a dose. One shop uses a level teaspoon for a 12 oz drink, the next uses two heaping ones. Double the powder means double the caffeine, which is exactly how traditional thick matcha (koicha) works: twice the powder of regular matcha, twice the dose.
Third, Starbucks changed its recipe. The chain reworked its matcha powder in early 2025, moving to an unsweetened matcha, and the caffeine listings changed with it. The current Starbucks menu shows 65 mg for a grande, while older databases, including Caffeine Informer's Starbucks guide, still list the old Matcha Green Tea Latte at 90 mg for a grande. If a chart tells you 90 mg, it predates the recipe change.
Matcha also contains L-theanine, the amino acid people credit for a steadier feel than coffee gives them. Plenty of regulars swear by it. How much of that you notice is individual, so treat it as a reason to try one, not a guarantee.
Matcha latte caffeine chart
| Drink | Size | Caffeine | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homemade matcha latte, 1 tsp (2 g) matcha | 8 to 12 oz | ~64 mg | Caffeine Informer |
| Homemade matcha latte, 2 tsp (4 g) matcha | 12 to 16 oz | ~128 mg | Caffeine Informer |
| Starbucks Matcha Latte, hot or iced | Tall, 12 oz | 40 mg | Starbucks |
| Starbucks Matcha Latte, hot or iced | Grande, 16 oz | 65 mg | Starbucks |
| Starbucks Iced Matcha Latte | Venti, 24 oz | 85 mg | Starbucks |
| Starbucks Caffe Latte (for comparison) | Grande, 16 oz | 150 mg | Caffeine Informer |
| Starbucks Pike Place brewed coffee (for comparison) | Grande, 16 oz | 310 mg | Caffeine Informer |
The homemade rows use Caffeine Informer's average of 64 mg per 2 gram teaspoon. Your bag can land anywhere in that 18.9 to 44.4 mg per gram range, so a strong ceremonial matcha at 2 teaspoons can quietly out-caffeinate a shot of espresso while a budget culinary grade at 1 teaspoon barely beats black tea. If you make them at home and want to control the dose, weigh the powder instead of scooping. A search for ceremonial grade matcha powder will show you how wide the quality spread is at every price.
For context, the FDA cites 400mg of caffeine a day as an amount generally not associated with negative effects in healthy adults. How caffeine affects you depends on your own tolerance and health, so treat these numbers as information, not advice.
Barista Life runs on coffee people. Browse the Barista Life shop to support the site.
How a matcha latte stacks up against the coffee menu
If you are switching from coffee, the drop is bigger than most people expect. A regular latte gets its caffeine from espresso shots, and shot counts scale with size; our latte caffeine chart breaks that down by chain and size. On the other end, cold brew concentrates sit at the top of the menu, and the numbers in our cold brew caffeine guide make a grande matcha latte look like a warm-up. For everything else on the green siren's menu, from refreshers to Frappuccinos, the full Starbucks caffeine guide has the complete chart.
Behind the bar, the practical read is this: a customer asking for "something with less caffeine than my usual latte" is well served by a matcha latte, and a customer chasing a bigger kick should skip matcha entirely unless you are doubling the powder. Upsizing barely helps. Going from a tall to a venti iced at Starbucks only adds 45 mg because the scoop count grows slower than the cup.
Looking for a different drink? The full caffeine database has every chain and can we have verified.
FAQ
Does a matcha latte have more caffeine than coffee? No. A grande Starbucks Matcha Latte lists 65 mg, against 150 mg for a grande Caffe Latte and 310 mg for a grande Pike Place brewed coffee. A homemade matcha latte only closes that gap if you use 2 or more teaspoons of strong matcha.
How much caffeine is in one teaspoon of matcha? About 64 mg on average for a 2 gram teaspoon, per Caffeine Informer. Individual matchas test between 18.9 and 44.4 mg per gram, so a teaspoon can realistically range from roughly 38 to 89 mg depending on grade and harvest.
Do iced and hot matcha lattes have the same caffeine? At Starbucks, yes for tall and grande: the menu lists the same 40 mg and 65 mg whether hot or iced. Homemade versions also do not change with temperature, since the caffeine comes entirely from how much powder you whisk in.