The Absolute Most Caffeinated Iced Drink at Starbucks

Here's a list of Starbucks most caffeinated iced drinks on the menu. See which iced coffee has the most caffeine of them all!

Starbucks cold brew coffee in a trenta size cup.

Starbucks Iced Drinks with the Most Caffeine

Trying to figure out the most caffeinated iced drink at Starbucks? Starbucks serves up all sorts of caffeine-filled cold beverages—from iced coffee, cold brew and chilled espresso to iced tea and Refreshers.

But which is the strongest?

Whether you’re trying to get the day going or need a refreshing afternoon pick-me-up, Starbucks has a lot of cold drinks to pick from, but not all are equal by any stretch of the imagination when it comes to caffeine content.

So let’s cut to the chase.

A 30-ounce trenta cold brew coffee has 360 milligrams of caffeine and is the absolute most caffeinated iced drink at Starbucks. The next strongest iced drinks on the Starbucks menu are a 24-ounce venti Blonde Iced Caffè Americano and a venti Blonde Iced Shaken Espresso. Both of these cold drinks pack a big caffeine punch at 340 milligrams each.

But maybe you don’t want a mega-size trenta drink or even a venti. In that case, other drinks top cold brew when it comes to caffeine.

Not sure what to order? Here’s a comparison of the caffeine levels for every size cold drink at Starbucks.

Caffeine Levels for all Starbucks Iced Drinks

There are a several things that impact how much caffeine is in your Starbucks iced drink, besides the base drink itself.

My Ultimate Guide to Caffeine in Starbucks Coffee, explains it all.

In a nutshell, here are three things that determine the amount of caffeine in a Starbucks cold drink.

Not all iced drinks come in all four Starbucks cold cup sizes. For example, you can’t order a trenta nitro cold brew. And there’s no such thing as a trenta iced latte, mocha, macchiato or shaken espresso.
Not all sizes of iced espresso drinks get the same number of espresso shots. Americanos and iced shaken espressos are two of the exceptions.
You can switch the standard dark espresso roast in any iced espresso drink to the more-caffeinated blonde roast or even to decaf.

Cold Brew Caffeine Content

As I previously mentioned, a trenta cold brew coffee is the strongest iced drink you can order off the menu at Starbucks.

A Starbucks trenta size cold brew coffee — The strongest iced coffee you can order from the Starbucks menu is a trenta size cold brew coffee with 360 milligrams of caffeine.

Starbucks cold brew coffee itself is highly caffeinated because of the super long brewing process. In addition, you can order a full 30 ounces of it in a trenta cup.

Here’s exactly how much caffeine you can expect for each size.

Starbucks Cold Brew	Caffeine (mg)
Tall	155
Grande	205
Venti	310
Trenta	360

Caffeine (milligrams) in Starbucks cold brew coffee drinks by size

Nitro Cold Brew Caffeine Content

Starbucks nitro cold brew is simply cold brew that’s infused with nitrogen gas. This process makes the drink super chilly, so much so, that it’s not served with ice.

This means the cup is filled with much more coffee than a regular icy cold brew. And we all know what more coffee means!

Ounce-for-ounce, the strongest iced coffee at Starbucks is a nitro cold brew. It has an astounding 18 milligrams of caffeine per ounce. For comparison, a grande nitro has about 36% more caffeine than a grande cold brew served with ice.

In fact, nitro cold brew is one of the most caffeinated drinks at Starbucks, hot, iced or blended!

Starbucks Nitro Cold Brew	Caffeine (mg)
Tall	215
Grande	280

Caffeine (milligrams) in Starbucks nitro cold brew coffee drinks by size

Iced Coffee Caffeine Content

A Starbucks iced coffee looks very similar to a cup of cold brew. But looks can be deceiving.

Unlike cold brew, Starbucks regular iced coffee is brewed quickly with hot water. This means not nearly as much caffeine is extracted.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the two drinks: Starbucks Iced Coffee vs. Cold Brew (Hint, They’re Different).

Starbucks Iced Coffee	Caffeine (mg)
Tall	120
Grande	165
Venti	235
Trenta	280

Caffeine (milligrams) in Starbucks iced coffee drinks by size

Caffeine in Iced Espresso Drinks

Two of the top three strongest iced drinks at Starbucks are venti-size iced shaken espressos and a venti iced Americano, both brewed with blonde roast espresso.

A venti Starbucks iced shaken espresso with label showing it's made with blonde espresso and heavy cream. — A 24-ounce venti Iced Shaken Espresso made with blonde roast brewed espresso is one of the most highly caffeinated iced drinks at Starbucks.

There are two reasons these particular blonde iced espresso beverages have more caffeine than other types.

For starters, Starbucks blonde roast has about 85 milligrams of caffeine per shot compared to their signature dark roast at 75 milligrams.

However, there’s another reason.

Out of all the kinds of espresso drinks at Starbucks, iced Americanos and shaken espressos each get one more shot of espresso than drinks like an iced white chocolate mocha or an iced caramel macchiato.

If you’re interested, my Guide to Starbucks Espresso Shots: Caffeine, Sizes and Options, goes into even more detail.

Here’s a look at the caffeine content for all iced espresso drinks at Starbucks for both caffeinated roasts: blonde and dark.

Blonde Roast Iced Espresso	Tall	Grande	Venti
Latte, Mocha, Macchiato	85	170	255
Iced Americano	170	255	340
Iced Shaken Espresso	170	255	340
Iced Flat White	100	150	200

Caffeine (milligrams) in Starbucks blonde roast iced espresso drinks by size

Dark Roast Iced Espresso	Tall	Grande	Venti
Latte, Mocha, Macchiato	75	150	225
Iced Americano	150	225	300
Iced Shaken Espresso	150	225	300
Iced Flat White	90	130	175

Caffeine (milligrams) in Starbucks dark roast iced espresso drinks by size

Iced Tea Caffeine Content

If you want an iced Starbucks drink that puts a little pep in your step minus the jitters, Starbucks has caffeinated iced tea on the menu.

An iced chai tea latte, which is black tea infused with spices like cinnamon and cardamom, has the most caffeine.

On the other end of the scale, the only herbal iced tea at Starbucks, Passion Tango, has absolutely no caffeine.

Starbucks Iced Tea	Tall	Grande	Venti	Trenta
Iced Chai Tea Latte	70	95	145	n/a
Iced Matcha Latte	55	80	110	n/a
Iced Black Tea	20-25	25-30	40-45	50-55
Iced Green Tea	20-25	25-30	40-45	50-55
Iced Passion Tango	0	0	0	0

Caffeine (milligrams) in Starbucks iced tea drinks by size

Caffeine in Refreshers Beverages

Currently, Starbucks offers three flavors of Refreshers: strawberry acai, dragonfruit and paradise.

But often people are confused whether they contain caffeine or not.

My barista daughter tells me customers ask this all the time! (They also want to know, do frappuccinos have caffeine.)

In fact, Refreshers are caffeinated with green coffee extract that’s added to the juice mix. And all three flavors have the same amount—double what’s in iced black or green tea.

Here’s a closer look at The Absolute Best Starbucks Refreshers. This guide includes drink combinations and caffeine content.

Starbucks Refreshers	Caffeine (mg)
Tall	35-45
Grande	45-55
Venti	70-85
Trenta	90-110

Caffeine (milligrams) in Starbucks Refreshers Beverages by size

Questions You May Have

Which has more caffeine at Starbucks, iced coffee or cold brew?

Starbucks cold brew coffee is stronger than iced coffee due to the different ways the coffee is brewed and caffeine extracted. In fact, a grande cold brew at Starbucks has nearly 25% caffeine than an equivalent size iced coffee.

Does a Starbucks iced latte have more caffeine than iced coffee?

Tall and grande Starbucks lattes actually have less caffeine than the same size iced coffee. However, a 24-ounce venti iced latte made with 3 shots of espresso has a greater amount of caffeine than a venti iced coffee.