Publisher disclosure: EnergyDrops.com is published by the team behind Drizz, which is included in this comparison.
I keep a running note on my phone of caffeine amounts. It started because I was training for a half Ironman and trying to stay under 300mg before 2pm, and it turned into a habit. Every time I pick up a new drink, I open the label and add it to the list.
The note is boring. It is also the single most useful thing I have for shopping. Because the front of the can almost never tells you what you actually want to know, which is: how much caffeine am I getting if I drink this entire serving, right now, as sold.
So here is the list, cleaned up, dated, and limited to drinks with under 100mg of caffeine per serving. Prices checked October 2026 at retailers I actually buy from in Dallas and online.
The quick answer
If you are shopping for a caffeinated drink with under 100mg per serving, here are the categories that qualify, with representative per-serving numbers from current labels and the USDA FoodData Central database:
- Brewed coffee, 8oz: around 95mg
- Green tea, 8oz brewed: around 28mg
- Black tea, 8oz brewed: around 47mg
- Matcha latte, 8oz with 1g powder: around 35 to 70mg depending on prep
- Yerba mate, 8oz: around 85mg
- Red Bull, 8.4oz can: 80mg
- Celsius Essentials, 16oz can: 200mg (does not qualify)
- Celsius Original, 12oz can: 200mg (does not qualify)
- Zevia Energy, 12oz can: 120mg (does not qualify)
- 5-Hour Energy Extra Strength, 1.93oz shot: 230mg (does not qualify)
- Buoy Energy drops, one squeeze: around 30mg
- Drizz Energy Drops, one squeeze: 65mg
The point of the list is simple. If you want to stay under 100mg per serving in October 2026, you are mostly shopping coffee, tea, Red Bull's smaller can, and liquid drops. A lot of the loudest brands on the shelf are over.
Table of contents
- Why 100mg is a useful cutoff
- Coffee and tea under 100mg
- Canned drinks under 100mg
- Shots and drops under 100mg
- How to read a caffeine label without getting fooled
- How I actually shop this list
Why 100mg is a useful cutoff
There is nothing magic about 100mg. It is not a government threshold. The FDA has stated that up to 400mg of caffeine per day is generally not associated with negative effects for most healthy adults, and 100mg is roughly a quarter of that.
What makes 100mg useful is that it is close to a standard brewed coffee. The Mayo Clinic lists an 8oz cup of brewed coffee at around 95mg. So "under 100mg per serving" is a shopping filter that roughly means "less than a cup of coffee." That is a mental model most people already have.
A per-serving cutoff also forces you to look at serving size, which is where a lot of label math goes sideways. A 16oz can that lists 200mg per container is not under 100mg per serving unless the can is actually two servings. And often it is not.
Coffee and tea under 100mg
Coffee and tea are the oldest options and still the easiest to keep under 100mg per serving if you want to.
- Brewed coffee, 8oz: around 95mg. The USDA FoodData Central database puts coffee brewed from grounds at 94.8mg per 8oz on average. Starbucks Pike Place is higher, listed at 155mg per 8oz on the Starbucks nutrition page as of October 2026.
- Espresso, 1oz shot: around 63mg. A single shot stays under 100mg. A double does not.
- Decaf coffee, 8oz: 2 to 5mg. A 2020 review in Food Research International found decaf typically contains trace amounts, not zero.
- Green tea, 8oz brewed: around 28mg. Varies by steep time and leaf.
- Black tea, 8oz brewed: around 47mg.
- Matcha, 1g powder: around 35mg. A standard cafe latte with one scoop lands roughly 50 to 70mg, two scoops pushes over 100.
- Yerba mate, 8oz brewed: around 85mg per the USDA database.
Prices for all of these are fine. A bag of green tea at Trader Joe's is $2.99 for 20 bags in October 2026. The cost per serving is cents, not dollars.
The tradeoff with coffee and tea is heat, prep time, and variability. The same bag of coffee brewed stronger or steeped longer gives you a different dose every time. If you want a precise number, you need to measure.
Canned drinks under 100mg
This is the section where most shoppers get surprised. A lot of cans look like reasonable "boost" products and are actually over 100mg per serving. Current labels I checked in October 2026:
- Red Bull, 8.4oz original can: 80mg. This is the small can, the one that was the original. Under 100mg.
- Red Bull, 12oz can: 114mg. Over.
- Red Bull, 16oz can: 151mg. Over.
- Monster Energy, 16oz: 160mg. Over.
- Celsius Original, 12oz: 200mg. Over.
- Celsius Essentials, 16oz: 200mg. Over.
- Zevia Energy, 12oz: 120mg. Over.
- Alani Nu, 12oz: 200mg. Over.
- Guayaki Yerba Mate, 15.5oz can: 150mg. Over.
- Olipop with caffeine (new line), 12oz: 50mg. Under.
Red Bull's 8.4oz is one of the few mainstream cans that qualifies. Olipop's caffeinated line qualifies. Most of the "clean energy" category you see at Whole Foods and 7-Eleven is well over 100mg per can.
The American College of Sports Medicine notes that caffeine responses are individual and dose-dependent. Having a 200mg can when you wanted 80mg is a real difference, which is why the serving size on the label matters more than the brand name on the front.
Prices in October 2026: Red Bull 8.4oz is about $2.49 single at 7-Eleven, Celsius 12oz is about $2.79, Zevia 12oz is about $2.00 in a six-pack, Olipop 12oz is about $2.49. Per-serving cost is roughly $1.00 to $2.79 depending on which you pick.
Shots and drops under 100mg
The shot and drops category is where per-serving precision really shines, because the whole point is a measured dose.
- 5-Hour Energy Regular, 1.93oz: 200mg. Over.
- 5-Hour Energy Extra Strength, 1.93oz: 230mg. Over.
- 5-Hour Energy Decaf, 1.93oz: 6mg. Under.
- Proper Wild shot, 2oz: 180mg. Over.
- Buoy Energy drops, one squeeze (approximately 1ml): around 30mg per their current label. Under.
- Drizz Energy Drops, one squeeze: 65mg of green tea caffeine. Under.
- nuCaffeine drops, one dropper: around 150mg per their site in October 2026. Over.
- Kaffn8, one dropper: around 200mg per full dropper. Over.
A few things to note here. Buoy does clean caffeine well. They were in the drops space before Drizz was, and I respect their playbook. The difference is amount per squeeze and formula: Buoy is around 30mg per squeeze, Drizz is 65mg, and Drizz includes L-theanine and taurine on top of the green tea caffeine source.
The 5-Hour Decaf shot is one of the few shots that fits under 100mg, and most people forget it exists.
If precision dosing is what you want, drops are the only format where you can hit exactly 65mg or exactly 130mg on purpose. A can is the dose on the can. A squeeze is the dose on the dropper.
A touch of sucralose balances caffeine's natural bitterness without adding sugar in Drizz, which is worth saying once here since this is a comparison post that includes sweetener differences. Buoy uses stevia. 5-Hour Energy Decaf uses sucralose and ace-K. Preferences on sweeteners are personal.
A note on usage: Drizz is designed to be added to water, sparkling water, or soda. One squeeze into a 16oz water bottle, two squeezes into a 24oz sparkling water, that kind of thing. In plain water you may notice a slight sweetness. That is the honest answer. The 60ml bottle holds 15 servings and is $14.99, which comes out to about $1.00 per serving. You can see the full product details here.
How to read a caffeine label without getting fooled
Three things to check, in order:
1. Caffeine per serving, not per container. A 16oz can that says "200mg caffeine" may list a serving size of 8oz, which would mean 100mg per serving but 200mg if you drink the whole thing. Most people drink the whole can. The number that matters is what you actually consume.
2. The serving size itself. On FDA Supplement Facts labels, serving size is listed at the top of the panel. On conventional beverages like Red Bull or Celsius, caffeine is often listed voluntarily and may appear on the front of the can.
3. Added caffeine sources. A drink labeled "with green tea extract" may have caffeine from that extract that is not listed as "caffeine" directly. Look for guarana, yerba mate, green tea extract, kola nut, and coffee fruit extract. These all contain caffeine that counts toward your total.
If you want to go deeper on how to think about energy drops as a format, we have a hub for that.
How I actually shop this list
Here is the actual workflow I use at the store, which is less elegant than it sounds.
I pick the drink I want based on what I feel like drinking: water, sparkling water, cold brew, matcha, whatever. Then I check the label for caffeine per serving. If it is under 100mg, I buy it. If it is over, I decide whether I actually want that amount at that moment or not. Sometimes I do. If I know I want 65mg because I am training later and do not want to blow my daily budget before 11am, I use Drizz in water, since one squeeze is 65mg.
For reference on a few other posts in the same comparison line, I have written about how Drizz compares to Buoy drops directly if you want the head-to-head on the drops category specifically.
The best part of keeping a list like this is that you stop being surprised. You stop grabbing a Celsius thinking it is a light option and realizing an hour later why your heart is doing cartwheels. You pick a dose on purpose.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Consult your doctor before starting any new supplement, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or have a medical condition.