Caffeine and Performance: Is One Coffee Enough?

As we have discussed on previous occasions, caffeine can have very positive effects on performance, and in fact very recent evidence provides even more support for the ergogenic effects of this substance. For example, a meta-analysis¹ published a few months ago in the prestigious journal Sports Medicine, which included 46 studies, found that caffeine consumption (3-6 mg/kg) results in an increase in power during endurance tests of around 3%, and an improvement in the time to complete the test of around 2.2%. These improvements are very important, as the difference between victory and being off the podium in these types of tests is usually minimal. Similarly, another meta-analysis² published recently found that caffeine improves performance in both strength actions (e.g., maximum weight that can be lifted) and power actions (e.g., jumping ability). Therefore, caffeine has been shown to be effective in enhancing performance in practically any type of sport.

However, it is important to emphasize that in most scientific studies caffeine is administered in an anhydrous form, that is, in pill form, reaching amounts of around 3-6 mg/kg (210-420 mg for a person weighing 70 kg). On the other hand, in daily life few athletes consume caffeine in pill form, usually turning to coffee as a source of caffeine. But does coffee have the same effects as isolated caffeine?

To answer this question, a study³ led by Dr. Asker Jeukendrup compared the effect of taking 5 mg/kg of isolated caffeine and the same amount of caffeine but from coffee with the effects of taking decaffeinated coffee or a placebo. The researchers analyzed performance through a 45-minute cycling test, and the results showed that both isolated caffeine and coffee similarly improved performance (5% on average) compared to decaffeinated coffee and the placebo.

These results show that, regardless of the source used, caffeine is an effective substance for improving performance as long as optimal doses are reached. However, we must be aware that reaching these doses through coffee consumption is much more complicated. For example, a Nespresso capsule contains approximately 60 mg of caffeine, so more than 3-4 capsules (depending on the athlete's weight) would be necessary to reach the minimum amounts of caffeine that have been shown to be effective in scientific studies. Additionally, it is also more difficult to control how much caffeine we are consuming with coffee, since there is a great variability in the caffeine content in the beans of different coffees (from 10 to 20 mg/g depending on the coffee), and even for different beans of the same type of coffee.⁴ Therefore, it may be more advisable to try to ingest caffeine in pill form rather than as coffee if our goal is to improve performance.