2 mg

Decaf black tea, brewed · 8 fl oz (237 ml)

Source: USDA FoodData Central, decaffeinated black tea, checked 19 September 2026.

How it compares

Decaf black tea, brewed, 8 fl oz (237 ml) 2 mg
Brewed coffee, 8 fl oz (237 ml) 95 mg
Red Bull Energy Drink, 8.4 fl oz (250 ml) 80 mg
Daily limit for most healthy adults 400 mg

Coffee: USDA FoodData Central, coffee brewed with tap water. Red Bull: Red Bull product Q&A. Daily limit: the figure the FDA cites as not generally associated with negative effects in healthy adults.

How many can I have?

200 servings of this size fit under a 400 mg day (400 mg), using the whole allowance.

Based on 400 mg, the FDA figure for healthy adults.

Add it to the calculator

The calculator sets a personal limit from your weight, age, pregnancy status and sensitivity, and this box uses it once you have saved it there.

Caffeine by size

Serving Caffeine Share of 400 mg
8 fl oz (237 ml) 2 mg 1%

Almost nothing left

Decaffeinating black tea removes nearly all of its caffeine but not literally all of it. USDA puts brewed decaf black tea at 1 mg per 100 g, which comes to about 2 mg in a standard 8 fl oz cup, against 47 mg for regular black tea brewed the same way. That is roughly a 96% reduction, similar in scale to what decaf coffee achieves against regular coffee.

Close to caffeine-free, not quite

At 2 mg a cup, decaf black tea is close enough to zero that it won’t meaningfully affect most people’s sleep or a daily total. It is not, however, the same as a genuinely caffeine-free herbal tea like chamomile or peppermint, which USDA records at 0 mg, since those aren’t made from the tea plant at all.

Steep time still has some effect on decaf, the same way it does on regular tea, but the total amount of caffeine available to extract is so small to begin with that even a long steep won’t push a cup anywhere close to a regular cup’s 47 mg.

Where it fits in a day

A cup of decaf black tea is so far under the 200 mg single dose EFSA assessed as safe for healthy adults, or the 400 mg daily figure the FDA cites, that it barely registers. It matters most in pregnancy, where ACOG uses a 200 mg daily ceiling: switching regular tea for decaf is one of the simplest ways to cut a meaningful amount of caffeine from the day without giving up the drink entirely.