Black coffee calories come to 5 for 1 cup (248 g) and 2 per 100 g, brewed with no milk or sugar. A 12 oz mug lands at 7. The thing to notice is how little the number moves: even 5 cups add up to only 25 calories. What you stir in decides the total, not the coffee.
5kcal
1 cup · 248 g, brewed, no milk or sugar
64%protein
0.7 gProtein
0 gCarbs
0 gFat
How to burn off 5 kcal
—Walking, brisk
—Jogging
—Cycling, moderate
—Swimming
Skip the math. BodyPal counts these calories from your steps and workouts automatically.
Nutrition facts
Brewed, no milk or sugar · per 248 g
Calories
5 kcal
Protein
0.7 g
Carbohydrate
0.4 g
Fat
0 g
Saturated fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
2 mg
Potassium
124 mg
Iron
0 mg
Source: USDA FoodData Central
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Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food composition database, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified September 2026. How we verify our data →
Black coffee: calories, protein and sodium by serving
Percent of daily value uses the FDA reference of 2,000 kcal a day.
Serving
kcal
Protein
Carbs
Fat
Sodium
% DV kcal
1 cup (248 g)
5
0.7 g
0.4 g
0 g
2 mg
0%
12 oz mug (340 g)
7
1 g
0.6 g
0 g
3 mg
0%
100 g
2
0.3 g
0.2 g
0 g
1 mg
0%
3 × 1 cup (248 g)
15
2.2 g
7 mg
5 × 1 cup (248 g)
25
3.7 g
12 mg
Five cups of black coffee add up to 25 calories
A standard 1 cup (248 g) pour of brewed black coffee carries 5 calories. Step up to a 12 oz mug (340 g), a common size for a home mug, and it reaches 7. Both servings show 0% of the daily value for calories, which is about as close to free as a drink gets.
Refills barely move the total. 2 cups (496 g) come to 10 calories, 3 cups (744 g) to 15, and 5 cups, a full 1,240 g of liquid, reach 25. Few foods let you multiply the portion fivefold and still log a number this small.
That changes how you should track it. Precision about cup size buys you a couple of calories at most, so log the mug you use and stop measuring. The effort belongs on the milk, cream and sugar, which this page does not count. If you drink it plain, coffee is one of the few lines in a food log you can enter from habit.
Protein is 64% of a near-zero total
The calorie split for black coffee reads 64% protein, 36% carbs and 0% fat. On paper that looks like a protein drink. In grams it is almost nothing: 0.3 g of protein and 0.2 g of carbs per 100 g, with 0 g of fat. The percentages describe a very small pie.
A full cup holds 0.7 g of protein and 0.4 g of carbs. A 12 oz mug gives 1 g of protein, which is 2% of the 50 g daily value, plus 0.6 g of carbs. Sugars, fiber, saturated fat and cholesterol all read 0, so there is no hidden row to worry about.
Treat the split as a quirk of dividing small numbers. Even 5 cups supply only 3.7 g of protein, so coffee will never carry the protein side of a meal. It earns its place for flavor and routine, not macros.
Sodium stays at 0% of the daily value
Some drinks hide salt. Brewed black coffee does not: it has 1 mg of sodium per 100 g, 2 mg in a cup and 3 mg in a 12 oz mug. Each of those servings shows 0% of the daily value for sodium.
Stacking cups does not change the picture much. 2 cups bring 5 mg, 3 cups 7 mg and 5 cups 12 mg, still a rounding error for anyone watching sodium. If you track salt closely, the coffee line can stay off your worry list and your attention can go to the food beside it.
The mineral that does show up is potassium, at 50 mg per 100 g. That is a modest amount against the daily value, so count it as a small extra rather than a reason to drink more. Bottled cold brews and coffee shots, such as Stok or Green Mountain, are separate products, so check the label on those.
What you add sets the real total
Black coffee starts near zero, so the final number in your cup depends on what goes in it. Cream is the biggest swing: coffee with cream logs 136 calories per 100 g against 2 for black coffee. Milk and sugar move it too, by amounts that depend entirely on your pour.
Black iced coffee and cold brew follow the same logic. Brewed coffee chilled over ice keeps the per 100 g figure of the brew, and ready-to-drink bottles from Starbucks, Venice or Chameleon are sold in black versions too. Read the label if a bottle lists any sweetener, because that is where the calories would come from.
In a day of eating, plain coffee fits almost anywhere: beside breakfast, before a workout, or as the afternoon cup. If you like it lighter, a splash of milk you actually measure keeps the log honest. BodyPal can log your cup from a photo.
How does black coffee compare?
Here is black coffee next to a mug of coffee, coffee with cream and whole coffee beans, per 100 g and per usual serving.
Verdict: For the lowest number, black coffee at 2 per 100 g and a mug of coffee at 1 are effectively tied, while coffee with cream jumps to 136, about 68 times more. Coffee beans at 540 per 100 g are a snack, not a drink, so count them as food if you eat them.
Most popular black coffee brands in the United States
Ranked by popularity in the BodyPal database
# Productkcal / 100 g
1Green Mountain Coffee Pure Black Coffee Shot1 bottle · 60 ml0 kcal
2Starbucks Cold Brew Premium Black Coffee Drink9.5 fl oz · 281 ml5 kcal
3Stok Black Coffee Shot13 ml77 kcal
4The Coffee Tree Premium Cold-Brewed Black Coffee12 fl oz · 360 ml0 kcal
5Venice Cold Brew Black Coffee12 fl oz · 355 ml0 kcal
6Chameleon Cold Brew Organic Black Coffee4 fl oz · 118 ml0 kcal
Shots and concentrates are sold in very small servings, so their per-100 g numbers read much higher than plain brewed coffee even though a serving is still tiny. Source: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Black coffee FAQs
How many calories are in a cup of black coffee?
A 1 cup serving (248 g) is about 5 calories, and a 12 oz mug (340 g) is about 7. Brewed black coffee is 2 calories per 100 g.
Is black coffee good for weight loss?
It adds almost nothing to a daily total: 5 calories per cup, with 0 g fat and 0.4 g carbs, and no sugar.
Black coffee vs coffee with cream: how big is the difference?
Black coffee is 2 calories per 100 g, while coffee with cream is listed at 136 calories per 100 g, so the cream carries nearly all of it.
How much protein and carbs are in black coffee?
A cup has 0.7 g protein and 0.4 g carbs (0.3 g protein and 0.17 g carbs per 100 g), plus about 124 mg potassium and 2 mg sodium.
How many calories are in 12 oz of black coffee?
A 12 oz mug (340 g) of black coffee has 7 calories. It also brings 1 g of protein, 0.6 g of carbs, 0 g of fat and 3 mg of sodium, which is 0% of the daily value for calories.
How many kcal does black coffee have per 100 g?
Black coffee has 2 kcal per 100 g. That comes from 0.3 g of protein and 0.2 g of carbs, with 0 g of fat and 0 g of sugars, so the total stays near zero at any portion.
How much is a cup of black coffee in grams?
A standard cup of black coffee is 248 g and carries 5 calories. A 12 oz mug holds 340 g for 7 calories, so the size you pour changes the total by only a couple of calories.
Does black coffee contain any sugar?
Brewed black coffee has 0 g of sugars per 100 g, per cup and per 12 oz mug. Its 0.2 g of carbs per 100 g are not sugar, so any sweetness comes from what you add.
Does black iced coffee have the same calories as hot?
Black iced coffee made from brewed coffee keeps the same 2 calories per 100 g as hot coffee. Ice adds volume, not calories, so a cup stays in the 5 to 7 range; bottled cold brews vary by brand.
