Ben & Jerry’s is one of the most beloved ice cream brands, gifting us with such robust flavors as Cherry Garcia and Chunky Monkey. However, many people don’t realize that, like other coffee ice creams, Ben & Jerry’s coffee ice creams actually contain caffeine. While they make more than one coffee flavor, the classic Ben & Jerry’s coffee ice cream contains 70 milligrams per 8-ounce cup. Read on to see how this compares to their other coffee flavors as well as other brands’ coffee ice creams.
How Much Caffeine Do Ben & Jerry’s Coffee Flavors Have?
We already covered how much the original coffee flavor has, but what about their other coffee ice cream flavors? While the ice cream giant is constantly retiring and introducing new flavors, it currently has no less than three other coffee flavors: Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz, Coffee Toffee Bar Crunch, and Coffee Caramel Buzz. All of them have caffeine, but let’s check out how they fare against the original caffeine content.
| Type | Caffeine Content |
| Plain Coffee (general) | 70 milligrams per 8 ounces |
| Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz | 100 milligrams per 8 ounces |
| Coffee Toffee Crunch | 100 milligrams per 8 ounces |
As we can see from these figures, two of the other three coffee flavors have a similar caffeine content to the original Ben & Jerry’s Coffee flavor. The exception is Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz, which has a staggering 100 milligrams per 8 ounces, which is comparable to a cup of real coffee!
How Does Ben & Jerry’s Compare to Other Coffee Ice Cream in Caffeine?
Ben & Jerry’s coffee ice cream isn’t the only coffee ice cream to contain caffeine. Most coffee-flavored ice creams contain actual coffee as a flavor, and it’s virtually impossible to remove all the caffeine. Let’s see how other popular coffee ice cream flavors stack up against Ben & Jerry’s Coffee flavor in caffeine.
| Type | Caffeine Content |
| Ben & Jerry’s Coffee | 70 milligrams per 8 ounces |
| Haagen-Daz Coffee | 60 milligrams per 8 ounces |
| Talenti Coffee Chocolate Chip | 10–16 milligrams per 8 ounces |
| Breyer’s Coffee | 30 milligrams per 8 ounces |
| Generic Coffee Ice Cream | 50 milligrams per 8 ounces |
Caffeine, Coffee, & Ice Cream
Many brands of coffee ice cream contain nearly as much caffeine as a cup of coffee, but what does this mean for your health and other caffeine intakes? Well, you’ll have to avoid drinking so much tea, coffee, or caffeinated soda, for starters.
The daily recommended limit for most adults, as recommended by the FDA, is 400 milligrams per day. So, if you eat an entire pint of ice cream, that’s an entire cup of coffee you’ve replaced. It’s important to be mindful of how much caffeine you consume daily because if you exceed the daily limit you can experience adverse side effects like a racing heartbeat, agitation, insomnia, and even a heightened risk of a heart attack.
So, could you replace your daily cup with a daily pint of coffee ice cream? You could, but we wouldn’t recommend it. Ice cream has a lot of sugar, carbs, and fat in it. While the amount varies based on brand, a typical pint of ice cream has a staggering 40 grams of saturated fat per 8-ounce cup.
Ice cream can also have an adverse effect on people with lactose intolerance and breathing problems. If a lactose intolerant person eats ice cream or dairy, it can cause indigestion, gas, and diarrhea. In persons with asthma, ice cream and other dairy products can worsen asthmatic symptoms by thickening phlegm.
Finally, coffee ice cream isn’t the best midnight snack. Because caffeine keeps you awake, you can end up tossing and turning all night by munching down that pint of Coffee Caramel Buzz. If you want to eat coffee ice cream, it’s best to do so more than 5 hours before you go to sleep, so the caffeine has time to wear off before bedtime.
Conclusion
Like all coffee ice cream flavors, Ben & Jerry’s coffee flavors contain surprisingly high amounts of caffeine. They can give you a boost similar to coffee, but be careful not to eat it too close to bedtime! Also, be careful eating coffee ice cream if you’re sensitive to caffeine, have asthma, or are lactose intolerant.
