If you’re wondering how many calories are in a cappuccino, the answer is ‘around 60 calories.’ This is if you’re drinking a standard 6-ounce cup of cappuccino.
If you’re watching what you’re eating and counting your calorie intake, and still battling to lose weight, you may need to start considering what you’re drinking. Unfortunately, drinks can potentially contain a lot of calories! A 250 ml glass of wine, for instance, can add up to 228 calories to your daily intake. This is quite a lot if you consider that the recommended daily calorie intake for women is 2,000 calories, and for men, 2,500. So, what about coffee? For instance, how many calories are in a cappuccino? Well, it depends. A standard cappuccino served in a 6-ounce cup and prepared with full-cream milk contains roughly 60 calories. Here’s a more detailed breakdown.
Does Coffee Contain Calories?
So, where precisely do the calories in a cappuccino come from? Well, the good news — or the bad news, depending on how much you like the extras in coffee, such as milk and sugar — is that coffee contains virtually no calories. For example, a regular 8-ounce cup of black drip coffee will add as little as two calories to your daily intake.
However, since espresso is a concentrated coffee beverage, it has more calories than drip coffee. Therefore, with a single shot of espresso, you’re consuming around four calories. This means that with a double shot of espresso, you’re looking at under ten calories. This number is, of course, still negligible when one considers the recommended daily calorie intake for adults.
Where Do the Calories in Cappuccino Come From?
In order to understand where the calories in a cappuccino come from, it may be helpful to recap how to make this foamy beverage. A classic cappuccino is made with 1/3 espresso, 1/3 steamed milk, and 1/3 froth. If, as I said, the calories in espresso are minimal, it means that milk is the main culprit when it comes to the calorie count in a cappuccino.
The number of calories in milk, however, varies, depending on the type of milk. Whole dairy milk and full-fat coconut milk, for instance, are rich in calories and also fats. Here’s a short breakdown of the calories contained in different types of milk and also milk alternatives:
| Milk | Amount | Calories |
| Cow’s milk (whole) | 8 oz | 150 |
| Cow’s milk (1%) | 8 oz | 110 |
| Cow’s milk (skim) | 8 oz | 80 |
| Almond milk (unsweetened) | 8 oz | 40 |
| Soy milk (unsweetened) | 8 oz | 80 |
| Rice milk (unsweetened) | 8 oz | 120 |
| Coconut milk (unsweetened) | 8 oz | 50 |
A Breakdown of the Calories in Cappuccino
Roughly stated, a cappuccino consists of 1/3 espresso and 2/3s milk. However, 1/3 of the drink consists of froth, which is less concentrated than steamed milk. This means that we can subtract a few calories when calculating the calories contained in the milk part of a cappuccino. That said, in a 6-ounce cup, you roughly get the following calories:
- 1 to 2 ounces of espresso = approximately 4 to 6 calories
- 3 to 4 ounces of whole cow’s milk = about 50 to 60 calories
- 3 to 4 ounces of skimmed milk = about 30 to 40 calories
- 3 to 4 ounces of almond milk = about 10 to 20 calories
- 3 to 4 ounces of soy milk = about 30 to 40 calories
This means that a 6-ounce cup of cappuccino made with a single espresso and almond milk will contain just above 20 calories. That’s not too bad!
And . . . What About Sugar?
The problem, however, lies with sugar! If you’re adding sugar to your cappuccino, you’re also adding many extra calories to your beverage. One teaspoon of sugar contains a whopping 20 calories. This means that a regular cappuccino with one teaspoon of sugar contains roughly 80 calories.
