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Matcha (1 tsp powder) before bed: 70 mg of caffeine and how long it lasts

Updated October 3, 2026 · Sources: FDA · USDA FoodData Central · Mayo Clinic figures · Drake 2013 · IOM 2001

Short answer

70 mg

per 8 fl oz (237 ml) — half of it is still in you 5 hours later. About 7 hours to drop under 25 mg.

Reported range38–88 mgby brand and preparation
Share of FDA 400 mg/day18%healthy adults

General information from population studies (NIH, CDC, NSF, AASM). It is not medical advice and does not replace a clinician who knows you.

Matcha (1 tsp powder) delivers about 70 mg of caffeine per 8 fl oz (237 ml) — a moderate dose next to the 400 mg a day the FDA calls generally safe for healthy adults. Published values run from 38 to 88 mg depending on leaf and steeping time.

Caffeine left after one matcha (1 tsp powder) (70 mg)
0h2h4h6h8h10h12h703518half gone at 5 h

Half-life 5 h (IOM 2001); shaded band = FDA's 4–6 h · as of October 3, 2026

How long matcha (1 tsp powder) stays in your system

With a 5-hour half-life, 35 mg is still in your system five hours after matcha (1 tsp powder), 18 mg after ten. It takes about 7 hours to fall under 25 mg — the illustrative threshold used on this site, not a medical one.

The half-life is an average. Between people it runs from about 1.5 to 9.5 hours: smokers clear caffeine faster; pregnancy, oral contraceptives and some medicines slow it. The curve above is a model of a typical adult, not a measurement of you.

Last matcha (1 tsp powder) for common bedtimes

Bedtime6 h beforemg left at bedtime if drunk 6 h beforemg left if drunk 3 h before
9:00 pm3:00 pm30 mg46 mg
9:30 pm3:30 pm30 mg46 mg
10:00 pm4:00 pm30 mg46 mg
10:30 pm4:30 pm30 mg46 mg
11:00 pm5:00 pm30 mg46 mg
11:30 pm5:30 pm30 mg46 mg
12:00 am6:00 pm30 mg46 mg
12:30 am6:30 pm30 mg46 mg
1:00 am7:00 pm30 mg46 mg

6-hour line from Drake et al. 2013 (400 mg at 6 h before bed cut sleep by >1 h) · 5-hour half-life · as of October 3, 2026

What the 6-hour rule is based on

One controlled trial (Drake and colleagues, 2013) gave 400 mg of caffeine — about four cups of brewed coffee — at bedtime, three hours before and six hours before, and measured sleep in a lab. Even the six-hour dose cut total sleep by more than an hour, and participants did not report feeling the difference. A single matcha (1 tsp powder) is a fraction of that dose, so the effect is likely smaller, but the direction is the same.

A brown ceramic cup of coffee on a table
Photo by Jakub Dziubak on Unsplash

Sources

  1. Caffeine content for coffee, tea, soda and more — Mayo Clinic
  2. Spilling the Beans: How Much Caffeine is Too Much? — U.S. Food and Drug Administration
  3. FoodData Central — U.S. Department of Agriculture
  4. Caffeine Effects on Sleep Taken 0, 3, or 6 Hours before Going to Bed — J Clin Sleep Med 9(11):1195-1200, 2013 (Drake C. et al.)
  5. Caffeine for the Sustainment of Mental Task Performance: Formulations for Military Operations — National Academies Press, 2001

General information from population studies (NIH, CDC, NSF, AASM). It is not medical advice and does not replace a clinician who knows you.