Does Maca Have Caffeine? Where the Lift in a Maca Coffee Comes From

Maca coffee has a reputation as an energy drink in a mug, so it is fair to ask where the lift comes from. Maca is often sold next to coffee, guarana and green tea, and that company makes it easy to assume it brings caffeine of its own. It does not, and once you know that, a maca coffee label becomes much easier to read.

The short answer: no caffeine has been found in maca

No. Maca root is not a known source of caffeine. As of October 2026, no published study has reported caffeine in maca, and the researchers who have catalogued its chemistry did not find any. A 2022 analysis that identified 120 compounds in maca root did not list caffeine among them [1].

If a maca coffee perks you up, the caffeine came from something else in the cup: the coffee, and in many blends, guarana. The rest of this article shows where the caffeine sits, roughly how much each source carries, and how to read a label so you know what you are drinking. For everything else about maca coffee, from colours to gelatinized powder, see our complete guide to maca coffee.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

What maca is: a root vegetable from the high Andes

Maca (Lepidium meyenii) belongs to the cabbage and mustard family, Brassicaceae. It grows in the high Andes of Peru and Bolivia, at 3,500 to 4,500 metres, where few other crops survive, and it has been cultivated there for more than 2,000 years [2][3]. The part people eat is the swollen root, a rounded bulb about the size of a small turnip. It comes in yellow, red and black types [3].

In the Andes, maca is eaten as food first, and it is traditionally taken as an energizing food, the way other cultures reach for strong tea or bone broth. The dried roots keep for years. Andean families boil them, count them as a delicacy, and trade them for staple foods from lower valleys [2]. Traditionally, the harvested roots are left to dry for weeks in the open field on the high plateau [18].

Maca's chemistry has been studied closely. Its best-known compounds, the macamides, have been found only in maca, alongside glucosinolates, the sulphur compounds that give the cabbage family its bite [2]. The alkaloids identified in maca include imidazole alkaloids (the lepidilines), pyrrole alkaloids, amidine alkaloids and beta-carbolines. Caffeine is a purine alkaloid, a different family, and none of maca's reported alkaloids belongs to it [2][4][5].

If you want to see how maca compares with another root often sold for energy, read ginseng vs maca.

Where the caffeine in a maca coffee comes from

Caffeine is made by a small number of plants. It evolved separately several times in flowering plants, in cacao, citrus and guarana among others [6], and it is made in quantity by tea, coffee and cacao [5]. A 2010 review lists its natural food sources as coffee beans, cacao beans, kola nuts, guarana berries, and tea leaves including yerba mate [7]. Maca is not on that list, and its cabbage and mustard family is not among the known caffeine makers. For a plain explanation of the molecule itself, see what caffeine is.

So in a maca coffee, the caffeine comes from the other ingredients:

• Coffee. In any maca coffee made with regular coffee, this is the main source.
• Guarana. Guarana seeds have the highest caffeine concentration of any plant that makes it. One analysis of five cultivars measured 3.3% to 5.8% caffeine in the seeds [8], and a review puts the figure at up to 6% [9].
• Other add-ins. Green tea, matcha, yerba mate and cacao all bring caffeine too.
• Maca. It adds the earthy, malty note in the cup, and none of the caffeine.

What does guarana add beyond its caffeine? Researchers are not sure. A 2023 meta-analysis of 8 placebo-controlled studies with 328 people found that guarana had a small effect on reaction time and none on accuracy, and the authors could not say whether caffeine or something else in guarana caused it [10]. For how guarana's caffeine compares with coffee's, see guarana vs coffee caffeine.

Caffeine by the cup: coffee, guarana and maca side by side

The caffeine in a cup depends on how big the cup is and how much powder goes in, so every figure below states its basis.

• Brewed coffee. USDA data put brewed coffee at 40 mg per 100 g, which works out to about 95 mg in an 8 fl oz (237 g) cup [11]. The US Food and Drug Administration gives 113 to 247 mg for a 12 fl oz cup of regular brewed coffee, or about 75 to 165 mg for 8 fl oz [12].
• Instant coffee. USDA data put instant coffee powder at 3,142 mg per 100 g, so a 2 g packet holds about 63 mg and a 1 g teaspoon about 31 mg [11].
• Guarana seed. At 3.3% to 5.8% caffeine, one gram of seed holds about 33 to 58 mg [8]. That is a figure per gram of seed, not per cup, and guarana powders and extracts vary more than the seed does.
• Maca root. No caffeine reported.

In a maca coffee, then, the amount of coffee and guarana sets the caffeine. A brand that prints caffeine per serving saves you the arithmetic.

Does maca give you energy without caffeine?

In Andean tradition, maca is an energizing food, and that is how many people still use it. The research on maca by itself is thinner than its reputation. A 2024 systematic review found 21 studies of maca and physical performance, 17 in animals and 4 in people. It pooled the animal studies and reported large effects in animals, but the human studies were too few to pool, and the authors flagged a high chance of publication bias. A 2019 review found that clinical studies supporting maca's claimed health effects appear to be lacking [3][13].

So the lift you can count on in a maca coffee is the caffeine from its coffee and guarana. Maca brings its Andean food heritage and its earthy, malty taste to the cup, which is a fair reason to choose it on its own terms.

Who should keep an eye on caffeine

For most adults, the US Food and Drug Administration cites 400 mg of caffeine a day, about two to three 12-fluid-ounce cups of coffee, as an amount not generally associated with negative effects. A 2017 systematic review reached the same 400 mg figure for healthy adults. People differ widely in how sensitive they are to caffeine [12][14].

Pregnant or breastfeeding, under 18, living with a heart rhythm disorder, poorly controlled high blood pressure, an overactive thyroid, or a stomach or duodenal ulcer, or taking prescription stimulants or MAO inhibitors: talk to your own clinician before adding any concentrated caffeine source, from any plant. These are the populations named in the European Medicines Agency's herbal monograph on guarana seed and in the food-safety authorities' caffeine opinions.

If a doctor has told you to limit caffeine, count the caffeine in a maca coffee toward that limit.

A 2019 review of guarana seed's safety concluded that, when caffeine intake guidelines are respected, guarana is not likely to be associated with serious health risks [15].

Maca coffees made with coffee or guarana contain caffeine and are not recommended for children or pregnant women. For a fuller look at daily limits and tolerance, read how much caffeine is too much, and for timing, when to stop drinking coffee for the day.

How to read a maca coffee label

Four checks tell you most of what you need.

1. Find the caffeine sources in the ingredients. Look for coffee, guarana, green tea, matcha, yerba mate or cacao. Maca is not one of them.
2. Look for caffeine per serving. Not every brand prints it. If the label has no figure, the ingredient list is your guide, and you can ask the brand.
3. Check the serving size and how many you will drink. The FDA says the body handles caffeine the same way whether it occurs naturally or is added, so count every source toward your day's total [12].
4. Check how the herbs were extracted. Some labels name the method, such as hot water, ethanol or supercritical CO2. It tells you how the herbal extract was made. Our explainer on what SFE means in functional coffee covers the methods.

Two mistakes come up often. One is treating a maca coffee as caffeine-free because maca is the name on the front. The other is counting the coffee and forgetting the guarana.

Where CafeBank fits: SFE maca and guarana in a 10g stick

The CafeBank SFE Maca & Guarana Coffee 10g is a single-serve stick of instant single-origin Arabica coffee with maca and guarana. Its herbs are extracted with supercritical CO2 (SFE), with no ethanol or hexane in the herbal extraction process. You stir one stick into 150 to 200 ml of hot water.

Contains caffeine. Not recommended for children or pregnant women.

The stick follows the pattern in this article. Its caffeine comes from the coffee and the guarana, and the maca adds none. CafeBank has no lab caffeine figure for the stick yet, so this article does not print one. If you track caffeine, count each stick as a caffeinated coffee in your day's total.

It is made for steady daily energy, for people who want a maca coffee and want to know where the lift comes from: coffee and guarana for the caffeine, maca for its Andean heritage and earthy, malty note. It is not a caffeine-free drink, so it is not the cup for children, for pregnancy or for late evenings.

Maca and caffeine: common questions

Is maca a stimulant?

Not in the caffeine sense. No published study has reported caffeine in maca, and its known alkaloids belong to different families from caffeine. In Andean tradition maca is an energizing food, but the stimulant in a maca coffee is the caffeine from its coffee or guarana.

Can you put maca in coffee?

Yes. Maca powder is often stirred into coffee, and maca coffees are sold that way. A PubMed search in October 2026 found no study that tested maca and caffeine taken together, so research cannot yet say how the pair behaves. The part with known limits is the caffeine. The US FDA says the body handles caffeine the same way whether it occurs naturally, as in coffee, or is added to a product, so count every source toward your day's total, including the caffeine from guarana. If you take prescription medicine or a doctor has told you to limit caffeine, ask them first.

Does black, red or yellow maca have caffeine?

No. Maca comes in yellow, red and black types, and no published study has reported caffeine in any of them.

Is a maca coffee caffeine-free?

Not if it contains coffee or guarana. Most maca coffees use regular coffee, and some add guarana, which is rich in caffeine. Decaf is not caffeine-free either: the US FDA says decaf coffee typically has 2 to 15 mg of caffeine in an 8 fl oz cup. Check the ingredient list.

Will a maca coffee keep me up at night?

It can, because of the caffeine from its coffee and guarana. In a 2013 study, 400 mg of caffeine disturbed sleep even when taken six hours before bed, and the authors advise avoiding substantial caffeine for at least six hours before bedtime.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This article is general information about food ingredients, not medical advice. If you are pregnant or nursing, take prescription medication, or have a heart, thyroid or anxiety condition, talk to your doctor before adding a caffeinated botanical product to your routine.

References

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