(updated October 13th, 2026)
Yes, and less than you might expect. Hills Bros. prints the caffeine on every can: 40 to 52 mg per serving for the regular flavors, which is less than a single shot of espresso and about what you’d expect from cappuccino mixes in general.
How Much Caffeine Is In Hills Bros. Cappuccino?
These are the caffeine statements printed on the back of each can, which Hills Bros. shows on its own product pages:
| Product | Caffeine per serving |
|---|---|
| French Vanilla | 52 mg |
| English Toffee | 52 mg |
| Double Mocha | 52 mg |
| White Chocolate Caramel | 40 mg |
| Sugar Free French Vanilla | 36 mg |
| Decaf French Vanilla | Sold as no caffeine |
A serving is bigger than the sachet-sized drinks people often picture. The French Vanilla can says three and a half tablespoons of powder into 12 fl oz of hot water, so that’s 52 mg for a large mug rather than a small cup.
The decaf is sold as having no caffeine, which is best read as “almost none”: the FDA notes that decaf coffee in general still typically carries 2 to 15 mg in an 8 fl oz cup. And if you find a grocery listing online quoting a different figure for one of these cans, go with the label. Recipes change, and the can in your hand is the current one.
Is That A Lot Of Caffeine?
No. The FDA cites 400 mg a day for most adults as an amount not generally associated with negative effects, which it puts at about two to three 12 fl oz cups of coffee. A 52 mg serving is a little over a tenth of that.
It is also less than the coffee shop version. A single-shot cappuccino runs about 63 mg, so a mug of Hills Bros. sits below a small cappuccino from a cafe despite being more than twice the volume. There just isn’t much coffee in it.
Does The Sugar Free Version Have More Caffeine?
No, it has less. The Sugar Free French Vanilla can states 36 mg per serving against the regular version’s 52 mg, and its serving is smaller too, two and a half tablespoons rather than three and a half. Spoon for spoon, that works out at almost the same caffeine; you’re just using less powder.
The idea that going sugar free buys you a caffeine hit in exchange is a reasonable guess, and it isn’t what the labels say. Sugar and caffeine are unrelated ingredients here, so removing one doesn’t add the other.
What Else Is In Hills Bros. Cappuccino?
This is the part the caffeine question tends to distract from. Ingredients are listed in descending order of weight, and on the French Vanilla pack the order runs: sugar first, then creamer, whey powder, nonfat dry milk, and only then instant coffee, fifth.
A serving carries 25 g of total sugars, 19 g of which are added, which the label puts at 38% of a daily value. For comparison, a cappuccino made from espresso and milk carries roughly 4 to 5 g of sugar, all of it lactose from the milk and none of it added.
So it’s a sweet milky drink with coffee in it rather than a coffee drink, which is the same shape as the Nescafe sachets. The sugar free version reorders that list, with maltodextrin first and coffee fourth, behind creamer and cocoa powder.
Should You Drink It For The Caffeine?
If caffeine’s what you’re after, this is an inefficient way to get it. You’re taking 170 calories and 25 g of sugar to reach roughly 52 mg, where a plain instant coffee would get you there for almost nothing.
Drink it because you like it, which is a perfectly good reason and probably the honest one. Just count it as something closer to a hot dessert than a cup of coffee, and if you’re watching your intake, note that the caffeine is the smallest thing in the cup worth worrying about.
