What is red-eye coffee?
A “red eye” is a coffee drink made with a full serving of drip coffee with an additional shot of espresso added directly to the cup. This drink – a combination of drip or filter coffee with espresso in the same vessel – is often colloquially called a “red eye”… although it can be called something completely different, depending on where in the world you drink your coffee.
What else is it called?
I’m so glad you asked! Coffee with espresso has many names in different regions of the world. Apart from that Red eyeyou may have also seen this drink on coffee menus with names such as Shot in the dimAND Depth chargesome An eye openerAND Slime Cupor even A Hammerif you are in California. Other names we have heard include: NebulaAND Devil’s thumpand Oil leak.
Due to the relatively recent presence of this drink in the canon of coffee drinks, many cafes have allowed themselves to give this drink a characteristic name, unique to the cafe. If you patronize Rooster crowing in Huntsville, AL, is it crow’s eye, or if you drink in Fourth Coast Cafe in Kalamazoo, MI, you’ll want Bow breaker.
Whatever you call it, it’s clear that this particular drink is the basis for some compelling colloquial drink names.
Was this invented somewhere? Didn’t Starbucks or Caribou come up with this?
Legend has it that Red Eye takes its name from the night flights of the airline of the same name – departing in one city at night and landing in the next city in the morning on little sleep, resulting in a condition that may require an extra hit of caffeine. It is said that flight attendants served passengers a mixture of drip coffee and espresso prepared on board the plane (once widely offered!), resulting in the drink we know today. It is complex to prove whether this is the true origin of the name and whether these many-mile heroes were its true inventors.
Starbucks is credited with popularizing the red eye effect. This is the case with most (but not all) coffee drinks in newfangled coffee culture, but it is unlikely that the chain was the first retailer whenever to serve this particular coffee combination. Cariboualso cannot be linked specifically to the drink’s origins – although the chain has become notable for trademarking the term Depth charge in the early 21st century, which led to series of cease and desist orders issued to small Minnesota coffee shops who used this name for this potion. If you plan to open a cafe, don’t call this drink a depth charge unless you like letters from lawyers.
How much caffeine is in red eye?
The amount of caffeine in drip coffee varies by size, much like espresso. Using the calculations on the napkin at the back of the coffee shop, you’d get about 250-300 mg of caffeine from red eye, assuming 200 mg of caffeine in a drip coffee and 60 mg in an espresso.
That’s not enough caffeine. I want more than one shot of espresso in my coffee? How is it called?
Basic tiger. Like the one-time red eye, its variants have countless names. You can add additional shots to get Black eyeAND Dead eyeor even A JFK (three shots, ouch) or other spooky names. It is worth adding the popular Soiled Chai – a chai latte with espresso, and it can be delicious.
Do people serve this drink all over the world, or is it just a cheesy American delicacy?
Sprudge checked in with Coffee with a monograms Ben Put in Calgary (where the drink is often called Canadian!) for the perspective of the Northern Borderland:
“When I started working as a barista, it was a very common request. We will definitely serve them, but they are not on the menu,” says Put.
Meanwhile, in Denmark you can certainly order red eye at Coffee Collective also – if you explain to the barista what it is, says co-founder Klaus Thomsen.
“They’d say, ‘What?'” says Thomsen, who said the barista will certainly still prepare the drink.
“I’m fed up with all this: ‘No, you can’t have it, we know better than you’ and so on,” says the former world barista champion. “We might recommend something else, but we’ll always be like, you know what, if that’s what you want, we’re content, it costs this and that. This is money that we can give back to the farmers, and if we say no, you don’t get it, we won’t be able to give it back to the farmers.”
So order Red Eye, Sludge Cup, or even Shot in the Dim, no matter where you are. Maybe this will assist with jet lag!
Liz Clayton is an associate editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Liz Clayton at Sprudge.
