Red Eye

A red eye is the most direct way to make coffee stronger: a cup of drip or filter coffee with a shot of espresso poured into it. Add a second shot and it’s a black eye; a third, and it’s a dead eye. It’s an American invention, rarely written on menus, and it has collected a remarkable number of nicknames. Here’s how to make one, what to call it, and the competing stories behind the name.

The short version

• Drip coffee plus espresso, in one cup.
• One shot for a red eye, two for a black eye, three for a dead eye.
• American, probably from the late 1990s, says Trade.
• Strong: Sprudge estimates about 250–300 mg of caffeine.
• Named after red-eye flights, most likely, though nobody can prove it.

How do you make a red eye?

It’s two coffees in one cup. Trade’s method: brew a cup of drip coffee and top it with a shot of espresso; most specialty cafés pull doubles, so it’s usually a double. At home, any filter coffee and any espresso will do.

Trade’s writer tried a 12 oz red eye, black, and found it balanced rather than harsh: the sweetness of the drip and the bitterness of the espresso “went quite well together”, like “an Americano with body”. The catch is that every fault in the coffee is magnified, and if you take milk and sugar you’ll need more than usual.

How many shots, and what’s it called?

Shots of espresso	Name	Source
1	Red eye	Honest Coffee Guide; Trade
2	Black eye	Honest Coffee Guide; Sprudge
3	Dead eye	Honest Coffee Guide; Sprudge
3	Green eye, at Starbucks	Trade; Honest Coffee Guide

The one-shot drink has dozens of local names too. Trade says it’s a shot in the dark on the West Coast and a sludge cup in Alaska. Sprudge lists a depth charge, an eye opener, a hammerhead in California and a Canadiano in Calgary, plus café names such as the Crow’s Eye in Huntsville, Alabama. Honest Coffee Guide adds the oil spill and Dunkin’s Turbo Hot coffee. Caribou trademarked “Depth Charge” in the early 2000s, Sprudge notes, and sent cease and desist letters to small Minnesota cafés using it.

Where does the name come from?

Nobody knows. The sources offer three theories:

Theory	Source
Red-eye flights: overnight flights, from the West Coast to New York, that land in the morning after little sleep. Sprudge adds the story that flight attendants mixed drip coffee and espresso in flight, calling it a legend that’s hard to prove	Trade; Sprudge
Red eyes: the coffee simply makes your eyes red	Honest Coffee Guide
Red-eye gravy: a diner gravy made with coffee, popular with truck drivers, who might have named a thick, strong coffee after it. Honest Coffee Guide calls this “purely speculation on our part”	Honest Coffee Guide

As for the drink, Trade says it started appearing in American coffee shops as a “shot in the dark” or “coffee with a shot”, likely in the late 1990s. Starbucks is often credited with popularising it, but Sprudge and Honest Coffee Guide both think it’s unlikely to have been the first to serve it.

General guidance only, not medical advice. A red eye contains much more caffeine than a single coffee, so go easy if you’re sensitive to it.

Red eye vs other espresso drinks

• Americano: espresso with hot water instead of coffee.
• Long black: a double espresso poured onto hot water.
• Iced coffee: the cold way to drink a big coffee.
• Café cubano: another strong coffee, made sweet with espumita.

Explore every drink in the espresso drinks chapter.