Red Eye Coffee: What is It and How Do You Make This Drink?

Do you have a big exam tomorrow? Or a long road trip coming up? Maybe your baby is newly teething. These are all great reasons to try out an exceptionally caffeinated Red Eye coffee. This bomb pairs brewed coffee AND espresso for a guaranteed perk-up.

Keep reading to learn all about this peppy drink and how you can make your own at home.

What’s a Red Eye Coffee?

Like most coffee drinks, the Red Eye comes with a collection of different names and definitions. This is an inevitable consequence of regional variation and cafes trying to put their spin on the drink.

So let’s start with the basics.

Think of it as an Americano. Except, instead of hot water, you use brewed coffee instead. The result is a wildly caffeinated drink with a rich flavor and a heavier body than an average cuppa joe.

Many claim it offers a similar jolt to cold brew.

Unlike most espresso drinks of Italian origin, this one seems to have started in the U.S. It gets its name from the famed red-eye overnight flight from America’s west to the east coast. Need to stay awake all night? This is your drink.

You can find the drink sold under several different names depending on where you’re ordering it. The most common is a “Shot in the Dark” or a “Black Hole.” You might also see drinks called Black Eye, or Depth Charge.

Variations tend to come in how many shots of espresso you add to the coffee. In many coffee shops, a Red Eye is a drip coffee with two espresso shots because double shots are standard in most cafes.

Of course, Starbucks has its naming system. And because Starbucks is so common, their definitions have taken hold in public as well. At Starbucks, a Red Eye coffee has a single shot of espresso, a Black Eye has a double shot, a Lazy Eye coffee drink has one or two espresso shots with decaf drip coffee,and a Green Eye has a disturbing three shots of espresso added to a drip brew (1). 

We can also help if you’re curious to know what an americano is or how to make Irish coffee.

How to Make a Red Eye Coffee

Compared with fancy Italian coffee drinks, making a Red Eye coffee is very simple because there’s no need to froth milk. The only tricky part is you need to both brewed coffee and pull a shot of espresso.

This video shows how easy you can do it in a cafe setting:

The first thing to do is to pick good beans. Because you are making two different types of coffee, this is an excellent opportunity to explore blending different flavors (2). Try complimenting a citrusy and nutty drip brew with a full-bodied chocolatey espresso, for example.

The next step is to brew a cup of regular drip coffee. If you don’t have a coffee machine, any of these models will serve you well in our review of the best drippers.

The third step is to pull a single or double shot of espresso, depending on just how hyperactive you want to be. If you need an espresso machine, check out our top picks.

To finish your Red Eye coffee, simply pour your espresso over your drip coffee, and enjoy the ride.