Coffee Drink
Double-Double Coffee: Meaning, Home Recipe & Calories
A double-double is brewed coffee with two portions of cream and two portions of sugar, a Canadian order closely associated with Tim Hortons. “Double” counts the additions, not espresso shots. This home version uses 240 g brewed coffee, 30 ml 18% cream and 8 g sugar; those are our measured portions, not a café formula.
Drink Snapshot
- Caffeine
- About 95 mg reference240 g brewed coffee; generic USDA composition96 mg before rounding. The home brew is unmeasured; this is not a Tim Hortons caffeine figure.
- Calories
- About 95 kcalDefined home recipe with Dairyland 18% creamCalculated from the cream label and USDA coffee/sugar references. A café double-double can have different portions.
Serving, sugar and sources
- Serving
- 1 home drink: 240 g prepared coffee, 30 ml 18% cream and 8 g granulated sugar
- Made with
- Brewed coffee, unwhipped coffee cream and granulated sugar
- Sugar
- About 10 g total. About 8 g added sugar plus about 2 g naturally occurring sugar from the cream label.
- Preparation
- About 2 minutes after the coffee is brewed
Dairyland cream label and USDA composition references checked 26 September 2026. Estimates describe the measured home ingredients, not a chain size or a tested brew. See the full calculation or label comparison.
Key Takeaways
- 1Two creams and two sugars describe an order. They do not establish universal grams, spoon sizes or calories across cup sizes.
- 2This home recipe has about 95 kcal and 10 g total sugar using the named 18% cream label. Café nutrition is a separate question.
- 3Caffeine comes from the brewed coffee: about 95 mg is the generic reference here. Cream and sugar do not double the caffeine.
On This Page7 Sections
What Does Double-Double Mean?
Two cream portions and two sugar portions in brewed coffee. Tim Hortons' own Double Double description gives that combination and calls it a Canadian classic. It is sweetened coffee with cream; it does not require two espresso shots, steamed milk or a layer of foam.
To order, give the size and then say “double-double.” If the phrase is unfamiliar, say “brewed coffee with two creams and two sugars.” Request milk or an alternative explicitly if that is what you want, because cream is the usual meaning here.
The important limitation is the word portion. It does not tell you the weight of sugar or volume of cream. Cup sizes and portion systems differ, so do not treat two café portions as two household teaspoons or two identical creamer packets. The recipe below defines its own amounts so you can repeat it.
Make a Double-Double at Home
One drink · About 2 minutes after brewing · Mug capacity at least 330 ml. Start with prepared hot coffee. The 240 g below is coffee collected from the brewer, not water poured onto the grounds.
Ingredients
- 240 g hot prepared brewed coffee
- 30 ml 18% coffee cream: two measured 15 ml portions
- 8 g granulated sugar: two weighed 4 g portions
Our nutrition example uses Dairyland 18% Coffee Cream. “18%” describes the cream's milk-fat percentage, not the percentage of cream in the finished drink. A different carton changes the calculation.
Method
- Measure. Have hot brewed coffee ready. Weigh 240 g into a heatproof mug of at least 330 ml capacity, leaving room for the additions.
- Sweeten. Add the two 4 g sugar portions, 8 g total. Stir until dissolved.
- Add cream. Measure and stir in two 15 ml portions of 18% coffee cream, 30 ml total. Serve while comfortably hot.
For the base, follow the drip-coffee guide or pour-over guide. A Keurig coffee-only K-Cup is another practical route; measure the prepared coffee rather than assuming the machine's cup button delivers exactly this portion. Its product-specific caffeine may differ from our generic reference.
You do not need to whip or steam the cream. If you have half-and-half or milk, use it as a deliberate variation and expect a different richness. Sweetened flavored creamer already supplies sugar, so it is not a like-for-like substitution for unsweetened cream plus separately measured sugar.
Calories, Sugar and Caffeine
This home drink is about 95 kcal and 10 g total sugar. Its 240 g brewed-coffee portion carries a generic 95 mg caffeine reference. The word double-double does not double caffeine; adding cream and sugar leaves the amount supplied by the coffee essentially unchanged.
The table keeps the same 240 g coffee and shows what happens when one addition changes. These are calculations from the ingredient records, not taste-test results or Tim Hortons menu values.
This table scrolls horizontally on smaller screens.
| Home version | Cream and sugar | Estimated calories | Total sugar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main recipe | 30 ml cream + 8 g sugar | About 95 kcal | About 10 g |
| Half the added sugar | 30 ml cream + 4 g sugar | About 80 kcal | About 6 g |
| Half the cream | 15 ml cream + 8 g sugar | About 65 kcal | About 9 g |
Ingredient calculation and sources
Dairyland's 18% cream label gives 30 kcal and 1 g sugar per 15 ml. The 30 ml portion therefore supplies 60 kcal and about 2 g sugar. USDA's SR28 brewed-coffee entry, NDB 14209, supplies 1 kcal and 40 mg caffeine per 100 g; granulated sugar, NDB 19335, supplies 387 kcal and 99.8 g sugar per 100 g. Energy is (240 × 0.01) + (30 ÷ 15 × 30) + (8 × 3.87) = 93.36 kcal. Total sugar is 2 + (8 × 0.998) = 9.984 g. Caffeine is 240 × 0.40 = 96 mg. Headlines round to about 95 kcal, 10 g sugar and 95 mg caffeine. Cream-label rounding and variation in the brew limit precision.
The drink contains milk. A dairy alternative may introduce other allergens and changes the nutrition. Decaf coffee lowers caffeine but does not guarantee zero. If reducing sweetness is the goal, lowering the sugar directly is easier to judge than changing the coffee, cream and serving size together.
What About Tim Hortons Double-Double Calories?
Use the current menu for your country, cup size and selected additions. The Tim Hortons help centre directs customers to nutrition and ingredient information in its app and website. Our 95 kcal home drink is not the value for a small, medium, large or extra-large Tim Hortons order.
When comparing a menu figure with a recipe online, first check whether the number includes both cream and sugar or only the black-coffee base. Then check the serving size. Without those details, two numbers may describe different drinks despite sharing the same name.
Double-Double vs. Other Coffee Orders
This table scrolls horizontally on smaller screens.
| Drink | Coffee and additions | Useful distinction |
|---|---|---|
| Double-double | Brewed coffee, cream and sugar | The name counts additions; it does not fix their gram amounts |
| Black coffee | Coffee without milk or cream | Specify unsweetened if you also want no sugar |
| Café au lait | Brewed coffee with hot milk | Milk is the main addition; sugar is optional |
| Caffè misto | Brewed coffee with steamed milk | A milk-coffee preparation, not a two-cream/two-sugar order |
| Breve coffee | Espresso with half-and-half | Different coffee base and dairy preparation |
These distinctions are more useful than judging the drinks by color. A pale cup may contain a little rich cream or much more lower-fat milk. Neither its shade nor sweetness tells you the caffeine amount.
Common Questions
Is double-double two shots of espresso?
Is it made with milk or cream?
Can I use two teaspoons of sugar?
What cream should I use at home?
Can I make an iced double-double?
Does double-double creamer replace the cream and sugar?
Editor's Take
Sources and Further Reading
5 references
External links open in a new tab
Home serving estimates
- Dairyland18% Coffee Cream label30 kcal and 1 g sugar per 15 ml; named cream used in the home calculation(opens in a new tab)
- USDA Agricultural Research ServiceBrewed coffee, NDB 14209 (PDF, pp. 546-548)Generic 1 kcal, 0 g sugar and 40 mg caffeine per 100 g; actual coffee is unmeasured(opens in a new tab)
- USDA Agricultural Research ServiceGranulated sugar, NDB 19335 (PDF, p. 736)387 kcal and 99.8 g sugar per 100 g, scaled to the weighed ingredient(opens in a new tab)