Tim Hortons Coffee Questions Answered: Double Double, Cup Sizes, Caffeine and Take 12

Last updated: November 3, 2026

Ask for tim hortons coffee in Canada and you can get a different answer from every person in line. One person orders a Double Double without thinking. Another asks for a regular and gets a different drink from the one they expected. A third asks for a coffee box and is handed a carrier, a Take 12, or a catering urn, depending on what the staff heard.

The confusion is understandable. Tim Hortons coffee has its own ordering language, its own cup names, and several group formats that share similar names. None of that is written clearly on a single menu board, and much of the advice online repeats prices and calorie lists that change by restaurant.

This article answers only the questions people actually ask about tim hortons coffee, and it links to the existing product pages for prices and nutrition detail instead of republishing those lists. Read it once and you will know how to order, what size you are getting, how much caffeine to expect, and which group format to ask for by name.

Key Takeaways

Quick Answer: Tim Hortons Coffee in One Minute

A Tim Hortons Double Double is Original Blend brewed coffee with two creams and two sugars. A medium cup is 14 ounces, and a medium Original Blend is estimated at about 205 mg of caffeine. Take 12 is the group box, made to serve about 12 small cups. If you only remember one rule, say the size first, then the cream and sugar style, then the blend. That order removes most of the confusion at the counter and in the drive thru.

What Is a Double Double at Tim Hortons?

A Double Double is a cup of brewed coffee with two creams and two sugars. The first double counts the cream. The second double counts the sugar. Say large Double Double and the staff should understand the size and the additions in one short phrase, without a longer list of modifications.

The cream is 18 percent table cream, not milk, unless you ask for milk instead. That detail matters, because cream changes the colour and the richness far more than milk does. If you want a lighter cup, ask for milk, or ask for one cream and one sugar, rather than assuming the staff will guess a lighter version of a Double Double.

The term is so widely used in Canada that the Canadian Oxford Dictionary added double double in 2004, with the meaning of a coffee with two sugars and two creams. Food Republic notes the same definition and adds that the phrase is shorthand for a way of serving standard drip coffee, rather than a separate drink in its own right. That is why you may not see Double Double listed as a menu item, even though every counter understands it.

One more nuance helps avoid disappointment. The amount of cream and sugar in a Double Double scales with the cup. A large Double Double does not contain the same amount as a small one, because the additions are portioned for the size. So a Double Double is a ratio and a routine, not a fixed teaspoon count that stays the same in every cup.

For the drink itself, start with the Tim Hortons Original Blend Coffee page. That is the standard brewed coffee most people mean when they say Double Double, unless they name Dark Roast or decaf instead.

Basis: sources listed in References, checked November 2026. Individual restaurants can differ.

How to Order Coffee at Tim Hortons: Regular, Triple Triple and Custom Orders

Regular is the most misunderstood word in this whole topic. At Tim Hortons, a regular coffee means one cream and one sugar. It does not mean plain coffee, and it does not mean a medium size, even though some visitors use regular in both of those ways in other countries. If you want plain coffee, say black. If you want a medium, say medium.

Triple triple follows the same pattern. It means three creams and three sugars. A four by four means four of each. Beyond that, there is no widely used shorthand, so state the numbers in full. Three cream and two sugar is a clear order. Triple triple with two sugars is not, because it contradicts itself.

Custom orders work best when you name each part once, in order. Size, blend, then cream and sugar, then milk or an alternative if you want one. For example, medium Dark Roast, milk, no sugar is complete. Medium coffee, please, with a little cream is not, because little means something different to every person who hears it.

The same logic applies to iced coffee. Say the size, say iced, and say the cream and sugar style in full. Do not assume that an iced order follows the hot coffee shorthand in exactly the same way at every restaurant, because iced drinks are built differently. A clear order takes two seconds longer and saves a remake.

For the full brewed range, the Tim Hortons brewed coffee page lists Original Blend, Dark Roast and decaf, plus milk, cream and plant based options that restaurants offer for custom orders.

Tim Hortons Coffee Cup Sizes Explained

Canadian Tim Hortons brewed coffee comes in five sizes, and the names are easy to mix up with American chain sizes. A Tim Hortons large is 20 ounces, not 16 ounces. That single difference explains many of the arguments online about whether a large is big or small. It is big, by the standards of most coffee chains.

The sizes are extra small at 8 ounces or 237 millilitres, small at 10 ounces or 296 millilitres, medium at 14 ounces or 414 millilitres, large at 20 ounces or 591 millilitres, and extra large at 24 ounces or 710 millilitres. Extra small is a Canada only size and is not carried at every restaurant, so do not count on it as a fallback if you want a very small cup.

Medium is the useful anchor. Most regular orders, most comparisons and most caffeine estimates use the medium as the reference point. If a friend says they had a Tim Hortons coffee and gives no size, a medium is the safest guess for the conversation, but it is still a guess. Always ask the size if the size changes the answer, especially for caffeine or for a group order.

These sizes describe brewed coffee cups. Other drinks can use different cup ranges, and seasonal drinks can add their own sizes, so the table below is not a promise for every drink on the menu. For any other drink, open its product page and read the sizes listed there, rather than copying the brewed coffee table across the whole menu.

Basis: sources listed in References, checked November 2026. Individual restaurants can differ.

How Much Caffeine Is in Tim Hortons Coffee?

Caffeine is the question where honest sources disagree about precision, so this section separates what is published from what is estimated. Tim Hortons Canadian nutrition guide lists calories, fat, sodium, carbohydrates and protein for its drinks, but it does not publish a caffeine column. That gap is why different guides give slightly different caffeine figures for the same cup.

The figures most often cited come from Caffeine Informer, which draws on Tim Hortons research and development data. On that basis, a small Original Blend at 10 ounces is about 140 mg, a medium at 14 ounces is about 205 mg, a large at 20 ounces is about 270 mg, and an extra large at 24 ounces is about 330 mg. Treat those as estimates, not as laboratory results for the cup in your hand, because bean, grind, brew time and restaurant routine can all shift the result.

Health Canada advises most healthy adults to keep caffeine under 400 mg per day, with a lower limit for people who are pregnant, breastfeeding or planning a pregnancy. On the estimates above, one extra large Original Blend already sits close to that daily guide, and two would pass it. That is the practical reason to check size before you check caffeine, because a second cup is not a small addition when the first cup is large.

Other drinks do not follow the brewed coffee table. Espresso drinks depend on the number of shots, iced drinks depend on the recipe, and decaf still contains a small amount of caffeine. Dark Roast is sometimes estimated slightly lower than Original Blend, but the difference is small and the estimates vary, so do not choose a roast mainly for caffeine. Choose it for taste, and use the brewed coffee estimates as a planning guide only.

For a lower caffeine choice, decaf is the clear option on the Tim Hortons Decaf Coffee page. For the standard cup, the Tim Hortons Original Blend Coffee page is the product page to check for the drink behind these estimates.

Basis: sources listed in References, checked November 2026. Individual restaurants can differ.

What Is Original Blend, Dark Roast and Decaf?

Original Blend is the standard Tim Hortons brewed coffee. It is a medium roast made from 100 percent Arabica beans, described by Tim Hortons location pages as ethically sourced Arabica that benefits farmers and their communities. The taste aim is smooth and balanced, not sharp or heavy, which is why it works as an everyday cup and as the base for a Double Double.

Dark Roast is the bolder brewed option. It uses a darker roast, so the flavour is deeper and more roasted, while the drink is still brewed coffee, not an espresso drink. If Original Blend tastes thin to you, Dark Roast is the first change to try, before you add flavour shots or switch to a latte. The Tim Hortons Dark Roast Coffee page covers that drink in full.

Decaf is the decaffeinated brewed option. It is for people who want the coffee routine, the warmth and the flavour, with only a small amount of caffeine remaining. Decaf does not mean caffeine free, and that distinction matters if you are tracking caffeine closely. The decaf page is the right check for its nutrition detail.

None of these three is a flavour shot drink. French Vanilla, flavoured lattes and seasonal drinks sit in different product families, with their own recipes. If you ask for Original Blend and get a flavoured cup, the blend was not the problem. The order was. Name the blend, then name any flavour separately, and the two will not get mixed up.

What Is a Tim Hortons Coffee Box?

Coffee box is a confusing search term because people use it for three different things. The first is a cardboard carrier tray that holds individual cups. You order several cups, the staff place them in the tray, and you carry them together. That is a carrier, not a box of coffee, even though people call it a coffee box.

The second is Take 12, which is a real box filled with brewed coffee, covered in the next section. The third is a catering urn, sometimes called a Cambro, which holds a much larger volume for an event and is poured into cups at the venue. All three solve a group problem, but they are not interchangeable, and ordering the wrong one can leave you with twelve separate cups when you wanted one box, or one box when you wanted twelve cups to hand out.

The safest order is to name the format and the number of people. Say Take 12 for a group of about twelve, say a carrier with four medium coffees if you want individual cups, and say a catering coffee urn if you are planning an event with dozens of servings. Staff can then correct you if your restaurant uses a different format, before the order is made.

If you only need a few cups for the office, a carrier is usually the simplest choice. If you need coffee for a meeting room with no counter service, Take 12 is the better fit, because it arrives as one box with its own cups and supplies.

What Is Take 12 and How Does It Work?

Take 12 is a box of freshly brewed Tim Hortons coffee made to serve about 12 small cups. The name counts servings, not large cups, and that is the most common misunderstanding in this topic. If your group drinks medium or large cups, twelve people will need more than one Take 12, or they will need to pour smaller cups than they expect.

The box is supplied with the things a group needs to serve itself. The site product page for Take 12 lists disposable cups, lids, stir sticks, sugar packets, cream cups, milk portions and napkins as part of the standard set. That matters for planning, because you do not need to bring your own cups, but you should still check that the set matches your group, especially if some people want milk instead of cream, or no sugar at all.

Take 12 is a hot brewed coffee format. The Original Blend version is the one covered on this site, and Dark Roast is also reported as a Take 12 option in independent guides. There is no iced Take 12 in the standard format, so do not plan a summer event around iced coffee in a Take 12 box. For iced drinks, order individual cups or ask the restaurant what group format it can offer.

Availability varies by restaurant, and large or repeated orders are best placed ahead of time. Ask the restaurant to confirm the blend, the serving count and the pickup time, and plan to serve the coffee soon after pickup. Keep the box closed and upright on the way, pour promptly, and do not leave it sitting for hours and then expect it to taste freshly brewed.

For the full product detail, see the Original Blend Coffee Take 12 page. It lists the serving guide, the ingredients and the included supplies, without repeating a price or nutrition list here.

Iced Coffee, Cold Brew and Espresso Drinks: Where Do They Fit?

Iced coffee at Tim Hortons starts as brewed coffee and is served over ice. That makes it different from an Iced Capp, which is a frozen blended drink, and different from cold brew, which is steeped in cold water for a longer time and tends to taste smoother and less sharp. If you order iced coffee and receive a frozen blended drink, the drink family was mixed up, not the size.

Espresso drinks are a separate family again. A latte is espresso with steamed milk, a cappuccino is espresso with steamed milk and foam, and an Americano is espresso with hot water. Yes, Tim Hortons does have Americano, and it is the closest espresso drink to plain brewed coffee in character, because it has no milk unless you add it. The Tim Hortons Americano page, the Tim Hortons Latte page and the Tim Hortons Cappuccino page each cover one of those drinks.

Cold brew is worth a separate mention because people often treat it as iced coffee with a new name. It is not. The longer cold steep changes the flavour, and the drink is usually served over ice with its own recipe. The Tim Hortons Cold Brew page covers the cold brew range, and the Tim Hortons Iced Original Coffee page covers the standard iced brewed option.

If you like a Double Double, you can still use the same cream and sugar language for iced coffee, but state it clearly and check the cup before you leave. Iced drinks are harder to fix than hot drinks, because the ice melts while you wait for a remake, and the balance changes with it.

Basis: sources listed in References, checked November 2026. Individual restaurants can differ.

Where Does Tim Hortons Coffee Come From and Is It Canadian?

Tim Hortons coffee beans are 100 percent Arabica, sourced from renowned growing regions in the coffee belt, including Central and South America and other major growing regions. Tim Hortons says its location pages describe the coffee as made with ethically sourced Arabica beans that benefit farmers and their communities, and its China coffee page notes that the company partners with Enveritas to evaluate its coffee purchases against social, environmental and economic conditions.

That sourcing answer also answers the Canadian question. Tim Hortons is a Canadian chain, and its coffee culture is Canadian, but coffee beans do not grow in Canada. The climate is wrong for it. So the beans come from warmer growing regions, and the Canadian part is the chain, the roast profile and the way Canadians order and drink it, not the farm location.

People also ask whether Tim Hortons coffee is good. That is a taste question, not a fact question, and the honest answer depends on what you like. Original Blend is built to be smooth and easy to drink by the cup, rather than sharp or intense. If you like a mild, smooth medium roast, it will suit you. If you like a dark, intense coffee, Dark Roast or an espresso drink is a better starting point.

One rumour to clear up is the idea that plain brewed coffee contains added flavour chemicals or MSG. The product page for brewed coffee lists 100 percent Arabica coffee as the ingredient, prepared with ground beans and hot water. Flavoured drinks are different, because they add syrups and other ingredients, so check the product page for any flavoured drink rather than applying the plain coffee ingredient list to it.

How to Buy Tim Hortons Coffee for Home

You can buy Tim Hortons coffee to brew at home, in ground coffee bags, cans and single serve K-Cups. The site lists a 400 gram Original Blend coffee bag, an 875 gram Original Blend can, and 30 count and 12 count K-Cup packs for Original Blend, among other at home formats. Those pages cover the format, the roast and the pack size, so use them to compare formats instead of guessing from a grocery shelf label.

Home brewing will not taste exactly like a restaurant cup, even with the same beans. Water, grind, coffee to water ratio, brew time and freshness all change the result, and a restaurant brews in larger batches with its own routine. If your home cup tastes weak, the usual fixes are a finer grind for your brewer, a higher coffee dose, or fresher beans, in that order, rather than switching blends at once.

Ground coffee suits a drip machine, a French press or a pour over, depending on the grind, while K-Cups suit a Keurig style machine. Whole bean coffee needs a grinder, but it stays fresh longer than ground coffee once opened. Store any format in a cool, dry place, sealed, and away from strong smells, because coffee absorbs odours easily.

For a first home purchase, Original Blend ground coffee is the safest match to the restaurant cup most people know. If you already know you prefer a darker cup, Dark Roast ground coffee is the home equivalent of the restaurant Dark Roast order, and the product pages will confirm the format before you buy.

Mistakes to Avoid When Ordering Tim Hortons Coffee

The first mistake is assuming a large is 16 ounces. At Tim Hortons, a large brewed coffee is 20 ounces, and an extra large is 24 ounces. That changes caffeine, it changes how long the cup lasts, and it changes a group order, so use ounces when the size matters.

The second mistake is ordering a regular when you want plain coffee. Regular means one cream and one sugar at Tim Hortons. Plain coffee is black. That one word mix up is the most common reason a first time visitor gets a milky, sweet cup they did not want.

The third mistake is treating Take 12 as twelve large cups. It is twelve small cups. For a group of twelve medium drinkers, you need a different plan, or more than one box, and you need to say so when you order.

The fourth mistake is assuming free refills. No chainwide free refill policy for brewed coffee was found in this research, and several location guides state plainly that refills are paid. Expect to pay for a second cup, and ask the restaurant if you are unsure, rather than assuming a refill is included.

The fifth mistake is quoting a caffeine figure as if it were printed on the cup. Tim Hortons does not publish caffeine in its Canadian nutrition guide, so the figures in this article are estimates. Use them for planning, not as a guarantee, and check your total for the day if caffeine matters to you.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Double Double at Tim Hortons?

A Double Double is brewed coffee with two creams and two sugars. It is an ordering style, not a separate menu drink, and the amount of cream and sugar scales with the cup size.

What is a regular coffee at Tim Hortons?

A regular coffee means one cream and one sugar. If you want plain coffee with nothing added, order it black, and if you want a medium size, say medium, because regular is not a size.

How many ounces is a medium coffee at Tim Hortons?

A medium brewed coffee at Tim Hortons in Canada is 14 ounces, or 414 millilitres. A small is 10 ounces, a large is 20 ounces, and an extra large is 24 ounces.

How much caffeine is in a medium Tim Hortons coffee?

A medium Original Blend is estimated at about 205 mg of caffeine, based on Caffeine Informer figures drawn from Tim Hortons research data. Tim Hortons does not publish caffeine in its Canadian nutrition guide, so treat the figure as an estimate.

What is a Tim Hortons coffee box?

Coffee box can mean a carrier tray for individual cups, a Take 12 box of brewed coffee, or a catering urn for events. Name the format and the headcount when you order, so the staff can match the right one.

What is Take 12 at Tim Hortons?

Take 12 is a box of hot brewed coffee made to serve about 12 small 8 ounce cups, supplied with cups, lids, stir sticks, sugar and cream. It is a hot coffee format, not an iced coffee box, and availability varies by restaurant.

Does Tim Hortons have Americano?

Yes. An Americano is espresso with hot water, and it is the espresso drink closest in character to plain brewed coffee, because it has no milk unless you add it.

Does Tim Hortons give free refills on coffee?

No chainwide free refill policy for brewed coffee was found in this research, and several location guides state that refills are paid. Expect to pay for a second cup and ask the restaurant if you are unsure.

Where does Tim Hortons coffee come from?

Tim Hortons uses 100 percent Arabica beans from renowned growing regions in the coffee belt, including Central and South America. The beans do not grow in Canada, so the Canadian part is the chain and its roast and ordering culture, not the farm location.

Can you buy Tim Hortons coffee for home?

Yes. Tim Hortons sells ground coffee bags and cans, plus K-Cup packs for Original Blend and other formats. Home brewing will taste a little different from a restaurant cup, because water, grind, dose and freshness all affect the result.

Conclusion

Tim Hortons coffee is simpler than its ordering language makes it sound. A Double Double is two creams and two sugars, a regular is one of each, a medium is 14 ounces, and Take 12 is a group box for about twelve small cups. Once those four facts are clear, the rest of the menu falls into place, from Dark Roast and decaf to iced coffee, cold brew and Americano.

Order by size first, then by cream and sugar style, then by blend, and check the product page for the exact drink when prices or nutrition detail matter. That habit will save you a remake, a wrong size, and a group order that runs short, and it will make your next Tim Hortons coffee run feel as easy as it should.

Next, check Tim Hortons hours before a trip, start with the Tim Hortons Original Blend Coffee page for the classic order, and see the Tim Hortons gift card guide if you plan to pay with a card.

References

1. Tim Hortons. Official location page describing brewed coffee as made with ethically sourced Arabica beans. Checked November 2026.
2. Food Republic. What a Double Double means, and why it is shorthand for a way of serving coffee. Checked November 2026.
3. Caffeine Informer. Caffeine by cup size for Tim Hortons brewed coffee, drawn from Tim Hortons research data. Checked November 2026.
4. Tim Hortons Menu Hub. Cup sizes, caffeine estimates and the note that Tim Hortons does not publish a single national price list. Checked November 2026.
5. QuerySprout. Take 12 format, servings, included supplies and available blends. Checked November 2026.