Double-double is Canadian for coffee

A Tim Hortons restaurant in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. Photo by Ben Nelms /Bloomberg

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The NBA expanded to Toronto in 1995. The Raptors won their first league championship, six-bouncing their way into the hearts of basketball fans and everyday Canadians from coast-to-coast in 2019.

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And yet, utter “double-double” anywhere in this grand land of ours and the conversation will shift to caffeine and cream, not points and rebounds as it would in the south.

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The saying is so steeped in Canadian parlance it appears in lists of common slang for visitors (contiki.com/six-two) and potential newcomers (immigrant-education.ca). Virtual French-language B.C. school College Educacentre published a blog in 2023 that compared “double-double” to “secret agent code,” and suggested that Tim Hortons outlets present ESL students with “a chance to practice English in a friendly, warm environment.

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“And the best part? Canadians are so polite, they’ll probably compliment you on your accent!”

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After guiding readers through the whole regular versus single-single thing for FoodRepublic.com, Tim Forster somewhat breathlessly makes reference to “anecdotal evidence” that a four-by-four order is possible.

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(Should we tell them about the six-by-six? Definitely no one say “two-four.”)

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The 2023 article for the Indiana-based outlet also muses that if in Quebec, it may be more productive to ask for a “deux-deux”. Chapeau.

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“The Filipino and Thai arms of the company list the double-double as its own distinct menu item while online menus for American and British Tim Hortons locations don’t mention them,” Forster wrote.

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It only took Cottage Life 20 years to place the phrase among “seven words you’ll only hear in Canada” once “double double” was added to the Oxford Canadian Dictionary in 2004.

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“A cup of coffee with a double amount of both cream and sugar,” the definition reads, with the helpful example sentence: “I cannot start the day without my double-double.”

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If you’re looking for a summer read, Double Double is actually the title of a book about the Tim Hortons chain’s origins, its purchase by an American fast food chain and eventual repatriation by award-winning business scribe Douglas Hunter, who elevates the boozeless pub founded by a hockey player to “a Canadian way of life.”

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Now for the piece de resistance, you should make sure the kids are seated on or behind the Chesterfield with noise cancelling headphones on.

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Ready?

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There’s a double-double cocktail.

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Thank nation-trotting couple Victoria Walsh and Scott McCallum for concocting a libation that looks like it could run through the veins of Bob & Doug McKenzie and sharing it with Canadian Living Magazine.

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As it should, it starts with 1.5 oz of Canadian whisky (no E, double-double word score) soundly suggesting Forty Creek Barrel Select.

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Also coming to the party, 3/4 oz each of Kahlua and a cream liqueur and a hit of bitters. Mix all in a glass with ice, and garnish with finely ground espresso.

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For bonus points, enjoy it wrapped in a six-stripe blanket sitting in a Muskoka chair, as one imagines Mordecai Richler would have.

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