Espresso Bombs: TikTok’s Trending Drink, Explained

Depending on how you spent your young adulthood and/or your powers of judgement, you may have heard of Jägerbombs.

These involve a pint glass filled with an energy drink, into which you must plop a shot glass of German liqueur Jägermeister. The pair are drunk together in ill-advised gulps of sloppy hedonism.

In these more sober times, though, the most recent iteration of the drinking style involves zero booze at all.

Enter: the espresso bomb.

It’s a bit like its Jägerbomb cousin, but instead of an energy drink, you use sparkling water or tonic water as the “big glass liquid”.

And in place of a liqueur shot, TikTokers, like coffee enthusiast Dr Coffist, use a single or double espresso.

Espresso bombs have an added step, though.

To create a more dramatic fizz, rub the exposed side of a sliced lemon on the bottom of the espresso glass before dipping it into some salt and then plopping it in the larger cup.

Coffee company Golden Brown Coffee described the combination as “the ultimate cure for your weekend hangover”.

They’re not the only ones to recommend that particular application of the drink.

Performance nutrition specialist and health and wellbeing consultant, Dan Osman from meal prep delivery service Prep Kitchen, said: “While the ‘espresso bomb’ trend isn’t necessarily unhealthy in itself, the biggest issue is the dose.

“People often underestimate how much caffeine they’re actually consuming, especially when double espresso shots are involved.”

He noted that a double espresso can contain anywhere from 120-150 mg of caffeine. Most adults are advised to stay under 400mg a day.

So, while the drink itself might not make you jittery, you risk a caffeine overdose if you’ve already had coffee that day.

Timing matters too, Osman said.

“Caffeine has a half-life of around 8-10 hours, which means it can remain active in your system long after consumption. That’s where we start to see potential issues with disrupted sleep, increased anxiety, and elevated heart rate if intake isn’t managed carefully.”

For that reason, he says, we should try not to consume “espresso bombs” after about 1-2pm.

As for those hangover claims, the expert said: “The addition of a salty or citrus rim may contribute trace electrolytes, but should not be viewed as a meaningful replacement for proper hydration or a nutritional benefit in itself”.