Anna Daniels
Caf-Pow appears so often in NCIS that some international viewers thought it was a real drink! Alas, Caf-Pow is a fictional brand. Fans have suggested that the name probably came from combining ‘caffeine’ and ‘power’ or referencing the classic comic book punchline “POW!”
The man who created Caf-Pow the brand and much of the rest of the graphic design you see in NCIS is Doug Reilly. He’s been with the show since the beginning and previously worked on JAG, the show that originated NCIS.
The creators of NCIS knew early on that they wanted Sciuto to look like a goth (that’s Sciuto’s tattoos on NCIS explained) while flipping the doom-and-gloom trope on its head by making her super energetic and bubbly. During a Q&A session at NCIS Fan Fest 2008, Reilly recalled that they wanted her to always be hyped up on caffeine. He says that originally Caf-Pow was going to be a bottle of caffeine pills, until it was decided that having a character popping energy pills all day at work was a bad look.
According to Reilly, his first iteration of the Caf-Pow cup was a lot smaller and blander. But when it became clear that the drink was going to be a mainstay of the show, he redesigned it with a bolder, brighter look, including the famous red lids. These later got a temporary blue makeover for the decaf version, No-Caf-Pow, and the Christmas version, which contained nutmeg.
Written by: Looper
