A common question we're asked is some variation of: "how can I make stronger coffee?" While it seems like a simple question, "strong" can mean different things in different contexts to different people. To help clarify this frequent question, here's a simple breakdown of what strong coffee can mean and how to make your coffee stronger depending on what kind of strength you're looking for.
What Does “Strong Coffee” Really Mean?
- Higher Caffeine Content – Some people associate strength with caffeine and they're looking for a cup that delivers a serious wake-up call.
- Bolder, More Intense Flavor – Others define strength by how rich and robust the taste is, favoring deeper and more pronounced coffee flavors.
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Thicker, Fuller Body – Strength can also refer to the texture and mouthfeel of the coffee, meaning a heavier, richer cup.
Now, let’s look at how to achieve each type of strength.
How to Make Your Coffee Stronger
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More Caffeine (If You Want a Stronger Kick)
- Use a Different Coffee Bean: Robusta beans contain nearly twice the caffeine of Arabica beans, making them a good choice for a higher-energy cup.
- Adjust Your Brew Ratio: Use more coffee grounds per cup to increase the caffeine concentration. A standard ratio is around 1:16 (coffee to water), but you can go as strong as 1:12 for a punchier brew.
- Brew Methods Matter: Espresso, AeroPress, and cold brew (especially in concentrate form) naturally have higher caffeine content per ounce than a standard drip coffee.
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More Intense Flavor (If You Want a Bolder Taste)
- Darker Roasts = Bolder Taste: While dark roasts have more caffeine by weight (vs volume), they often taste "stronger" due to their deep, smoky, and sometimes slightly bitter flavors (caffeine naturally tastes bitter).
- Finer Grind for Extraction: A finer grind increases the surface area, slows down water flow, and allows more extraction of rich flavors - but be careful not to overdo it, as over-extraction can cause bitterness.
- Longer Brew Time (Except for Espresso): The longer coffee is in contact with water, the more it extracts. Methods like the French press allow for a longer steeping time, resulting in a fuller, more robust cup.
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Fuller Body & Richer Texture (If You Want a Thicker Coffee)
- French Press & Espresso Are Your Friends: Both methods produce coffee with a heavier mouthfeel. The French press retains more coffee oils, while espresso’s pressurized brewing creates a thick crema.
- Try a Metal Filter Instead of Paper: Paper filters absorb some of the oils that contribute to a richer texture. Opting for a metal or mesh filter (like in a French Press) lets those oils through to your cup.
- Cold Brew: By steeping coarse grounds in cold water for 12-24 hours, you get a smooth, heavy-bodied coffee concentrate that you can drink straight or dilute to taste.
Other Helpful Tips/Facts:
- Describing caffeine content between light roasts and dark roasts can be misleading, and measuring comes down to weight vs volume. Light roasts have more by volume, while dark roasts have more by weight.
- If you’re looking to maximize caffeine content for your coffee, then a shot of espresso using dark roasted robusta coffee beans is your best bet. Espresso offers the highest concentration per ounce, darker roasts have slightly more caffeine by weight, and robusta beans can have nearly twice as much caffeine vs arabica.
- If you’re looking to minimize caffeine content for your coffee, then using a French Press to brew either light roasted arabica beans or beans that have been decaffeinated via the Swiss Water® Process is your best bet. The coarse coffee grounds used for a French Press provide less surface area from which caffeine can be extracted, lighter roasts have slightly less caffeine by weight (decaf has even less), and arabica beans can have roughly half as much caffeine vs robusta.
- For the most effective caffeine boost, the best time to consume coffee is roughly between 9:30 AM and 11:30 AM (after cortisol levels have peaked and are declining).
- You taste more of the bean with lighter roasts and more of the roast with darker roasts. In other words, lighter roasts will have diverse natural and unique flavors while darker roasts will have less pronounced toasted and smokier flavors.
- Adding milk/cream to coffee helps smooth out a coffee's taste profile because the milk's fat content acts as a buffer, neutralizing some of the coffee's natural acidity.
What makes coffee "strong" depends on what you're looking for—more caffeine, a bolder taste, or a fuller texture. By tweaking your beans, brew method, grind size, and coffee-to-water ratio, you can craft the perfect strong cup for your taste.