What Makes Coffee “Strong” in The First Place?
That's a great question! When it comes to coffee, the term "strong" can mean a couple things.
Let's say you go to a coffee shop and tell the barista you want the strongest coffee.
This could mean that you want a coffee with the highest caffeine content. Or, it could mean that you want the coffee with the most intense flavor.
In this fictional scenario, the barista might brew you a cup using a bold-flavored coffee and slightly more coffee grounds than usual. This would give your coffee both a higher caffeine content and more flavor.*
(*It’s important to note that stronger-flavored coffee doesn’t necessarily equate to coffee with more caffeine.)
Alternatively, the barista might give you a condescending glare and tell you that all of their coffees are made with the same amount of grounds and water, so they can't make yours any stronger. It really depends what coffee shop you go to.
But now, let's say you're at home, and you want to make really strong brewed coffee in your coffee maker.
Not just "strong"—the strongest.
Well, you’re in luck—Here are a few tips you can use to make stronger coffee at home. And don’t worry that you’re going to have to buy some sort of fancy brewer or engage in some sort of new time-consuming coffee ritual.
All three of these tips are painfully simple—and you don’t have to give up your trusty coffee maker to try them out!
3 Tips for Getting the Strongest Coffee Out of Your Coffee Maker
Tip #1: Use more coffee grounds.
If you want to make stronger coffee in your coffee maker, use more coffee grounds than you would for a regular cup of joe. It's really that simple—add a bit more coffee to your filter, and you'll end up with a stronger cup of joe. A general rule of thumb is to use about 1.25 to 1.5 times as much coffee as you would normally use.
For example, if you typically use 2 tablespoons of coffee grounds for a 12-ounce cup, you would use 2.5 to 3 tablespoons for a stronger brew.
If you want to get really scientific about it, you can use a kitchen scale to measure out your coffee grounds, but you don't need to be that precise. Just eyeballing it will work just fine.
Of course, if you're starting out with regular or weak coffee, using a little more coffee grounds won't make much of a difference—and it definitely won't help you get "the strongest coffee" out of your coffee maker.
Which brings us to Tip #2...
Tip #2: Use the strongest coffee you can find.
When it comes to caffeine content, there's really no contest: Black Insomnia is the strongest coffee in the world. So, if you want to make the strongest cup of coffee in your coffee maker, use Black Insomnia coffee beans.
If you're also after the strongest flavor, you might opt for Black Insomnia Dark Roast. But Black Insomnia Classic Roast will also produce a deliciously-strong flavored cup of coffee.
Keep in mind that you don't need to use a lot of these beans to make a strong cup of joe, so you can forego Tip #1 entirely if you're using Black Insomnia. Of course, you can always use both Tips #1 and #2 if you want to brew the strongest coffee in your coffee maker.
Tip #3: Use a finer grind.
Yet another way to make stronger coffee in a typical home coffee maker is to use a finer grind with your coffee beans. This will make it easier for the water to extract all of the coffee's flavor, resulting in a stronger cup of coffee.
But be careful with this—if you use coffee that's too finely ground, at best you’ll end up with a bitter-tasting (but strong) cup of coffee. At worst you might end up clogging the filter and making a real mess of things. And that's the opposite of what we're going for here.
A good rule of thumb is to use a medium-fine grind if you're using a drip coffee maker, but you might need to experiment a bit to see what works best with your particular brewer.
Final Thoughts
By following these three tips, you'll be well on your way to making the strongest cup of coffee possible. And isn't that what we all want? A delicious, strong cup of coffee that we can enjoy any time of day, without having to deal with the hassle and expense of going to a coffee shop every time we need a strong cup of joe.
Of course, if you're looking to make even stronger coffee in your coffee maker, you can always combine all three of these tips. Just remember:
more coffee grounds + the strongest coffee beans + finer grind = the strongest cup of coffee you can make at home.
Just be careful not to overdo the grinding or the coffee to water ratio, or you might end up with coffee that's too strong for even the most hardcore coffee drinkers. But if you experiment and find the perfect balance, you'll be rewarded with a cup of coffee that's strong, flavorful, and filled with enough caffeine to keep you going all day long.
So if you truly want to make the strongest coffee at home, just:
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Grab a bag of Black Insomnia coffee beans—the strongest coffee in the world.
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Grind them up using a medium-fine grind.
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Measure out more coffee grounds you would normally use.
Now that's how you caffeinate to the max.
