What Makes a Good Strong Coffee?

The term “strength” gets used often when talking about the wonderful world of coffee, but for such a regularly used reference to the coffee drinking experience, the term can actually be a bit unclear.

It is perfectly understandable, and very common, to think of a strong coffee as being high in caffeine content, but this is rarely correct; many coffee sellers instead define coffee strength in terms of flavours and aroma.

At Coffee Direct, we place a coffee bean variety in our “strong coffee” range, based on the perceived strength of a brewed cup of coffee. If one of our roasts gives you robust, intense flavours and rich aromas, we will describe it as a strong coffee. These “strong” characteristics do tend to result from darker roasts, as these types of beans have lower acidity, are heavy-bodied and give you deep, dark flavours.

Shop from our “Strong Coffee” range here

There are three important factors that you can experiment with to create your perfect strong coffee:

• Coffee Bean Variety – Certain varieties and roast levels will create a more robust flavour and stronger aromas in your coffee
• Grind size - The size of particles once you’ve ground your coffee. The scale ranges from extra-coarse to super-fine
• Ratio - The amount of ground coffee used vs the amount of water used

Coffee Bean Variety
By picking a dark roast, your coffee is more likely to have a stronger flavour. Generally, the longer beans are roasted, the deeper and richer the flavour gets.

At Coffee Direct, we roast to four levels: Medium, Dark, Espresso and Continental (with Continental being our darkest roast)

Grind Size
Use the right grind for your preferred brewing method. Grinding extracts flavour from the bean, but if done incorrectly for your chosen brewing method, you’ll compromise the taste of your coffee. For example, if you don’t dissolve enough coffee particles, you could end up with a drink that is weak, sour or astringent instead of strong and flavoursome.

Learn more about choosing the right coffee grind with our helpful guide.

Ratio
Strong coffees can easily be brewed by using a lower coffee-to-water ratio. For regular brewed coffee, the suggested ratio is two scoops (2 tablespoons) of grounds to one cup of water. To make your coffee taste stronger, simply add more grounds to get a higher percentage of coffee molecules in your cup.

Our Strong Coffee Picks

Monsoon Malabar – From £12.99
Monsoon Malabar, a wonderful variety from our Asian coffee range, is picked in the Malabar region of India, one of the wettest regions of southern India, undergoes an especially unique process to bring out the beans' fullest flavours. Straight after being harvested the Malabar beans are transported to open warehouses along the Malabar Coast, where they will be exposed to the harsh, moist winds of the area's monsoons for around three to four months.

Golden Crema – From £12.99
This is the crème de la crème of coffee blends, a robust, rich and bold coffee of the highest quality to spoil yourself with at any time of day. The strong blend makes an exquisite espresso that could be just the thing to give yourself a midday pick-me-up, but if you want to enjoy this treat to its fullest then use it as a base for all your favourite filter coffees: the luxurious texture is brought to the forefront when you add steamed milk, creating creamy, silky lattes and cappuccinos that are the height of comfort.

Italian – From £11.99
The same blend as our Continental coffee, but roasted slightly lighter so that the same great flavour is produced without the oily characteristics, making it ideal for smooth and intense espressos. While our Italian is classed as a strong coffee and is best enjoyed as an espresso, you don't need to feel restricted to that single drink. Why not start the day with Italian coffee beans as a base for your favourite filter coffees, and enjoy a powerful, full-flavoured experience.

Arabica Supremo – From £18.99
An extraordinary, complex blend of 100% Arabica beans from five different coffee-growing locations across the world, puts Arabica Supremo high on the list of the finest blends to be created. Deep, rich and smooth, with an exotic, spicy aroma, the recipe for this ingenious mix of high quality, expertly roasted beans is a well-kept secret, but once tried, you’ll be left in no doubt as to how amazing it tastes.

Dark Decaffeinated Colombian – From £12.99
If you're looking for a quality decaf coffee that doesn't sacrifice on strength and intense flavours, then our Dark Decaffeinated Colombian is for you. Ideal for deep, aromatic espressos, these beans offer the rich and luxurious flavour of chocolate and produce wonderfully full-bodied coffees that won't be keeping you up all night.