How To Make Strong Coffee To Stay Awake All Night Long!

If you need to know how to make strong coffee to stay awake all night, this is the article you are looking for.

Strong coffee does not always mean brewing a coffee that is highly caffeinated or is high in caffeine at all. It can also mean increasing the coffee flavor and enjoying the heavier bold flavor of dark roasts and less of the lighter more floral notes and enhancing an otherwise flavorless coffee.

This article will show you ways in which you can achieve both, a better tasting, flavorful coffee and an increased caffeine content.

If you are in a rush, here is the quick answer – If you want to make a strong coffee, simply increase the coffee to water ratio, so you have more coffee than water. This concentrates the coffee and thus makes the taste stronger and increases the caffeine kick.

The more focused the coffee to water ratio, the greater the flavor extraction and more caffeine is extracted.

Keep reading as we dig down and give you some tips on how to make strong coffee.

What Is A Strong Coffee?

There was a time when a strong coffee exclusively referred to making a highly caffeinated coffee that was notable for the overtly bitter flavors.

Thanks to the third wave of coffee and the rise of gourmet coffee and an overall much better approach to coffee, the term can often mean a coffee that has a deeper coffee.

Notably,

highly caffeinated coffee does not need to have or taste of those traditional deep, dark strong coffee flavors. Most home baristas and coffee drinkers achieve a greater caffeine level by simply using a greater amount of coffee by using a more concentrated coffee to water ratio which has the result of increasing the coffee’s strength.

A strong coffee is a dense coffee that has a heavy, fuller body as opposed to a thin, watery coffee lacking texture.

Read: Cold brew coffee beans

How To Make Strong Coffee To Stay Awake

As we have established, a strong coffee is about both its flavor and caffeine content. To get more caffeine into your cup of coffee you can opt for a lighter roast or an extended extraction time. The longer you brew, the more of the coffee solids, flavor compounds and caffeine you can and will extract.

Also, something to pay attention to is the lighter the roast level is, the more caffeine your beans will contain.

For a stronger flavor, you can adjust the coffee to water ratio or brewing method. A fine example of this is the 1:1.5 and 1:1 coffee to water ratio of a shot of espresso and ristretto respectively speaking and compare those to a lighter, more watery coffee.

Making your coffee taste stronger is very easy and effortless.

Use Proper And Correct Brewing Ratios

As stated, if you increase the amount of coffee in relation to the water used your coffee will by default become strong, deeper in flavor and in caffeine.

A fine example is that dense, bold and full-bodied taste of a shot of espresso and its caffeine content. While the caffeine content in a shot at 75 milligrams on average is not the most caffeinated coffee in terms of total caffeine, it is on a per ounce or per volume basis.

A French press, for example, has 200 milligrams per 12 ounce cup – the same amount of espresso would have 900 milligrams of caffeine.

Read: Cold brew proportions

Use Fresh Coffee Beans

Using freshly roasted coffee beans brings a better, fresher and stronger flavor regardless of which roast profile you use. Fresh is best.

Many coffee lovers forget that coffee is a food product, and thus fresh is better. Much better. You can do a lot to keep your coffee beans fresh. The best way of keeping your coffee beans fresh is by storing them in a coffee canister that designed for that purpose, has UV blocking properties, an airtight lid and a one-way valve.

You are a step further and store your coffee canister in the freezer.

Use Strong Coffee Beans

Obviously, using coffee beans that are strong in caffeine and/or flavor profile you can achieve your goal of making a strong coffee.

There is no “perfect coffee bean” for this purpose as taste varies. I actually recommend that you don’t go for the strong coffee beans as some of them are specifically made to have an insane and toxic amount of caffeine with up to 1,500 mg per cup which is more than enough to give you the jitters and stomach cramps. Such an amount is almost 4x the daily recommended limit.

1,500 mg with a 6 hr half life still puts you on the brink of the 400 mg daily limit after 12 hours!

If you are looking to buy the strongest coffee, focus on the high quality brands that focus on flavor.

Grind The Coffee Yourself

Grinding your coffee beans yourself ensures that your coffee remains as fresh as possible until the moment that you brew your cup of coffee. If you are aiming for a strong coffee flavor from your fresh whole bean coffee, grind them to a slightly finer grind than you normally would.

This does not work for all brew methods – espresso being an example. In such circumstances, you can extend the brew time or temperature.

Double Brew Your Coffee

You can brew your coffee more than once and even more than twice to produce stronger, bolder flavor and, yes, enhanced amounts of caffeine. It really is as simple as it sounds – brew your coffee twice.

During the second round of brewing, ensure that you use fresh coffee grounds and don’t brew with the previous batch of coffee instead of using water.

You can really experiment with this with cold brew and run brewing cycles with hot water; keep an eye on your brew to avoid over extraction, and ice-cold water and draw out the high and low temperature compounds.

Use Robusta Coffee Beans

Robusta coffee beans while weaker in flavor are much higher in caffeine – some 2.2x as much. If you are seeking that caffeine content kick you can simply switch your beans to a 100% robusta.

Which Brewing Methods Make The Strongest Coffee?

The strongest brewing methods for brewing coffee are Espresso with the more focused ristretto being slightly stronger than an actual espresso. The French press, my favorite brewing method for brewing with specialty coffee beans, brews very strong coffee. It allows you to have full control over all the variables associated with coffee brewing.

Percolated coffee brews particularly strong coffee due to the way in which it extracts coffee. It, effectively speaking, is brewed on a continual brewing cycle that double brews as your water which gets brewed into coffee and cycles up the central tube and over the coffee beans again and again extracting more flavor and, yes, caffeine.

A Moka pot, which works in the opposite way of a percolator (to simplify an explanation) by forcing steam up and through the finely ground beans from the bottom and then into the coffee chamber.

Cold brewing is also a technique that produces a strong coffee. With a cold brew, despite its strength, you will notice a very smooth flavor.

Frequently Asked Questions About How To Make Strong Coffee

What Method Makes The Strongest Coffee?

The easiest method of making the strongest coffee is to increase the coffee to water ratio and make it more focused. For example, the standard coffee to water ratio of a brewed coffee (drip coffee) is 1:17, you can make your coffee taste stronger by using a 1:15 ratio and get a strong brew.

Essentially, you will be using more coffee grounds to make your coffee.

How Do You Make Coffee Stronger With Caffeine?

You can make stronger coffee and get more caffeine into your brew and enjoy a bolder and more intense tasting coffee by using a greater amount of coffee and using a more focused coffee to water ratio.

You can also make stronger coffee and make your coffee taste stronger, and be more caffeinated by double brewing your coffee. Essentially, this is what a percolator does. It cycles your coffee over the coffee grounds multiple times.

I advise against a smaller grind size unless you are prepared to monitor your coffee closely as this can lead to an over brewed and unenjoyable cup of coffee.

How Can I Make My Coffee Flavor Stronger?

You can make your cup of coffee taste stronger by:

• Using more coffee grounds.
• Increasing your water temperature.
• Using less water (the same effect as using more coffee grounds).
• Using a smaller grind size.
• Increasing the brew time.
• Double brewing your coffee.

All the methods listed result in a stronger coffee flavor. Increasing your water temperature extracts more of the compounds and total dissolved solids in your brew. Still, I advise against increasing the temperature above 205F (96C) as above this temperature you will start to get burnt notes into your coffee and extract too much of the bitter compounds producing an unpleasant flavor.

You can also switch to robusta beans, which have from 2.2x to 2.7x more caffeine than arabica beans.

Does Coffee Get Stronger The Longer It Steeps?

Yes, when you steep your coffee for an increased amount of time you are effectively you are increasing the brewing time, the extraction time giving it more time to extract the flavor compounds and the caffeine.

Does Grinding Coffee Finer Make It Stronger?

Yes, grinding your roasted coffee beans to a smaller grind size does make your coffee stronger. You are effectively increasing the total surface area of the coffee that is in contact with your hot water.

This act also reduces the brew time, something to keep a very watchful eye on and adjust in accordance with your brewing method.

Your goal is to brew strong coffee drinks that are enjoyable, not undrinkable.

Is Espresso The Strongest Coffee?

Surprisingly, an espresso is not the strongest coffee as there is one coffee beverage that has more caffeine per fluid ounce.

A shot of espresso has 75 mg, which is 75 mg per fluid ounce, a ristretto has 65 mg, but is smaller at 2/3 of a fluid ounce and has a whopping 97.5 mg per fluid ounce and is notably stronger tasting.

How Do You Make Strong Espresso At Home?

The only true way of making an espresso is by using an espresso machine. To make your espresso at home stronger, start by monitoring your extraction time and brew temperature.

Adjust your machine so that you are getting closer to the 205F (96C) as you can and then adjust your grind size until it is as close to the upper end of the brew time for an espresso and nearer to 30 seconds than the perfect 25-second time.

Which Coffee Method Has Most Caffeine?

The espresso method of extraction is the most caffeinated of all coffee brewing techniques as it uses a very focused coffee to water ratio which is 1:1.5 (the traditional Italian ratio) to 1:2 (the traditional American ratio).

It is also a method that uses hot water extraction, which is more efficient at extracting caffeine and the flavor compounds.

Frappé-Ing It All Up – How To Make Strong Coffee

Learning how to make strong coffee is easy when you follow what has been laid out in this article. My favorite own personal favorite method is double brewing my coffee as it really does bring out a more vibrant flavor as well as increasing the caffeine content.

The actual caffeine enhancement is not what my goal is; I’ll often double brew when I want a really bold strong tasting coffee with a cycle of decaffeinated coffee of the same type and then the caffeinated variety.

Join our cool coffee community and tell us how you make your own coffee stronger, bolder and with a greater caffeine kick!

Derek Marshall

Derek Marshall, a certified barista by the Specialty Coffee Association possesses over two decades of experience in specialty coffee shops. He holds professional certifications for coffee brewing and barista skills. Derek is also an author with authoritative books covering various coffee topics including specialty coffee, sustainability and coffee, coffee brewing, coffee recipes, coffee cocktails and books focusing on Brazilian coffee, Vietnamese coffee, Indonesian coffee and Malaysian coffee. As a barista for over two decades, Derek Marshall has worked in specialty coffee shops across the United Kingdom, Spain, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. His expertise extends to the distinct coffee cultures, specialty beverages, and brewing techniques of each nation. Functioning as a coffee consultant, Derek charges US$50 per hour. To learn more about Derek Marshall and Latte Love Brew, visit his About Me Page. For coffee inquiries, contact him at +34-639-410-375 or Derek@LatteLoveBrew.com, mentioning your name and location