How to Make Coffee Taste Stronger
So, you love bold coffee, but all you have at home is a bag of light roasted beans. What to do? Well, one solution is to buy another bag of coffee, but with some little tweaks, you can get a dark roast flavor from a light roast.
To clarify, we’re talking about a stronger flavor , not more caffeine. If you want the latter, you just need to brew the coffee longer (which, as a bonus, can also lead to a bolder taste). And depending on how you measure the coffee beans before brewing – by weight or with a scoop – you can get a very small to very significant increase in caffeine with a darker roast.
Also note that the easiest way to get more control over your coffee is to use a scale. The scale allows you to measure both beans and water more accurately, so you can fine tune your variables as well. If you don’t have it, take it .
At its most basic level, brewing coffee is simply leaching the “soluble solids” from the ground beans with water – and in general, the more you extract, the stronger the aroma of the last cup. There are several ways to do this.
Choose a darker roast
First, it’s best to find out which roast gives you your preferred flavor so that you can buy the beans you want next time. In general, coffee beans are light, medium, or dark roasted. There are many nuances to these classifications , but it is important to know that the degree of roast affects the taste of your finished beverage. Generally, a lighter roast is more acidic, and your cup of coffee will taste more like the beans themselves. A darker roast is more oily and reflects flavor more than beans.
If you want a stronger coffee, choose a darker roast; This bold flavor comes in part from the oil that is released during frying.
Most roasters will roast in the light to dark range to enhance the flavor of each particular grain. If you buy locally roasted beans – and you should do so to support local business and get the freshest beans – ask how they suggest you brew your chosen beans, or give specific advice on using light or dark beans. roast.
And if you’re wondering if you can just roast the overly light beans a little darker at home, the answer is no . Don’t even think about it: The initial roast triggers a series of chemical reactions, and once your coffee beans have been packaged, purchased, and opened, the process cannot continue. You will most likely end up with burnt useless beans.
Increase the brewing time
If a light or medium roast is all you have on hand and you need a strong coffee now, just lengthen the brewing time. The longer the thick is in the water, the more flavor will be extracted from the beans and the stronger your last cup will be.
The easiest way to slow down the brewing process is to use a finer grind . This increases the surface area of your coffee grounds and slows down the flow of water, which increases contact time. The correct grind size depends on each brewing method , so start with what is recommended for your brewing method and work your way down to finer ones.
If you are using a French press, fines are more likely to slip through the filter and into the brewed coffee. Since French press coffee is already stronger than other methods, this step is probably not necessary.
Use more coffee
Another way to achieve a brighter flavor in light or medium beans is to use more of them. Again, this simply provides more contact between ground and water.
The standard coffee to water ratio is 1:16 (by weight in grams – use this scale), but for a stronger cup you can bring it up to 1:12. If you’re measuring scoops of ground coffee and fluid ounces of water, try these ratios for your preferred brewing method.
The downside to this approach is that you digest the beans faster.
Change your brewing method
It may take some investment – and may not help you if you are reading this while you need coffee – but some brewing methods give stronger results than others. Full immersion brewers like the French press do not filter the oils we mentioned earlier. An overflow cone has a similar effect. And high pressure methods like Aeropress (with a metal filter!) Can also extract more flavor from your beans.
This doesn’t mean you have to rush and buy a bunch of new equipment. Use what you have and start by adjusting the grind size or coffee to water ratio (unless you have dark beans on hand).
Finally, keep in mind that if you take one of these steps too far, you will only end up with bitter coffee, not a stronger or more aromatic one. Coffee preferences are very personal, so it may take some experimentation to find the perfect solution for you. As long as your coffee tastes good, you win.
(And if all else fails, you can’t go wrong with AeroPressing coffee straight into a can of condensed milk .)