Coffee Strength: Too Strong? What to Do About too strong coffee
published on: 2022-05-12
Is your coffee too strong? Do you know what to do about it? If not, don’t worry - you’re not alone. Many people struggle with making coffee that is just the right strength. In this blog post, we’ll talk about why your coffee might be too strong or too weak and how to fix it. We’ll also give you some tips on how to make the perfect cup of coffee every time. Stay tuned!
So let’s take a look at how you can recognize if your coffee is too strong and what you can do about it.
What does it mean that coffee is too strong?
First let’s try to define what strong coffee actually means. Does it mean that the coffee has a lot of caffeine? Or that it has a strong coffee flavor? Or perhaps it means that it has an unpleasant taste that doesn’t suit your palette.
Considering the questions above, let’s focus on the flavor of the coffee is too strong. If you feel that the coffee is too strong, it might be because of two reasons.
The first one is that the beans used to make the coffee are roasted for too long. This results in a more intense flavor which some people enjoy but others might find too bitter.
The second reason why your coffee might be too strong is that the grind size is too coarse. This means that more coffee is used per cup and the water has less time to extract all the flavors from the beans.
How to recognise too strong coffee?
The first way is by the appearance of the crema. If it’s a dark brown or almost black, that’s a sign the coffee might too strong for your tastebuds.
Another way to tell is by the taste; if it tastes bitter or burnt, that’s another indication the coffee is over-extracted. These above two things are definitely linked and it’s rare to get one without the other.
Finally, if your cup of coffee has very little flavour, this also suggests that the coffee beans were roasted for too long. If beans are roasted for too long, they end up losing a lot of their original flavour and your coffee doesn’t taste that much like coffee anymore. Instead, you might get only part of the whole coffee taste which might make it taste too strong.
What can you do to too strong coffee?
If your coffee has ended up being too strong, there are a few things you can do about it.
The first thing you can do is add more water to your coffee. This will make the coffee weaker and less intense. If you want to keep the same strength but make it more palatable, try adding milk or cream. This will help round out the coffee and make it more smooth.
If you want to try and salvage the beans, you can also try grinding them finer. This will make the coffee less strong because there will be less surface area of the bean exposed to water.
You could also experiment with different brewing methods. If you’re using a French press, for example, try brewing for a shorter amount of time. This will make the coffee less intense.
Or, you could always try a different bean! If you’re finding that all your coffee is too strong, it might be time to switch to a lighter roast. This will give you a more mellow flavor that might be more to your taste.
Bottom line
To summarize what you can do it your coffee is too strong:
- Add more water
- Add milk or cream
- Grind the beans finer
- Try a different brewing method
- Switch to a lighter roast coffee bean
Hopefully this will help you enjoy your next cup of coffee more. But don’t go too far to the other direction, because you might end up with too weak coffee, which is not great either.
Filed under: coffee taste