There Is No 'World's Strongest Coffee'

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"Walk Without Sound" by Red Licorice

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[mikekeller]

Not true James, I have some Ethiopian beans that can bench over 400 lb, it’s the strongest coffee I’ve ever seen.

[ozzi]

James blurring the coffee packet so as to not mess with their business is exactly why I love watching his channel and why he deserves all his success

[Viniter]

The most upsetting coffee conversation I had was with a colleague who managed to somehow merge all of the types of "strength" into one. He knew that a espresso is "stronger" than filter, so he wanted all of his coffee to come out of espresso machine, even though he wanted a full mug, which meant he made disgusting 300 ml lungos from a single dose. He equated bitterness with caffeine, so he went for the darkest most bitter coffees. So in the end he made coffee that was incredibly weak, but when he would take a sip he would wince and shudder from the bitterness and go "YEAH, that's some STRONG cup! That's how I like it!"

[zamalchi]

I realized, half-way through, that I grew up with that extraction-based concept of strength, but it was applied to brewing tea.
The Slavic tradition was to brew an overly-extracted tea base (заварка), and then each person would dilute their own cup with freshly boiled water to their preferred strength level.
Cool to know it applies similarly to coffee!

[evan]

Me: I think I understand coffee a bit
You: *pulls out a sonic screwdriver to measure coffee strength*
me: nvm

[griffinmacleod]

I once had and elderly couple come in to buy beans to make turkish coffee with, they asked to see a few beans and proceeded to eat them whole bean infront of my eyes. I knew it was my duty as a good barista to do the same (not as strong as I expected). They declared the darker columbian was the best for the brew method. As a budding turkish coffee enthusiast I brewed each roast as a turkish coffee and sampled them. They were absolutley right, I still drink it as a turkish coffee to this day.

This is my favourite customer experience to date.

[underscrutinyallnight]

The curiosity that led James to eat that coffee flake, is exactly what makes him who he is. That's why I'm here.

[Sam-lroi]

I work at what I imagine is the worst coffee roastery in the world, and my boss was talking this afternoon about the (incredibly sour) coffee he made this morning. He and a coworker agreed that it was "strong." Your videos help keep me sane

[djoverkin]

For me, strength correlates strictly with the psycho-physiological feelings you get after the "dose". So it's basically caffeine content, though the rush you get might vary with the sugar/fat/water content in the cup.

I refer to the bitterness as " intensity " and to the content of coffee vs water as "concentration".

[maximillian]

Can someone please do a supercut of James tasting bad stuff? It would be so entertaining.

[alysoffoxdale]

_"I'm gonna have to taste it, aren't I?"_ James, your dedication to your viewers is unparalleled! Thank you for giving me more and better words for describing why and how I hate coffee (despite drinking it every day), and for giving me the hope that I may someday be offered a cup I would be willing to try without cream and sugar!

[heartdyedpurple]

Silly James, you didn’t even measure the shear strength! These beans resist grinding 5% more than any other beans. They’re the strongest in the world!

[robertgeorgewerner]

James, watching you decide that you had to taste the dehydrated coffee sludge was the best part of this video. Your face anticipating the flavors and then experiencing them just killed me. Thanks for sharing this. Your reasoned explanation about the proper usage the word strength is how I have felt intuitively. Keep it up!

[magnusbruce]

Interesting analysis.

When you said that the dehydrated espresso was like marmite or vegemite, the home-cook part of me was thinking that it could have some application to boost the savoury flavours of a dish. Maybe drop a few flakes into a chilli/spag bol or something like that.

[theKashConnoisseur]

When referring to psychoactive substances, I thought it was recognized that strength always meant concentration of the active molecule(s). So there should indeed be a "World's Strongest Coffee" in terms of caffeine density.

[Nodde]

I'm always here for the self imposed culinary torture James! Brings a smile to my heart and makes me thankful I never have to risk to suffer the same, curiosity-inflicted fate 🙏

[nathana]

Customer: give me your strongest cup
James Hoffman: well, let me tell you about strength…
(14:27 minutes later)
Customer: thanks, give me the boldest cup you’ve got

[sharkinahat]

I had once a grain of the strongest coffee, it almost broke my grinder. Turned out it was a rock.

[Myako]

It is, indeed, confusing and sightly frustrating. I was instinctively attached to the idea of bitterness and conceptually attached to the idea of caffeine content.

You managed to take down both in a very clear way, and the alcohol percentage analogy was crystal clear. Thank you! 👏🏻👏🏻

[jem]

This is a very nice video! It puts to words a concept I feel I had been working around for awhile - I don't like bitter coffee, but I love very strong flavors.