The Strongest Coffee: 7 Top Picks [Reviewed]

When you think about strong coffee, you’d normally expect a horrible, bitter cup.

But these days, even strong coffees can taste great because of improvements in roasting and growing around the world!

Have a look at some of the strongest coffee brands in the world, so you can wake up and seize the day.

7 Strongest Coffees In The World

1. Biohazard Coffee – Best Overall

Key Features

• Caffeine Content: 66mg per oz.
• Bean Type: Robusta
• Roast: Medium to Dark

Biohazard is our favorite coffee brand from this list because it perfected the caffeine-taste ratio. Even with stronger coffees out there, Biohazard is a well-balanced choice.

With 928mg of caffeine per cup, it will definitely give you a morning boost. It has twice the caffeine of most energy drinks, but you can sit easy knowing it won’t give you a crash.

Unlike energy drinks, Biohazard Coffee doesn’t need extra sugar for the energy boost. You can have sustained energy without the zany sugar rush and the tiring crash that comes after.

And if the caffeine content scares you from drinking it, don’t worry! Biohazard Coffee actually tastes quite decent. It tastes like coffee, without the bitter aftertaste.

While it won’t give you all the subtle flavor notes that an Arabica might, it tastes smooth and mixes well with creamer.

If you’re already used to drinking diner or fast food coffee, you’ll be glad to know that Biohazard tastes just like that, if not better.

Pros

• Twice the caffeine of energy drinks
• Tastes smooth and bold

Cons

• Doesn’t have more nuanced flavor notes

Is Biohazard Coffee For You?

If you’re in the market for the world’s strongest coffee, look no further than Biohazard. It gives you all the caffeine you’ll need without the bitter aftertaste – or the sugar rush of regular coffee.

2. Death Wish Coffee – Best Value

Key Features

• Caffeine Content: 61mg per oz.
• Bean Type: Arabica and Robusta Blend
• Roast: Dark

Death Wish Coffee is a pioneer in the strong coffee movement, and once upon a time, they made the strongest coffee in the world.

That used to be true, but other brands now boast more caffeine than Death Wish Coffee. But what makes Death Wish Coffee so great is they didn’t compromise on taste for the caffeine.

When you first take a sip from your cup, the bold flavor and intense smell overwhelm your nose and palate.

You can taste subtle notes of cocoa and cherry following your sip until you awaken. The chocolate pairs well with milk to give you a mocha-like drink that you just can’t get enough of.

Pros

• More caffeine than an energy drink
• Nuanced flavor profile

Cons

• Not much

Is Death Wish Coffee For You?

If you’re looking for a caffeine rush and a taste adventure, Death Wish Coffee should be on your list. It can give you that caffeine kick while still giving you great flavor.

3. Banned Coffee – Best Budget

Key Features

• Caffeine Content: 39.5mg per oz.
• Bean Type: Robusta and Arabica Blend
• Roast: Medium-Dark

Banned Coffee might not be the strongest coffee in the world, but it’s great for when regular arabica coffee just doesn’t cut it.

Made with medium/dark roast gourmet arabica and robusta beans, Banned Coffee can give you a little more energy than store-bought coffee, without worrying about consuming too much caffeine.

It’s a great budget option for anyone who wants a nice, subtle hint of caffeine without the sometimes awful taste robusta coffee has.

Our favorite thing about Banned Coffee is it actually makes decent espresso on home espresso machines. With the right amount of crema, you can taste amazing flavors per shot.

The hints of juicy berries and chocolate, when coupled with the caffeine kick, makes for a cup that boasts flavor and strength. At this price point, it’s hard to beat.

Pros

• Tastes great
• Roasted in the USA
• Affordable

Cons

• Not as strong as others

Is Banned Coffee For You?

Banned Coffee is a great option for anyone not looking to spend too much on their coffee but still wants a great caffeine kick. Because it’s so affordable, college students pulling all-nighters can afford it!

4. Black Insomnia Coffee

Key Features

• Caffeine Content: 92mg/oz.
• Bean Type: Robusta and Arabica Blend
• Roast: Dark

So far, Black Insomnia Coffee claims to have the highest caffeine content. And just when we thought that the strength of Black Insomnia was enough to affect the taste, it didn’t.

Unlike most strong coffees or even mainstream brands, Black Insomnia is careful with their roasting process. They barrel roast their beans to make sure that each bag is consistent.

As a result, Black Insomnia has a great signature dark chocolate taste, though those notes can become muddy when we ground finer than the usual drip.

If you’re not careful while brewing, you might get a slightly bitter aftertaste. But the bitterness isn’t offensive or extreme; it’s bold and even tastes great with a little milk.

Pros

• Consistent beans because of the roasting process
• Dark chocolate notes
• Makes great espresso

Cons

• Could taste bitter if you’re not careful

Is Black Insomnia For You?

There’s no doubt if you’re looking for the strongest coffee in the world, Black Insomnia is it.

With higher caffeine content than any other brand of beans anywhere, you’ll have the energy you need for any task you have up ahead.

5. Shock Coffee

Key Features

• Caffeine Content: 50% more than regular coffee
• Bean Type: Robusta and Arabica Blend
• Roast: Medium to Dark

Shock Coffee has a top-secret proprietary blend which is supposedly a perfect taste-to-caffeine ratio. That’s why we can’t tell you how much caffeine Shock has exactly.

The one thing we do know, though, is it works. It works well, and it tastes great.

Shock is unlike any of the high-caffeine brands we’ve tried before because it doesn’t give that crazy energy boost we’re used to when we think of caffeine.

It’s a steady buzz, just enough to keep us alert and awake, but not overwhelming that we’ll fear palpitations and headaches.

Just ask the United States Military. Shock Coffee supplied coffee to the US Military in Iraq and Afghanistan to help them stay awake.

There’s no doubt about the amount of stress in the field. Shock Coffee helped our soldiers stay awake and, as we found out, it can help us stay awake, too.

Pros

• No palpitations
• No bitterness
• Just enough caffeine for a mid-day drink

Cons

• Flavor profile isn’t as complex

Is Shock Coffee For You?

If you want an effective energy boost without the clammy hands and racing heart that goes with extra-strong coffee, then Shock Coffee is the product for you.

6. Killer Coffee

Key Features

• Caffeine Content: 92mg/oz.
• Bean Type: 100% Arabica beans
• Roast: Medium to Dark

Killer Coffee from Australia is one strong coffee, but it won’t win any awards for the strongest coffee in the world.

That’s because Killer Coffee uses 100% Arabica beans, which means you won’t get the caffeine hit you’d expect from robustas.

That doesn’t mean Killer Coffee won’t give you your much-needed caffeine hit. It’s still a great way to energize your mornings with a steady, less caffeine intensity buzz.

But we recommend this coffee because it’s the best-tasting high caffeine content coffee we’ve found. While it’s not the strongest coffee in the world, it’s the best tasting strongest coffee in the world.

There’s absolutely no bitterness in Killer Coffee. It’s nothing but smooth caramel from the first sip, so you won’t even need sugar when you drink this coffee.

Killer Coffee comes with a killer bullet-shaped travel flask, too, so that’s a pretty cool plus in our book.

Pros

• Tastes delicious even without sugar
• 100% arabica means less bitterness
• Steady caffeine buzz without palpitations

Cons

• Not as strong as other coffees

Is Killer Coffee For You?

Let’s face it: you don’t need extra highly caffeinated coffee every day. Sometimes, you just need something strong enough to cut through groggy mornings without giving you a caffeine high.

For those days, Killer Coffee is a solid purchase. It gives you a much-needed jolt of energy without the dreaded palpitations from stronger beans.

7. Devil Mountain Coffee Black Label

Key Features

• Caffeine Content: 1555mg/12oz.
• Bean Type: Arabica and Robusta Blend
• Roast: Dark

If you need a coffee to kick your butt, look no further. Devil Mountain Coffee is one of the world’s strongest coffees.

Its caffeine content beat out even more popular “strong coffee” brands.

This relative newcomer to the strong coffee game boasts a healthy and organic alternative to strong coffees out there.

Because it’s organic, you don’t have to worry about nasty pesticides and fertilizers tainting your cup. And even if it has plenty of caffeine, you won’t have to worry about chemically added caffeine.

And you can taste the quality of these beans: Black Label tastes smooth with tea-like hints, which tells us that they even got the more subtle flavor notes right on point.

It’s also fair-trade, so you can sip on your insanely strong cup of coffee without the guilt.

Pros

• Rich body and great flavor
• One of the highest caffeine levels in the world
• Fairtrade

Cons

• Inconsistent roasts

Is Devil Mountain Coffee Black Label For You?

With one of the highest caffeine contents in the market, there’s no doubt that Devil Mountain coffee can give you the kick you’re looking for. It also tastes great to boot!

What Is Strong Coffee, Anyway?

If you ask for “strong” coffee, you’ll probably get some side-eyes from coffee aficionados. After all, the word “strong” could spark arguments about what it really means.

Strong could mean a lot of things. It could mean a bitter taste, more caffeine content, or a more concentrated cup of coffee.

Coffee companies make things confusing, too. Even mainstream coffee brands label their beans “strong” if they taste bitter, regardless of how much caffeine it actually contains.

To prevent confusion, a “strong” cup of coffee for us simply means coffee that has high caffeine content, enough to give you a jolt of energy in the morning.

Things That Affect Caffeine Content

Type of Beans

The type of beans used is probably the biggest factor influencing a coffee’s caffeine levels. There are two common types of beans sold in the market today: arabica and robusta coffee beans

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Arabica coffee beans are the most commonly sold type of beans because they taste better on average than robusta beans. Most cafes use arabica coffee because they’re higher quality beans.

Robusta coffee beans used to be unpopular because they were inferior in taste. They have a more bitter and unpleasant flavor.

The robusta bean is easier to farm and harvest, though, since they don’t need the altitudes that arabica bean does to grow beans. In fact, making them is so cheap that it’s ground up to make instant coffee.

But which of these two is stronger? That’s simple. Coffee facts 101: Robusta beans have twice as much caffeine per cup as Arabica coffee, so it’s bound to give you a better kick.

If you’re worried about the taste, though, there’s hope! Some coffee researchers are now investing in robusta coffee to improve on taste.

There’s even a bean quality standards program these days, so robusta whole bean isn’t just the usual bitter mess that you once thought it was.

But if you want the best of both worlds for both caffeine content and taste, then it’s best to purchase a whole bean product with a blend of arabicas and robustas in your cup.

Roast Level

You might already know that darker coffee is more bitter than lighter roasts. So you would probably think that dark roast coffee is stronger than light roast coffee.

Let’s bust that myth, once and for all. Coffee facts: dark roast coffees actually have less caffeine content than light roast coffee.

But here’s the catch: a robusta’s “medium” is darker than a “medium” for an arabica.

So if you’re looking at the options in our review above and wondering why we recommended some dark roast coffee, that’s because the bag probably contains robusta.

But if your palate isn’t looking for a taste adventure with robusta beans yet, we suggest choosing a lighter roast arabica. They taste better – with citrus or chocolate notes – than bitter dark roasts.

Other Ways To Strengthen Your Coffee

Besides choosing the right coffee beans, here are some tips to help strengthen your morning cup of coffee. You can have the strongest coffee in the world in the comfort of your own home with a few tips!

Serving Size and Brewing Method

Unless you have a whole chemistry laboratory to brew coffee at home, it’ll be hard to measure the amount of caffeine in your brew.

Now, you might think that espresso makes the strongest coffee, but that’s, unfortunately, another myth we’re going to bust.

Here’s a quick reference for the amount of caffeine per ounce of coffee for every brewed coffee method. It may look like espresso delivers the most caffeine:

• Espresso: 30-50mg/oz.
• Drip Coffee: 8.13-15mg/oz.
• Cold Brew: Around 27mg/oz.

But you don’t see anyone going around and drinking a whole cup’s worth of espresso – that’s 8 shots! People normally only have one to two. With a latte, it could be three or four with extra shots.

And you also have to remember that a cold brew brewing method involves diluting cold brew with ice, cream, or water.

So in reality, assuming you use 1:3 cold brew concentrate to water/cream/ice, here’s how much caffeine you’ll get:

• Espresso: 30-50mg/oz.
• Drip Coffee: 65-120mg/8 oz.
• Cold Brew: Around 8.90mg/10.5 oz.

Add that to the fact that when you’re working on an enormous project, cramming for an exam, or slaying monsters at night, you’ll usually go for refills.

It’s pretty clear that the drip among most brewing methods will give you the strongest coffee because it has more caffeine per serving.

So if highly caffeinated coffee is what you’re looking for, keep it simple. Your drip machine delivers brewed coffee with an extra kick.

Add-Ons

If you’re the type to drink coffee and call that a breakfast, we suggest you level it up by adding a few extra ingredients for sustained energy levels until your next big meal.

Once you’ve chosen a high caffeine coffee blend, you might want to add this magic ingredient to your brewed coffee: medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil.

MCT oil provides a host of benefits like weight loss, appetite control, and sustained energy. Energy is what you’re after if you’re looking for a strong cup of coffee, so adding MCT oil should do the trick.

Butter also has some MCT, which is probably why bulletproof coffee advocates recommend adding it. But if greasy, brewed coffee doesn’t sit well with you, then cream, or even MCT oil creamer, should be fine.

https://youtu.be/9prU8hXSnfk

Is Strong Coffee Really Deadly?

It might seem like strong coffee can be dangerous for your health especially since a lot of the strongest coffees in the world have intimidating names like “Death Wish” or “Biohazard.”

But we assure you, highly caffeinated coffee isn’t dangerous at all. Unless you already have a pre-existing heart condition – in which case, you should probably consult your doctor – then you’ll be fine.

Just make sure you stay below the FDA’s recommendation (400mg) amount of caffeine per day. That probably means you should lay off the refills if you want to drink most of the coffees we recommended.

Conclusion

We reviewed the strongest coffees in the world to give you a taste of what high-energy and highly caffeinated coffee options are out there for you.

So if you want a good morning cup, then we suggest you try out any one of our best coffee brand choices for something much more delicious than an energy drink.