Review: Death Wish Coffee "World's Strongest Coffee"

For a couple of months I've been reading about Death Wish Coffee. They bill themselves as "The World's Strongest Coffee." I was intrigued by this. After all, just how strong could it be? During my research, I read that in a 12 oz cup of this coffee, there is 600 mg of caffeine. For comparison, the average cup of coffee has over 200 mg of caffeine. So you assume you are going to get bitch-slapped with this coffee.

The company's website is fun to look through. They give you fair warnings about the strength of the coffee. They have videos talking about their coffee, and how they roast it. Truly, by the time you drink the coffee, you are prepared. This coffee is also a top seller on Amazon, so you know they sell their coffee, and people like it.

 That's a lot of hype for the coffee, so I took the Death Wish Challenge. My 1 lb bag arrived last week. A black, sinister looking bag with skull and cross bones greeted me as I opened the box. So I got the message, this is coffee with an edge.

This morning, I made the coffee in our French Press, our standard brewing method these days. I opened the bag, and the immediate aroma I got was a typical french roast smell. Now, I am not a huge French Roast guy. Now and then I get some, and the initial aroma is not my most favorite thing. I ground the coffee, and the initial aroma lessened, it didn't hit me hard like when I opened the bag.

Because of all the warnings, when I stirred the coffee in the press, I feared the spoon would disintegrate like they do in cartoons when they mix poison. The spoon was fine. The coffee was a deep black in the press. Soon I was pouring our cups.

In tasting the coffee, the most surprising thing is how mellow the taste is. Usually French Roast coffee has a strong taste, sometimes a stale taste. This didn't at all. Death Wish uses Robusta coffee, and not the typical Arabica. I had read this and was excited, because I have not knowingly had Robusta coffee. In many circles Robusta is viewed as inferior to Arabica, for many reasons.

So the coffee has a mellow taste, but what was a I tasting? There is a faint taste of chocolate to it, a bit of nuttiness. I'm not tasting fruitiness. In this case strong is not translating into the taste. The strength is how you feel during and after drinking it. I'm very aware this is a strong coffee. I have a buzz, but it didn't slap me in the face. On our Cher scale 0-10, this is a 10. Nicolas Cage is being slapped in the face, and being told to "snap out of it." This is Moonstruck!

Now that I've confirmed this is a strong cup of coffee, do I like it? Not an easy answer. I give it a qualified yes, for a couple reasons. First, the mellow taste has surprised me. I expect strong coffee to taste strong, and this didn't. That's not a bad thing, just unexpected. Second, I appreciate a smooth cup of coffee, and this tastes smooth to me.

What I wish though, was the coffee tasted more interesting. I would like the flavors to come out a little more. I felt like I was working hard to figure out what I was tasting, and I like to have the flavors there, once they are in my mouth. I thought too much about what I was tasting, and I felt it should have been right there.

All in all, I think this is a nice coffee, and I do recommend it to folks. Be warned though....it is very strong. One cup should do you for the morning.

Charlie