We all love our Keurigs, right?
But the only issue is that most Keurig coffees are quite mild, and some of us are looking for the strongest K-cup coffee that we can find.
It needs to be intense and it needs to be loaded with caffeine!
So which K-cup is the strongest? We did some research and testing and found 10 K-cups which are sure to dose you up with a boost of caffeine and rich coffee flavor.
Please note though that strong is subjective – more intense flavor will mean less caffeine – since a darker roast ends up burning off some of the caffeine in the beans, and a lighter roast and subsequently milder flavor means more caffeine(only by volume).
To get the most out of the pods we’ve listed below, remember to brew them with the “small cup” option on your Keurig(since that’s about the only thing you can customize).
That way, you’ll get the most concentrated coffee possible out of a Keurig.
10 Strongest K-Cup Coffee Pods
1. Turbo Caffeine by Coffee People
I thought we’d start with a coffee pod made by Keurig Green Mountain themselves, the Turbo Caffeine by Coffee People.
This is a dark, rich-bodied roast that just bursts with flavor. The Turbo Caffeine is the successor to the earlier offering by Coffee People which they called Jet Fuel.
I think you can gather from the way they choose to name their coffees how intense they are! Now this is a dark roast and has a very rich but not bitter flavor. I am not sure how they’re getting the extra caffeine in there, since darker roasts tend to have less caffeine, but it is an immediate pick-me-up for the mornings.
So it’s got to be doing something right!
These organic pods will work in both Keurig 1.0 and 2.0 machines.
If you’re a fan of dark roasts but still want some really strong coffee, I highly suggest you give the Turbo Caffeine a shot.
2. Death Wish Coffee K-Cups
Death Wish Coffee is probably the most well known brand that makes hyper strong and intense coffees. Even if you were not aware of Death Wish Coffee’s reputation beforehand, I’m sure that you could have taken a good guess just by looking at the name!
The Death Wish Coffee pods are INTENSE.
I N T E N S E.
Death Wish Coffee pods contain about 4 times as much caffeine as your typical coffee pod. Four times!
That means you can drink 4 cups of regular coffee or just 1 cup of Death Wish Coffee(Keurig or otherwise) and get the same amount of caffeine. Just be careful not to drink too much Death Wish Coffee, though!
There’s a reason the name is Death Wish Coffee, after all.
The pods listed in this post are their normal flavor and it is really popular amongst their fans and anyone looking for some really intense coffee.
Seriously, though, the only advice I can repeat here is to drink these with care. DO NOT have more than one per day, since one cup is equal to four cups of coffee in terms of caffeine.
3. Good Times Coffee Company Napalm K-Cups
Made from Arabica beans in the United States and roasted in small batches to help preserve the most freshness and flavor, Good Times Coffee Company’s Napalm K-Cups are intense and strong.
The Napalm K-cup coffee is a dark roast which has a smooth and rich flavor. One huge problem with pod machines is that their brews tend to get bitter very easily. The Napalm dark roast is very smooth and chocolately and even if you brewed it on the smallest cup size setting it still won’t come out bitter.
These pods are advertised to be twice as strong as other K cups on the market. They’re an excellent pick me up for drowsy mornings and you’ll find that you’re jolted awake as soon as you take the first few sips.
They’re also compatible with Keurig 1.0 and 2.0 machines.
As far as doubly or exponentially intense caffeine is considered the Napalm is right up there with Death Wish – and it costs less, too.
4. REVV Afterburner K-Cups
When you think of the word revv, you’ll imagine a racecar getting ready to speed down a track to first place. That’s what REVV coffee will do to your mornings!
The REVV coffee K Cups contain some of the most caffeine per pod on the market, plus it’s a dark roast so it has very intense and rich flavor.
Afterburner is just one of REVVs three varieties: the other 2 available are NO SURRENDER and TURBOCHARGER.
Most dark roasts generally leave a weird aftertaste in your mouth after you drink them but the REVV coffees leave a smooth and pleasant taste. Between the Afterburner and the Turbocharger, the Afterburner is?ever so slightly more intense. I don’t think you’ll notice the difference unless you are a coffee sommeliere, so my advice here is to try both!
These k cups are inexpensive compared to the other brands we’ve listed here and they’re a super alternative to the first coffee on our list, the Coffee People Turbo Caffeine.
5. Green Mountain Double Black Diamond Extra Bold K-Cups
Inspired by mountains and the super tough ski runs called double black diamond, these K-Cups are a very dark roast coffee. As you would expect, the flavor is very intense and bold.
Don’t expect an extra caffeine hit here – the strength is purely in the flavor. There’s no way to measure the caffeine content with precision, but you can expect it to be typical of any dark roast.
How bold you find this coffee seems to depend on your tolerance for boldness. Some people like their coffee nearly charred, and they may find the Double Black Diamond to be typical of regular dark roasts but nothing special.
Those of us who are used to medium roasts and want to get something with more of a taste bud jolt will find this to be too bold to handle!
6. Wild Jo Organic Extra Strong K-Cups
Unlike the other coffee pods we’ve listed here, the Wild Jo Organic cups contain less caffeine but are still very rich and flavorful with notes of cocoa. If you want something strong and lower on the caffeine scale, the Wild Jo coffees are a super choice.
Even though dark coffees are super intense and maybe too intense for some people you could also drink Wild Jo coffee black and still enjoy it.
Wild Jo is very environmentally friendly, as the K Cup pods are biodegradable. Normally biodegradable and eco friendly materials cost a little more than everyday goods but the Wild Jo is also on the lower end of the pricing scale.
This is because there is less plastic in the K cup altogether. The sides of the pod are a mesh material that lets the coffee percolate from all sides instead of just through a single hole in the plastic container.
Wild Jo uses arabica beans and each preparation is artisan roasted by hand.
7. Valhalla Java Keurig 2.0 K-Cups by Death Wish Coffee
Death Wish Coffee really seems to know their caffeine, so it’s no surprise that we’ve got a second offering of theirs on this list. Valhalla Java K-Cups are compatible with Keurig 2.0 brewers and fall into both categories of strength: caffeine and flavor.
Though the coffee they use is a medium dark roast, they put in 20% more coffee per pod than what you’d typically find. Since there is more coffee for the same amount of water, the coffee tastes very strong and bold.
They also use a blend that provides nearly double the caffeine you’d find in a regular pod.
8. Timothy’s World Coffee Rainforest Espresso
While the name says espresso, please bear in mind that Keurig machines don’t brew espressos – they brew full 8 ounce coffees. The reason they’re calling this pod an espresso is because the flavor is bold and strong and thus mimics that of an espresso shot.
If you have the Keurig K-Cafe model which also steams milk for lattes and cappuccinos, you may prefer to get this particular pod as the taste will be much closer to an espresso rather than from what you’d get with a different kind of K-Cup.
With that said, these pods contain 27% more coffee than a typical K-Cup, and the resulting flavor is smooth, rich, and does not leave a poor aftertaste in your mouth.
9. Wake The Hell Up! Dark Roast Ultra-Caffeinated K-Cups
Just looking at the name of this particular K-Cup, you’ve probably already guessed what this coffee is all about!
Wake The Hell Up! coffee is roasted in New York State in small batches. Small batches means more freshness for the coffee. It will never beat that of freshly roasted beans, but if you’re set on using pod brewers, this is the next best thing.
These are seriously caffeinated pods pushing out between 300-350 mg of caffeine per cup. This is double the typical caffeine content of 8 ounces of coffee.
It’s not as strong as Death Wish Coffee, but it’s actually a good middle ground. Someone may not be able to tolerate 4 times the caffeine in a single cup, but double the caffeine can be doable.
10. Use your own grounds in reusable K-Cups
Since you don’t have any control over the size of the grind and the kind of roast, one way to make really strong coffee is just to use reusable K cups and fill them up with whatever kind of coffee you want. To get the most flavor out of every extraction, remember to use a finer grind.
Coarse grinds don’t allow as much contact with water as fine grinds do, so the finer the grind, the more coffee flavor is extracted.
For a list of high caffeine coffee beans and grounds, check out this post.
How to make a strong cup of coffee with Keurig
Now that we’ve listed our favorite strong K cups, let’s dive a little into how you can make a really strong coffee with Keurig. Since Keurig machines are so automated, it’s really difficult to control the usual factors that influence the strength of coffee:
- grind size
- brewing time
- water temperature
To make a really strong cup of coffee with a Keurig, you need to be a little imaginative.
Option 1: Brew twice
If you feel the regular Keurig brew is watery and not at all flavorful, consider using two pods to brew a single cup of coffee. Once your coffee has brewed, just pour it back into the reservoir and brew it again with a fresh pod.
This will guarantee extra strong coffee, but there are a few drawbacks:
- Each cup of coffee will cost double the money
- You can only fill enough water in the tank for one cup, making the larger tank useless
- You may end up getting coffee residue in the tank and pipes, so you’ll have to clean the Keurig more often
Option 2: Adjust the temperature on your Keurig 2.0
If you have a Keurig 2.0, you can customize the temperature of the brew. You won’t be able to get it to exactly 205 degrees F, which is the ideal brewing temperature, but you’ll certainly be able to get very close to that and while it’s not ideal, it is a good alternative.
Option 3: Pre-heat your Keurig
Run a cycle of just water though your Keurig to get the tank nice and hot. Once you brew with just water, pop in a pod and brew again. The water will already be nice and hot and you’ll get a slightly stronger brew.
Option 4: Brew with less water
For super strong cups of Keurig coffee, we certainly advocate only brewing 6 ounces instead of 8 or10, since more water means more diluted coffee.
For even more intense coffee, you can remove your coffee mug before the last few drops of coffee are dispensed. Most of the brewing is completed in the first few ounces of coffee, and those are the most intense.
The remaining ounces are more diluted so by removing the mug from the brewer before ounces 5 and 6 are dispensed(for example) will give you a stronger brew in your hand.
Of course, this means wasting 2 ounces of coffee and having to clean your drip tray more often.
Keurig Coffee Too Strong: what to do
If you feel your Keurig coffee is too strong, then you have a few things that you can try to improve the flavor:
1. Brew the largest possible cup
You have the choice of cup size when you brew with a Keurig coffee machine. If you feel your regular cup size is too strong for you, just brew a bigger cup. So 10 ounces instead of your regular 6 ounces or 8 ounces, for example.
What this does is uses more water to extract flavor out of the same amount of grounds in the K Cup, so you’ll get a milder, more watery coffee.
2. Use lighter roasts
If 12 ounces of coffee seems like too much to drink, you can also try using lighter roasts, which have less intense flavor. I would still suggest playing around with the cup size to see which one produces a flavor that suits you the best.
Frequently asked questions
What is the strongest Keurig coffee?
If you’re looking for the strongest K-Cup with the most caffeine, Death Wish Coffee’s signature K-Cups are a bold dark roast with 4 times the amount of caffeine found in a typical cup of coffee.
How much coffee do you put in a K-Cup?
If you’re using a reusable K-Cup, you can put anywhere between 8-12 grams of coffee. To find what works best for you, start at 10 grams using your favorite ground coffee and work up or down to fine-tune.
Last update on 2024-04-06 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
