If you feel regular coffee isn’t strong enough to keep you awake and focused through the day, you might want to try a big cup of Death Wish. It’s advertised as the world’s strongest coffee and allegedly has 200% more caffeine that the average dark roast.
The name isn’t too encouraging for the faint-of-heart, but if you’re not too put off by it and the skull-and-bones logo on the pack, Death Wish may just become the best friend you could hope for. Upstate New York roaster Death Wish Coffee claims they have found a highly caffeinated bean that gives coffee that full Arabica flavor and double the buzz. The creators of this powerful roast explain that while Arabica coffee is smoother and more flavorful than the harsher Robusta variety, it also has a much lower caffeine content. Also, dark roast coffee is weaker than a light roast, because the longer you “cook” it, the more caffeine is pulled out. So while you’re favorite cup of joe might be strong in flavor, it probably has a very low caffeine content. After 5 years of having to tell sleepy customers who asked for a cup of their strongest coffee that their strongest tasting roasts were actually very low in caffeine, the makers of Death Wish went on a mission to find a special kind of coffee bean that had the full flavor of dark-roasted Arabica and the highest caffeine content possible. It seems they were successful.
Without revealing too much about this special kind of coffee, and its processing, the Death Wish Coffee Company says the organically-grown and fairly-traded coffee is roasted to a medium dark for a strong and robust flavor, and ground to the proper level for extreme potency. They are so confident that Death Wish is the strongest coffee in the world that they promise to buy the coffee back from you if you happen to find a stronger, more flavorful, organic coffee anywhere on the market. They also have 60-day 110% money back guarantee if you feel their roast isn’t up to your standards.
“This is not your regular morning coffee. This is not your store bought coffee. You will not find this coffee at your local diner or at your sissy Starbucks. Death Wish Coffee is the most highly caffeinated premium dark roast organic coffee in the world. This is Extreme Coffee, not for the weak. Consider yourself warned.” If this official disclaimer doesn’t scare you, be prepared to fork out $19.99 for a 1lb bag of Death Wish. It’s definitely not the cheapest coffee you can buy, but it’s nowhere near as pricey as the most expensive coffee in the world, which just happens to be made from elephant dung.
Time Magazine‘s Rebecca Nelson, “a former Starbucks barista who basically mainlined espresso shots night and day”, and thought coffee didn’t affect her tried two cups of Death Wish to test its 200% caffeine content. The 16oz of super-concentrated coffee gave her a big energy boost, but unfortunately, it was all condensed in just a few hours, after which she felt like she’d been awake for 36 hours straight. The Dropp‘s Mallory Winstead, on the other hand, said two cups of iced Death Wish coffee kept her energized for a whole day. She also commented on its rich aroma: “the fullness of the liquid was the first thing to hit my tongue. It was deep, rich and seemed to have layers of intensity. Since it was on ice, a cold rush of complex notes (almost nutty tasting) smoothly slid down my throat, waking me up instantly. The consistency seemed to be creamy even though it was completely unadulterated.”