The strongest coffee on the planet

by Justin Rossouw
(Johannesburg, South Africa)

QUESTION:

Good day

After repeatedly seeing the attached on my Facebook feed, I decided to leave a comment on their page on Friday along the lines of:

"By 'strongest' you probably mean caffeine per cup. That should make it a light roast which will be smooth instead of the espresso-like bitterness that most coffee would expect."

They almost immediately responded that I must have a problem with them as a brand and in no uncertain terms told me to f*** off!! (Without giving me a chance to respond, they deleted my comment as well as their response.)

A couple of questions then:

1. Was there anything wrong in my original comment?

2. Can we count on the general coffee drinking population to know what to expect when buying a product advertised like this? I've since spoken to quite a few people and asked them about what they would associate "strong" with in this instance an all of them said that they'd expect an espresso-like taste. (Or as someone said, a neat whiskey shot)

3. I feel like I can't leave things like this as there's been a company selling coffee making the same claim a couple of years ago. I asked the same question then and I was told I was right by the company themselves. Are they being "clever" in their advertising knowing what people expect and giving them something different?

Thanks for your response in advance,

Regards,

Justin Rossouw


ANSWER:

Justin, hi

Good catch!

And you’re right. Lighter roasts have more caffeine and more of a kick. Darker roasts “feel” stronger and taste stronger, but actually contain less caffeine.

So… with these psycho guys… it’s all about the marketing. It’s the drama.

You can tell by the text and images on their Facebook page.

I tried going to their website, but my McAfee security software blocked their site because it was “very risky”!

Guys like this come and go. They make their money and then fade away.

Not serious coffee people!

Best wishes,

Nick

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