Whether you already have a Keurig or thinking about getting one, you’ll love the fact that it is able to make Strong coffee. But the question is, what does the ‘Strong’ setting really do?
What Is The Strong Feature on a Keurig Coffee Brewer?
On some Keurig Brewers, you’ll find that there are adjustable parameters like temperature and coffee strength. But what does it really mean to increase to strength of a K-Cup pod? Since it’s an automatic machine and a pre-measured pod, it’s hard to understand how this feature works.
The Strong setting on your Keurig makes the taste of your coffee stronger simply by increasing the time it takes to brew the coffee.
How Does Keurig Make the Coffee Stronger?
On the regular setting, a cup will take less than a minute to brew. But when you choose Strong setting, it will increase the brew time to over 1 minute, which means the coffee ground steeps longer in water and therefore, you get a stronger tasting cup. To do this, the machine will release water in intervals instead of a stream to allow the ground to steep in water before it goes down to your cup.
Does Using the Strong Setting Mean More Caffeine in Your Coffee?
Will Strong Brew setting increase the amount of caffeine in your cup? No, since you’ll be using the same amount of coffee ground, the caffeine content won’t increase. But the taste will certainly be bolder.
What To Expect When Using the ‘Strong’ Button:
Using the Strong button or setting on a Keurig machine makes your coffee bolder by slowing the water flow through your pod. This means, the coffee is saturated with water for a longer time.
That said, you should expect your brew cycle to be longer. How much longer? This would depend on your brewer. It would add about an extra 20 to 30 seconds, others, a bit longer than that. The cup size you are brewing will contribute to that, too.
So if you regularly start using the Strong button and also notice that your brew is slowing down, don’t worry, that is part of the process.
Another thing to note is: The stream of water will come down in intervals and not all at once. That does not apply to all models., but it’s an important thing to keep in mind so you don’t think your machine is broken.
Keurig Brewers with Strong Brew feature:
Keurig Strength Settings vs. Strong Button
On some brewers, there’s a single ‘Strong button’ which is what I explained above. On other brewers like the K-Supreme Plus or K-Supreme Plus Smart or the K-Elite, there are multiple strength settings.
How Does Strength Settings Selection Work?
I am going to take the K-Supreme Plus SMART as an example here, because it has a variety of 5 strength settings:
Balanced – Rich – Robust – Strong and Intense.
How they work is, just like the single Strong Button, they increase the amount of time it takes to brew the coffee to steep the grounds longer.
| Brew Strength | Brew Time |
| Balanced | 1 minute |
| Rich | 1 minute 10 seconds |
| Robust | 1 minute 16 seconds |
| Strong | 1 minute 27 seconds |
| Intense | 1 minute 36 seconds |
So as you can see, it’s just a matter of increase brew time to increase the boldness of the coffee’s taste.
In brewers like K-Elite or K-Supreme Plus, you’ll find three adjustable settings for brew strength. Switching between those will only mean you are increasing the brew time to get a stronger tasting cup.
Related Posts:
Other Features on Keurig Brewers
