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My coffee maker has settings for strong, gourmet, and bold. Which would brew the strongest coffee?

moscafj
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Amber
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    What is the brand and model? Can you post a picture? – moscafj Jul 07 '19 at 13:13
  • according to the 3 settings, i assume "strong" would make the strongest coffee ? – Max Jul 07 '19 at 14:15
  • It just goes to show that the marketing department shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the UI labelling :\ It's like trying to order a small in McDonald's. – Tetsujin Jul 07 '19 at 14:38
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    Interesting. From what I understand, you make stronger coffee by having a higher ratio of coffee to water. Without knowing what the different settings do, I don't think we can answer this question. I found a Farberware model with these settings. Page 11 of the manual explains the difference between them. [PDF of manual](http://cdn.spectrumbrands.com/~/media/HobbsUS/Farberware/Files/Product%20Manuals/103744%20Use%20and%20Care%20Manual.pdf) – Catija Jul 07 '19 at 15:40
  • Related: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/20196/33128 – Catija Jul 07 '19 at 15:41
  • According to the PDF @Catija posted, bold and gourmet setting use the highest ratio of coffee to water. The difference between the two programs is less clear. IF this is your appliance, and I am reading the manual correctly, I would suggest that bold and gourmet are strongest, and you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the two. – moscafj Jul 08 '19 at 00:15
  • In one machine I know, where the coffee is pre-measured, "strong" appears to be a synonym for "slow". The water is in contact with the grounds for longer in an attempt to extract more flavour. – Chris H Jul 08 '19 at 05:31
  • Can't you make one of each and taste them? That'd be far easier than asking us – Luciano Jul 09 '19 at 10:01

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That depends on what you mean for strong.

Straing in flavor:

If you mean strong in flavor than you need to set the machine to a "fast" brew (Espresso in Italian).

The flavor gets extracted almost immediately from the grounds upon contact with water. You can visually judge how strong it is by the color: the darker the stronger. So the settings on your machine should be to use little water.

High in coffein:

If you mean high in coffein, than you need longer brew-time to extract this substance. As a rule of thumb the extraction is proportional to the time water stays in contact with coffee.

For coffee machines this means more water running through the grounds.

Note on "Fast Brew":

By "fast" I mean that it takes little time to make the coffee and not that the water runs faster through the grounds. The water runs always with same velocity, therefore if you use more water you'll wait more for your coffee. It takes less to make an espresso than to make an american coffee, obvioulsly.

Espresso vs American Coffee:

  • Italian Espresso: strong in flavor
  • Cup of american coffee: taste is deluted compared to Espresso but amount of coffein can be 8-10 times higher.
Francesco Zambolin
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