“c’est fort de café !” means “it’s over the top!” or simply “it’s too much!”. This idiom is a way of saying something is excessive or exaggerated. It translates literally as “it’s strong of coffee” (or “this coffee is strong!”) and comes from a 17th century expression “c’est trop fort,” meaning literally “it’s too strong,” with the same sense of being excessive or exaggerated. In the 19th century, other variants appeared, such as “c’est fort de chicorée !” (referring to chicory, often used as a coffee substitute) or “c’est fort de moka” (referring to the French word for mocha, the coffee variant that includes some chocolate).

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