Before going to New Orleans, I had never tasted chicory coffee and didn't even have a very good idea of what it actually was. Its taste can be pretty polarizing, and yet chicory coffee is served in some of the best restaurants in Louisiana. Ever tried it?
This coffee is made from the root of the endive plant, the same endive that we eat in salads. The root is roasted, ground, and blended with actual coffee. It adds body to the coffee and is said to mellow out coffee's bitter edge, though the coffee I tried still tasted plenty bitter to me!
This tradition of blending chicory with coffee is not unique to New Orleans alone. It's been done in Canada, France, India, and Southeast Asia, both because the flavor was preferred and also to stretch out supplies of coffee (which was more expensive and often scarce).
The flavor of chicory coffee is...unique. Personally, I thought it was less robust than the coffee that I'm used to. Lighter in body and a touch more acidic. There was a citrus quality that gave the coffee a brightness. Other people describe this as a bitter chocolate flavor.
I liked it black, but adding a generous pour of milk definitely helped mellow out the flavors. The famous Café du Monde French Market Coffee Stand recommends serving it au lait style, half chicory coffee and half steamed milk. With a beignet on the side, of course.
For another perspective on chicory coffee, take a look at Chez Pim's visit to Café du Monde:
• Café du Monde’s beignets: how many ways can you say fabulous? from Chez Pim
Do you like chicory coffee? How would you describe its flavor?
Related: How to Brew Coffee with a Chemex Coffee Maker
(Images used with permission from Pim Techamuanvivit of Chez Pim)
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Hard to describe. The first taste can be 'put-offish' when you're mindset is standard coffee. After you get to know it and especially in context at Cafè du Monde, there is no substitue.
I have never been able to duplicate it at home - dammit.
The ONLY way to make Cafe Sua Da is to use Cafe du Monde (at least in Houston it is). Yum yum yum I'm making some now.
I've been thinking of doing this if only because chicory has many health benefits and I drink entirely too much coffee. I've had a tea called 'the decaffeinator' that has chicory in it, and I like it! Bitter, but it's as dark as coffee is, smells good and tastes remarkably similar.
Chicory coffee, like burning sugar cane fields or boiling pots of crawfish, has an aroma that is distinct to Louisiana.
Thank you for this series of articles about New Orleans cuisine... they make home seem a bit less far away.
I have been trying to wean myself from the caffeine habit too, and recently discovered a chicory tea called Roastaroma (Celestial Seasonings). It is perfect for when I want a coffee, but don't want to stay up all night long...
agreed, tinyviolin!
Odd you found it lighter tasting. Most people I know who have never tried it before compare it to black tar since its so dark! Some friends have said its so pungent and bitter to them and requires more sugar. I grew up with it, so I love coffee with chicory. I find it leaves a very distinct coffee taste in your mouth long after you drink it.
This kinds of alternative coffees are popular in Italy, chicory+barley+real coffee was a must of my grandma.
Barley coffee alone is very popular here when you want to drink something which looks like a coffee but it's coffeine free (children can drink it freely).
This is the type of coffee that is had in South India! It is doused in tons of milk, and with the milk I feel as though the chicory rounds out the flavor a bit.
I love the coffee at Cafe du Monde! I first went there when I was 10 and traumatized the waitress by ordering coffee after coffee after coffee. She kept asking my dad if it was okay for me to drink that much coffee and even offered to bring me chocolate milk instead, but I was in love!
When I was a kid we'd frequently drive from upstate NY to New Orleans to visit transplanted relatives. As we got increasingly restive on Day 2 of that drive, good behavior was enforced by dangling a stop at Cafe du Monde BEFORE going to our aunt's house. We were Italian coffee-drinking children and the promise of those beignets with a mug of that chicory cafe au lait is all that kept us from killing each other in the back seat.
Want. Some. Now. (plus the beignets of course)
CDM, baby! in my freezer and in my mug every morning. i like it black, too, emma.
Of all the wonderful things I had in New Orleans (and it is, of course, a long list), the cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde was my favorite. The beignets helped, of course, but that coffee...mmmm!
Yes, I love chicory coffee too. I am going to NOLA tomorrow and I cannot wait to drink it (and bring back some with me).
I just bought my first can of Cafe Du Monde chickory coffee a week or so ago, and I admit that I chose it because I wanted to use the fun, retro-looking tin to hold some utensils in my kitchen. I too found my first cup off-puttingly bold and bitter, but I ended up falling in love with it soon after that. It's now a treat that I look forward to every morning. I've also heard that it tastes really good cold-brewed, so I'll be trying that soon as well.