What’s your opinion about adding chicory to coffee? I know there’s a few places, like Café du Monde in New Orleans that offers coffee with chicory. It’s also sold as a mix in grocery stores in France.
I started trying it recently by adding a small teaspoon to my coffee in my French press and it gives a really smooth brew.
What do you think? Are you a purist? Have you tried it? What’s your opinion?
After having it in New Orleans, I find a little in the brew (10-15% of total weight of grounds) takes me back to that very lovely trip. Additionally I read that chicory is good for those with diabetes… and then stumbled upon something that blew my mind which is just how many different names and varieties exist that humans cultivate and eat regularly. Wild endive, radicchio, frisée, puntarelle, Belgian endive, and escarole are just the most popular. It’s also a prebiotic as I’ve been told.
I understand there’s social stigma around chicory in coffee because many considered it something only poor people used to stretch their coffee. I went into it blind of any history or context and found it enjoyable, so I’ve involved it in my coffee routines frequently. But everyone’s tastes are their own.
I do not understand it as a pure coffee replacement. A 100% chicory brew was not enjoyable for me personally.
What a fun city. Having lived in the South most of my life, I somehow associated it as not a great place to visit. I was so wrong. Yes, it’s a party city, but it’s so, so much more. The food is top notch, the gardens are beautiful, and where else in the south can you ride a cable car, as regular public transportation!
As for the coffee, yea the chicory was different, but it tasted good, added a bit of a root bear kind of taste, mildly pleasant. I wouldn’t drink it every day, I don’t like sweet coffee, but occasionally a nice treat. Coincidentally, I live in Chapel Hill now and the place up the street sells chicory coffee, both brewed and cold brew. It’s nice when, like you, I want to reminisce about that beautiful trip.
Cable cars are pulled by a cable like in San Francisco. New Orleans’ street Cars are powered by overhead electrical wires.