My mom grew up in the Depression era rural south, and her mom sometimes made Chicory coffee. Although we mostly associate Chicory coffee
with New Orleans, beignets, and Café Du Monde, it began as an economic substitute for coffee when it was too expensive, or too difficult to import because of blockades and war. The people of Louisiana brought Chicory with them from France by way of Acadia, and popularized it as a coffee substitute during the Civil war. Chicory coffee is made from the roasted root of the Chicory plant (Cichorium intybus); you've seen Chicory, and probably thought it was a wildflower; it has fairly long stems, with a multi-petaled lavender-blue flower that looks, roughly, like a daisy. Chicory was imported in the eighteenth century by European colonists, who used the perennial for cattle feeding and home remedies, and ate it themselves; Chicory is a cousin of
The Chicory plant has very long tap roots; it's a cousin of the endive and radicchio families, and it's currently quite fashionable in Europe to serve medieval style salads with young Chicory leaves, and the root gently boiled and sautéed with vinegar. To make Chicory coffee, you roast the root, then chop it very finely and add it to your freshly ground coffee. Chicory coffee is very much an acquired taste; it's a bit sharp in flavor, and you never want to cut the real coffee by more than say 30% or so. That said, there are people who make pure Chicory "coffee"— it has no caffeine at all, and, according to folklore, is a good "tonic" when not used in excess.
To make good Chicory coffee, you need to begin with a really good, fresh, French roast. You add the roasted and finely chopped Chicory root to the coffee then brew it as usual. New Orleans style Chicory coffee is made with 1/3 Chicory to coffee. Most people serve Chicory coffee au lait, with equal amounts of hot milk and coffee. In part that's because the milk tames the natural almost bitter-chocolate quality of the Chicory. Chicory coffee tends to be a little darker in color, and a little thicker in texture; it's the Guinness of coffee. If you're interested in growing and making your own Chicory blend,Hank Shaw's been there done that already, and tells you how. For those of us who are less adventurous, you can buy Chicory, as well as Chicory coffee online.