Caffeine Corner
Java. Mud. Cup o’ joe. Go-go juice. Ink. Dishwater. Whatever you wish to call it, it’s one of America’s favorite beverages. I, for one, can hardly start my day without a mug full of it. With cream. And just enough sugar to give it a hint of sweetness. However, my wife and I gave up on most store bought brands like Foldgers and Maxwell House long ago. A couple of years ago we stumbled across an online source for good coffee called The Coffee Fool which roasts your order and sends it fresh (I recommend trying their “Snoodle-Doodle,” “Fool’s House American,” “Velvet Hammer” and “Tropical Vanilla” among others they offer). There are several online sources for coffee that does it this way and I’m sure they’re quite good, too however we came across this one, are happy with it and will continue to purchase fine coffees from them.
Anyway, my wife and I both grew up not too far from New Orleans and both our families took us on trips there. Now although I wasn’t much of a coffee drinker as a teenager (my brother on the other hand got hooked on coffee before he reached the age of 10) I developed a taste for coffee while in college (big shock there, huh?). My wife, on the other hand, drank coffee regularly while in high school (although her first taste was after Hurricane Camille in 1969 when she was 6 years old - the only drinkable liquid they had available as they stayed out of the floodwaters on the roof of the family car for two days was a thermos of black coffee). We both really liked New Orleans style coffee which is a blend of coffee beans (usually Arabica) and chicory. Now chicory is the roasted root of the endive plant that when brewed with coffee beans produces a very robust and rich coffee with less caffeine than normal coffee due to the fact that chicory has no caffeine. During World War II, when coffee was rationed, it wasn’t uncommon for some families to substitute brewed chicory for coffee. This practice has been dated back to the middle ages in Europe.
At some point, both my wife and I really got hooked on New Orleans style coffee with chicory. It’s easy to find back on the Mississippi Gulf Coast but not over here in our part of Florida. Especially the brands we liked most; Community, CDM and RT. Admittedly, the Community Coffee brand is sold in some of the stores in this part of Florida but not the types we prefer, especially the New Orleans Blend and the Medium-Light Roast. I haven’t seen CDM and RT coffees anywhere around here. I know I could attempt to special order them via the local grocery stores. At least I could try. I found out long ago that getting something special ordered through the local grocery stores (especially Publix) is like forcing a congresscritter to admit he lied under oath. You can try, but it very rarely happens successfully. Fortunately there are several online shops that carry the Louisiana coffees we like and from time to time we order some, but what we usually do is stock up in a big way whenever we go back to Mississippi to visit my inlaws. The last time we were there visiting, we stopped by the closest Winn Dixie grocery store and I loaded up on the Louisiana coffees. A bunch of those one-pound vacuum packs. So many that when I was taking them from the cart to the conveyor belt at the checkout register, a man behind me asked me humorously if I was planning on staying awake for a long stretch of time. I laughed and explained that where we lived, we can’t get this sort of stuff (my wife and I also picked up a lot of cajun spices, creole canned beans and other items that are completely unavailable in this part of Florida).
So for the time being, we still are amply stocked with the Louisiana coffees we enjoy along with some specialty coffees we purchased a while back from The Coffee Fool. We will continue to get our caffeine fixes through the beverages we have chosen and we will continue to enjoy them. If you’ve never tried coffee with chicory, just go and do a keyword search and you’ll find plenty of online vendors who’d be more than happy to sell you some. Give ‘em a try sometime, coffee lovers.
Lagniappe time: There is a special variation of coffee with chicory that is well loved in New Orleans called café au lait. It’s common to enjoy it with beignets for breakfast (Café du Monde is a nice place to get both). If you’d like to make café au lait at home, here’s a quick and easy recipe. If you don’t have coffee with chicory handy, substitute regular coffee. It’s still quite good that way, too. Enjoy.
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