Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
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THERE ARE ALL KINDS of things we associate with New Orle- ans—Mardi Gras, creole food, Saints football. After all, this is a city vibrant with culture and steeped in history. It is, in fact, so embedded in the history of coffee specifi cally that NOLA has its own epony- mous coffee drink: a creamy chicory-and-coffee beverage histori- cally served hot, often with a mountain of powdered-sugar-dusted beignets on the side. The drink, however, was more nostalgic than trendy, in a Mint Julep kind of way. That all changed in 2011, however, when Blue Bottle Coffee Roasters released its New Orleans Iced Coffee in adorable little grade-school milk cartons. Suddenly, New Orleans–style coffee was back, and this time it was taking a lead from the rising tide of cold brew, which, at that time was considered a trend. Today, as we know, it's become a standard. Most cities don't have their own claim-to-fame coffee drink—what would a cold-brew drink unique to Denver or Charlotte look like? Although the basic recipe for the NOLA coffee is simple, its roots and evolution are anything but straightforward. In this installment of our cold-brew series, we explore the history of New Orleans iced coffee, jumping all over the world to fi nd its origins, and chronicle how it's changed on its journey to becoming one of the most popular cold- brew drinks today. What is chicory? You've probably heard of chicory, but if you're like lots of folks, you don't know exactly what it is. It starts as a root that is grown in Bel- gium and France and then baked and roasted before being added to coffee. Chicory encompasses a whole family in the plant kingdom, and its leaves are commonly used in salads, like endive or radicchio. The root is not only utilized in coffee, but can be added to beers— stouts mostly—since the fl avor is meant to complement the coffee nuances for which stouts are known. Because it's relatively easy to grow, chicory was widely used to extend the life of the expensive coffee crop starting in France in the 1800s after Napoleon's embargo, the Continental System, against Britain, suddenly limited imports of green coffee. To stretch the little that they had, people began mixing their meager amounts of coffee with chicory, which was a native plant to the country anyway. In fact, drinking an entirely chicory brew instead of coffee was not uncommon. "Although he did not invent the use of chicory as a coffee substitute," Antony Wild writes in his book, Coffee: A Dark History, "Napoleon embraced it warmly as the Continental System's answer to the coffee problem. He effectively decreed that chicory should be welcomed as a perfectly acceptable coffee substitute…" After the Continental System ended in 1812, the French continued adding chicory to their coffee, and the tradition carried on to soldiers during war times when coffee was diffi cult to come by. In turn, United States soldiers during the Civil War took to the practice, as well. It didn't stick though, except in one part of the country that was particu- larly infl uenced by the French—New Orleans, of course. That's where NOLA's and chicory's stories become intertwined, thanks to those French colonial roots. The French would import coffee into the trade city, and after the Boston Tea Party in 1773, Americans were forced to drink coffee—and develop a preference for it—soon thereafter. The French would import coffees from Haiti and Cuba into New Orleans, and by 1840 the Port of New Orleans the was sec- ond-largest coffee importing station in the United States. Chicory wasn't the only thing coffee-strapped drinkers put in their coffee to stretch it out, however. Acorns, beets, parsnips, and even burnt sugar were common additives to coffee during shortages. Only in New Orleans, however, did the practice of adding chicory carry on beyond rationing and war times, with locals citing the "tradition" of adding chicory as a reason to keep it going. A New Orleans institution When you think of coffee and New Orleans, the iconic Café Du Monde likely comes to mind. The famed French Quarter landmark founded in 1862 has remained open 24-hours-a-day, pretty much since the beginning. At Café Du Monde, patrons can sit outside, eat- ing beignets and drinking café au lait made with dark-roasted coffee mixed with chicory. "Growing up in New Orleans, everyone was in to three things: coffee, booze, and great food," says Demian Estevez, owner of Mojo Coffee Roasters in New Orleans. Besides Café Du Monde, locals like Demian remember Morning New Orleans Iced Coffee NEW ADVENTURES IN COLD BREW: By Ashley Rodriguez 80 barista magazine