If you’re looking for more ways to enjoy a cold cup of coffee during the warmer months of the year (or all year round), here’s another recipe to add to your list – New Orleans Iced Coffee.
We’ll cover a little about a certain ingredient that is added to coffee grounds to create New Orleans style coffee, then show you how you can make New Orleans Iced Coffee at home.
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(Click here to skip to the recipe.)
What is New Orleans style coffee?
What makes a cup of coffee New Orleans style is chicory. Adding ground chicory to coffee grounds and brewed with any method will result in a New Orleans style coffee.
You can drink it black, as chicory is known to cut down bitterness of coffee, or add a little coffee syrup or sugar. It is also commonly served Au Lait (translates to ‘with milk’ in French.)
Cafe du Monde is known for their coffee and chicory Cafe Au Lait, meaning half coffee and half milk. The iconic cafe located in New Orleans opened in 1862 serving dark roasted Coffee and Chicory served black or au lait and accompanied by beignets, which are powdered sugar covered French style donuts. Over 150 years later, you can still enjoy coffee and chicory and beignets at Cafe du Monde.
Read More: What is Caffe Misto/Cafe Au Lait?
But coffee and chicory share a history even farther back.
There are a few theories of when people started drinking chicory with coffee. According to Cafe du Monde, when coffee was scarce during the French civil war, chicory was added to coffee to add body and flavor. (Source: Cafe du Monde)
Others have theorized that the combination became popular in France in 1801 but began earlier in Holland. Just 35 years later, France would export millions of pounds of chicory. The French brought their coffee and chicory tradition to New Orleans when they founded the city in the early 1700s and the tradition has stuck since. (Source: Smithsonian Magazine)
What is chicory?
You’re probably wondering, what exactly is chicory? Chicory, also known as Cichorium intybus is a plant from the dandelion family. A variety of it produces endives, a leaf vegetable used for salads.
When the chicory roots are ground and added to coffee, as you’ll find out in this New Orleans Iced Coffee recipe, it cuts down bitterness and brings out the flavor of the coffee beans.
It also has plenty of health benefits:
- It can be beneficial for your gut
- Promotes healthy digestion
- Contains lots of nutrients
- May support weight loss and improve blood sugar control. (Source)
- It also does not contain any caffeine, so you can brew chicory like you would coffee for a coffee like caffeine free drink.
How to Make New Orleans Iced Coffee
You’ll need to purchase ground chicory and use your preferred dark roast coffee beans.
I also recommend the convenient Blue Bottle New Orleans-Style Iced Coffee Kit, which includes a 12 ounce bag of coffee beans and roasted chicory.
We’re making a cold brew style coffee concentrate, which means you’ll need to steep the coffee ground in water for at least 12 hours. But once you make it, you can store the concentrate and use it for about 6 cups of coffee (depending on how strong you like your coffee.)
New Orleans Iced Coffee Ingredients
- 1 cup coarsely ground coffee
- 1 tablespoon ground chicory
- 2 cups water
- Coffee syrup (optional, here’s how to make a simple syrup at home)
- Milk (or milk alternative of choice)
- Ice cubes
This ratio makes a cold brew coffee concentrate for about 6 cups of coffee. It could be more or less depending on how strong you prefer your coffee.
You’ll also need either a French press, jar, pot or Primula cold brew coffee maker to make the cold brew concentrate. Click here for details on how to make cold brew coffee with each method.
If you’re making your cold brew concentrate in a French press, this ratio fits in a liter (34 ounce) French press.
New Orleans Iced Coffee Step by Step Guide
Step 1
Grind coffee beans coarsely. I use a Hario burr grinder.
You can use any dark roast coffee.
Step 2
Add coffee, chicory and water to your container of choice. (Click here for a guide to making cold brew coffee 3 ways.)
Step 3
Close the container lid (French press, jar, pot cover) and let coffee and chicory steep in the water for at least 12 hours.
Step 4
Filter the coffee and store concentrate in a mason jar.
To drink, pour concentrate over ice, add milk, cream and or sweetener of choice.
New Orleans Iced Coffee Recipe
New Orleans Iced Coffee
Make a batch of this New Orleans style cold brew concentrate.
Materials
- 1 cup coarsely ground coffee
- 1 tablespoon ground chicory
- 2 cups water
- Coffee syrup (optional, here’s how to make a simple syrup at home)
- Milk (or milk alternative of choice)
- Ice cubes
Instructions
1. Grind coffee beans coarsely. I use a Hario burr grinder.
You can use any dark roast coffee.
2. Add coffee, chicory and water to your container of choice. (Click here for a guide to making cold brew coffee 3 ways.)
3. Close the container lid (French press, jar, pot cover) and let coffee and chicory steep in the water for at least 12 hours.
4. Filter the coffee and store concentrate in a mason jar.
To drink, pour concentrate over ice, add milk, cream and or sweetener of choice.
Notes
This ratio makes a cold brew coffee concentrate for about 6 cups of coffee. It could be more or less depending on how diluted you prefer your cold brew coffee.
You’ll also need either a French press, jar, pot or Primula cold brew coffee maker to make the cold brew concentrate. Click here for details on how to make cold brew coffee with each method.
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