Trying Chicory - New Orlean's Style Coffee

You might have heard about "chicory" especially when you visit Southern US.  I first tried chicory in New Orleans where chicory coffee is famous for.  Chicory is quite a delicacy that goes well and along with coffee.

Picture from Cafe Du Monde, New Orleans, where they are famous for their chicory coffee

Chicory is herbaceous plant with bright blue flowers originated in Europe and common in North America and Australia.  The roots of the plant is baked, ground and used to drink as coffee substitute or mixed with coffee.  (My personal preference is to mix with coffee.) Chicory is consumed with coffee in Mediterranean, India and Southeast Asia and very commonly in Southern US and New Orleans.   In history, chicory was substitute for coffee in prison in the US; during civil war, coffee was cut off the port of New Orleans which created the tradition. Sad history aside, now New Orleans’s style coffee is very popular and quite a delicacy.  I love their style coffee, and here is my attempt to try out their style coffee at home.

You have probably seen a can of Café Du Monde Coffee mix in some grocery store (Southeast Asian grocery shop tends to have this very often). Café Du Monde is famous for their beignets and the coffee and chicory.   The picture above is my picture of their beignets and chicory coffee when I visited New Orleans.  (Oh boy, it was good!)

Cafe Du Monde mix sold at Japanese Grocery Store Uwajimaya in Beaverton, OR

I thought of trying out Chicory at home to see if I can recreate the New Orleans drink at home. There are some chicory available through Amazon but what I tried was Orleans Coffee's 100% French Chicory directly shipped from New Orleans.  Here are pictures of un-boxing Orleans Coffee's 100% French Chicory.    The one I got was 1 lbs bag; with shipping it costs me $15.45.

The ordinarily box shipped via FedEx

Packed with paper packing

Here is how it looks.  It looks pretty good

Backside doesn't have any writings

Comes with one way valve which is always nice.

Opening the package

Here is how it looks.  I am already enjoying the aroma

When I ordered online, I asked them if they can ship chicory without grinding them, but they did not do that; that is ok.

Chicory is supposed to be brewed with coffee rather than roasting together.  What I tried was to boil milk with chicory and coffee (like Café au lait style).  I first tried with couple of spoons, and it was too much and become very spicy.  After few attempts, I found out that that about half of tea spoon of chicory with one cup of milk and coffee is what I liked.  This way, the coffee is dominant flavor with just a hint of spiciness from chicory.

My attempt was surely a success. I am enjoying my New Orleans style coffee at home with vivid image in my mind of streets of New Orleans.

Picture of New Orleans morning

Double Shot French Press (14 Oz) - Dream mug for a coffee lover

You are going to love this if you love coffee. Here is un-boxing of 14 oz. Double Shot French Press - Green!   There are two secrets to this amazing mug.  You see below...

Double Shot French Press (14 Oz)

Since I took too many pictures, I am going to narrate in each image to explain about how awesome this travel mug is.

Box from Amazon

It is well packed with light air package.

It is already looking good.

Un-covering

Here are the lid and the body.

and here is the first secret.  This works as french press!  It is a travel mug which you can have french press.  How smart!

This is the filter which presses down the coffee

Nice Fine Mesh

Instructions

More Instructions

and here is the second secret

  The bottom comes off!! It's like the one in a spy movie and hide diamond in this to smuggle on airplane...

and what is inside?

It is a container to keep fresh coffee (or diamond) for your second cup!!

I have been using this every day, and loving it. It has great insulation  to keep heat pretty well so the coffee lasts longer.

If you are interested in getting one, here is a link from Amazon where I got mine.

Un-Boxing Starbucks Reserve Online

Earlier I posted about my visit to Starbucks Reserve in Seattle, and I truly enjoyed their new attraction and the coffee they serve.  I found out that they sell their coffee online, so I thought I would try out and see how it goes.

What I found out after ordering online is that they do not deliver the coffee right away like other online retailer.  Their current model is subscription model where they send freshly roasted coffee every month. So I was opted to receive the coffee the next month without not knowing it.  (Maybe I didn't pay too much attention when ordering online.)  After a month of the order (I almost forgot about the fact that I ordered), I received an email from Starbucks saying that the coffee was just roasted, and it is now on its way to me. That is nice. I only subscribed for one month (one order), but it would be nice to receive freshly roasted coffee every month.

Email from Starbucks Reserve telling me that the coffee is on my way.

Two days later I receive the box in mail.

Here is the box received.

I do like their design with black and gold.

The box is pretty elegant looking and with their signature design of Star over R.  The color of black and gold make it look very authentic.

Here are pictures of un-boxing Starbucks Reserve Coffee Online!

Opening the box.

Box opens nicely from the side.

It is almost like a jewelry box; nicely done.  The coffee and the little card fits perfectly.

And here is the coffee.  I selected Kenya.

There are some wordings on the side.

Here is the coffee, and I like the card explaining about the coffee.

Here is the back of the coffee, and the roasted date is printed on the bag and matches with the date I received the email.

When I smelled the coffee from the one-way valve of the bag, the faint smell of the rich coffee is just to die for. The coffee; however, did not retain much of the gorgeous aroma when I brew them.  The aroma is too faint to remain when brewing, which is too bad.  I may need to skill up how I brew the coffee so that I can retain the aroma more.

Starbucks Reserve coffee is now sold in Starbucks store too.

I notice that the Starbucks Reserve coffee beans are now sold at the shelf of regular Starbucks. I did not see Kenya which I ordered online, but the price of the items in the store is a bit cheaper than buying online, but the experience of purchasing online process was something I did enjoy.

Search for A Perfect Coffee Gift Bag - Part 4 (Sweet Marias Clear Valv Coffee Bag)

As I look for a perfect coffee gift bags, this one caught my attention from Sweet Maria's. This one is one version up from their paper gift bag which I reviewed earlier.

This coffee bag made of plastic only comes in one size; 1/4 lbs size which is $0.50 each.Using Nesco CR-1010-PRR Coffee Bean Roaster, 800-watt, the bag is big enough to contain 1 roasts each bag and a pot for myself to try.  

I like the simplicity of how it looks.

The little cut is nice, but I don't have an equipment to seal completely...

This does look nice as gift!