Cafe Noir: new Orleans well kept secret!

A unique coffee from USA's more delightful city! 

It is a fact that the US is not famous for their coffee - most American fast-food movies come to mind, serving endless amounts of filter coffee or large chains known for their multi-calorie drinks. However, a country as vast as the US, a true melting pot of cultures and trends, could not hide its surprises from the coffee world - coffee in New Orleans, the beautiful city of the South, is one of those surprises.

New Orleans coffee, Café Noir as it is known, is known for its dark color, its special texture and its distinctive taste that brings to mind chocolate and caramel. Its characteristics owe it to a "secret" ingredient: Chiccory, the plant that gives New Orleans coffee its distinctive character.

Chiccory (ichorium intybus), and more specifically its dried root, has been used as a coffee substitute for many years because of its taste and texture, reminiscent of strong coffee but without caffeine. In the past, coffee was mixed with chicory in order to distort and reduce its cost. New Orleans Harbor has been a major coffee import center for North America in the past - and thus a key fodder center. Although there are no such practices today, locals have become accustomed to the taste of this particular blend, turning it into a local specialty and not easily changing it.

Particularly central to the establishment of Café Noir as New Orleans' local specialties, of course, played a café in the city's French Market, the 18th-century Café Du Monde, which is renowned for its fine coffee and its local delicacies, beignets. The 24-hour Café du Monde café, a popular tourist attraction, is mixed with chicory and available for sale in elegant vintage yellow cans.

You don't have to go to New Orleans or order specialty blends from America to taste an authentic Café Noir - with or without milk, since you can very easily prepare it at home.

What do you need for a New Orleans Café Noir?

• 4 tablespoons of ground coffee
• 2 tablespoons of ground chicory
• a pinch of salt

How is Café Noir prepared?

• Mix coffee, chicory and salt
• Prepare the coffee in a dripper or a glass pour over coffee maker
• Serve hot, with some milkh and sugar at will

Tips for fine cups of Café Noir!

• If you want milk in your coffee, it is a good idea to add a little concetrated milk as this is how Café Noir was traditionally served in New Orleans.
• Salt is unnecessary, as it was an old addition that mitigated the bitterness of poor quality coffee reaching New Orleans. However, it is part of the traditional taste of Café Noir and worth experimenting with.
• Ground Chickory root will be found in health food stores as a substitute for coffee.
• Prefer dark roasted blends that look more like those used in old New Orleans.
• In New Orleans coffee shops, coffee is brewed in large quantities on electric filter machines, but with a dripper or pour over coffee maker you will have better extraction control and a stronger aroma.
• Coffee for dripper or pour over coffee maker should be relatively coarse.
• Traditionally, Café Noir is served with beignets, a type of local donut. We can accompany him with small donuts.

Isn't it amazing how far coffee can travel us? Put on some jazz, turn down the lights, and two mugs of Caffe Noir will take you to the other side of the world!