The coffee/chicory mixture probably began in Holland, but the drink wasn’t widely considered until 1801 when it was introduced to France by two men, M. Within decades, coffee houses arose in London, Amsterdam, Paris and other centers of global trade. Otto Wilhelm Thomé Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885, Gera, Germany via Wikimedia CommonsĬoffee, meanwhile, first came to European markets in the 17th century and quickly spread throughout the continent. (The term chicory is an anglicised French word, the original being chicoree.) The root traditionally was used on its own in tea or in medicinal remedies to treat jaundice, liver enlargement gout and rheumatism. Though the root has been cultivated since ancient Egypt, chicory has been roasted, ground and mixed with coffee in France since the 19th century. Café du Monde, as part of what has become a New Orleans tradition, makes their coffee with chicory, the root of a blue-flowered perennial plant. The coffee, however, won’t taste quite the same and its not because your stomach is reconfiguring itself in its post-Bacchanalian recovery. Mardi Gras revelers in New Orleans may be needing all sorts of hangover cures this week, and they couldn’t do better if they visited the legendary Cafe du Monde and ordered beignets and coffee.
