New Orleans Coffee and Chicory

New Orleans is a coffee town, they take their coffee very seriously, so for my post I decided to ask the good folks at Mr. Lake's NonPompous New Orleans Food Forum, most of which are locals, how they like their Coffee and Chicory. It seems the local brands of choice are Community, Union, and Cafe du Monde (CDM). As far as Coffee Stands, although everyone likes Cafe du Monde, the real fondness and nostalgia seems to be for the Morning Call coffee stands. My friends M.A. and S.A. over at The Wreckroom drink Community Coffee and prefer Morning Call as well. Morning Call is no longer in the French Quarter, but they have 2 locations in Metarie. Here is the info:

MORNING CALL COFFEE STAND
3325 Severn Ave., Metairie 885-4068
4436 Veterans Memorial Blvd. (Clearview Mall), Metairie 779-5348

If you've never been to New Orleans, they love their coffee strong! Real strong. JDM from Mr. Lake's describes the coffee best with a traditional Cajun French rhyme:

Noir comme le Diable;
Fort comme la Mort;
Doux comme l'Amour;
Et chaud comme l'Enfer.

English Translation:

Black as the Devil;
Strong as Death;
Sweet as Love;
And hot as Hell.

Thanks to everyone at Mr. Lakes for sharing all of the great info! Here is a link to the thread.

The classic way to make a good cup of Coffee and Chicory, or Cafe Noir, is with an Old- Fashioned drip Coffee pot, or Biggin. The object is to get all of the flavor out of the beans and Chicory, and into the coffee. Here is how I make Cafe Noir.

Cafe Noir

Here is the ratio I use, I think it's pretty standard, if I'm wrong please say so in the comment section:

For every 1 Cup of water
1 Heaping Tablespoon of drip ground Coffee and Chicory
(Mr. Lake suggests adding a pinch of salt to the ground coffee)

Place the coffee in a drip style coffee pot, lined with a filter. Starting with cold water, bring the water just to a boil. Pour a small amount over the grounds, just enough to moisten them. Add about 1/2 cup of or so of water at a time, do not add more until the previous addition has completely dripped through. Continue until you've used the remaining water. Serve.
You can keep the coffee hot in a Carafe or in a Bain Marie on the stove.

Now that you have a nice cup or pot of Cafe Noir, you can either add milk or half & half, and or sugar, or you can make Cafe au Lait.

Cafe au Lait

Cafe au Lait is nothing more than equal parts of scalded milk (Milk brought just to a boil) and Cafe Noir, sugar optional. The classic presentation is two pots, one with coffee, one with milk, poured into the cup at the same time in one long stream.

Serve Cafe au Lait with the classic accompaniment Beignets.

Side note - Don't try to order a Cafe au Lait outside of New Orleans. Chuck Taggart's rant on Coffee house Cafe au Lait at The Gumbo Pages is right on the money.

Future coffee post....the show stopping Cafe Brulot.