New Orleans Cold Brew Coffee Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is New Orleans style cold brew coffee? ›

Initially conceived as an alternative to the erratically composed and often disappointing iced latte, our New Orleans-style Iced Coffee is cold-brewed for 12 hours with roasted chicory and sweetened with organic cane sugar.

Put simply, New Orleans coffee is coffee that is infused with chicory root. The chicory root adds a little boost of flavor to the coffee, making it a bit richer, earthier, and nuttier. The chicory root is roasted and ground, much like coffee.

Coffee & Chicory is the traditional favorite of many a New Orleans native. The blends are best enjoyed with a dose of warmed milk in the “au lait” style. We mix estate-grade coffees with the highest quality French and/or American chicory to produce a traditional and distinctive flavorful beverage.

A café au lait is made up of strongly brewed coffee with milk. In New Orleans, we typically use ground coffee mixed with chicory when we brew it. You can brew the coffee in a traditional coffee machine (drip) or using a French press. And, once you have a strong, richly brewed coffee you mix it with steamed milk.

Dark roast coffee beans make the best cold brew because they give cold brew that deeper taste profile. The low acidity of dark roasts make for a smooth cold brew. Single origin beans are preferred because they also allow for the nuances of the bean to be experienced in all of their cold brew glory.

Roasted chicory root is bittersweet, and pairs well with dark roasted coffee. This tradition can be traced back to French New Orleans, who used chicory root to bolster their coffee supplies during the naval blockades of the American Civil War. The habit of adding it to coffee has stayed with the city ever since.

Try the specialty in New Orleans or prepare it at your own risk. Café Brulot Diabolique, or “Devilishly Burned Coffee,” was invented at Antoine's Restaurant in the late 1880s by Jules Alciatore, the son of the restaurant's founder.

Proudly Roasted in New Orleans

Folgers^® has been proud to call New Orleans home since we opened our roasters in the city in 1960. Since then, the passion of our people and the vibrancy of our community have shaped who we are today.

The root of the plant is roasted and ground. It is added to the coffee to soften the bitter edge of the dark roasted coffee. It adds an almost chocolate flavor to the Cafe Au Lait served at Cafe Du Monde. The Cafe Du Monde Coffee and Chicory is traditionally served Au Lait, mixed half and half with hot milk.

What is the quintessential New Orleans drink? ›

It is often used as a caffeine free coffee substitute due to its resemblance IN color and aroma to coffee. The perfect blend of chicory to coffee enhances coffee taste and aroma by imparting a slightly woody and nutty taste to the coffee. Chicory blend coffee is also economical when compared to 100 percent coffee.

Cold brewing extracts the delicious flavor compounds in coffee while it leaves behind the bitter oils and fatty acids (including some less desirable compounds such as ketones, esters, and amides) that get released during hot brewing. The result is a delicious tasting coffee.

For cold brew, we always use a 1:12 ratio (coffee:water). The grind size should be similar to that for pour-over or filter, about the same as coarse sand.

Cold-pressed espresso, reduced-fat frothed milk and cane sugar are the ingredients that make this drink uphold La Colombe's strict quality standards. The drink receives the injection of liquid nitrous oxide inside a “gasser-shaker,” where the can is shaken and injected at the same time to ensure stability.

Chef de Cuisine Marie Guevera of Birdy's Behind The Bower in New Orleans also describes the flavor of chicory-roasted NOLA coffee as "layered, bitter, botanical, and nutty."

The USDA Organic certified product uses a milk-heavy formulation that uses cold-brew coffee, chicory (hence the New Orleans style), and evaporated cane syrup.

The Takeaway

While traditional iced coffee is made by pouring hot-brewed coffee over ice, cold brew is made by steeping ground coffee in cold water for up to 24 hours before straining it. They're both delicious when made properly, so why not make room for both in your coffee routine?

Rook New Orleans Style Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate (118 ml) contains 0g total carbs, 0g net carbs, 0g fat, 0g protein, and 15 calories.