"Sheryl Rosen" > wrote in message
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| What exactly does chicory do for coffee?

I've heard many reasons it was added - was told it cut the bitterness of
cheap/less-than-great roasts, stretched the coffee so you would get more
from less beans (by adding in cheap grass), and that it is a flavor booster
to just plain coffee. Our Brit neighbors were surprised to find us drinking
a coffee cut with chicory (she did during WWII only because that was how it
was sold). Take a look at http://www.frenchmarketcoffee.com/chicory.html for
another explanation. It sounds like chicory lowers cholesterol, lowers blood
sugar, lowers your weight, cures diabetes, and the common cold ;-)

Aside from the marketing hype, the French Market brand (and to some extent,
the Louzianne brand - just not as good/rich tasting as FM) is rather strong
coffee (we use three heaping measures to 12 cups drip) and more to my liking
than any other coffee I've tasted. I've traveled all over the world and
loved the strong coffees of Venezuela and Argentina (two places I thought it
was the strongest), learned the hard way in Istanbul it really isn't 'good
to the last drop', and on a flight from Manila to Dubai that rich and dark
do not apply to all types of coffee.

If you are brave enough to try it, give it at least 3 tries before giving it
up. It is sort of acquired I think (I used to like weaker coffees like
Maxwell House or Folgers, but got stuck in South America for a couple months
and came back needing the strong stuff). Because you use much less of FM
than you would of Folgers, it really comes out costing less for me.