I love coffee

New Orleans’ Cafe du Monde: A Taste of History

Cafe du Monde in the French Quarter of New Orleans. (photo by Tui Snider)

New Orleans’ Cafe du Monde: A Taste of History

When you enjoy a cup of chicory-laced coffee and a plate of beignets at New Orleans’ famous Cafe du Monde (800 Decatur St, New Orleans), you’re ingesting a bit of history along with your sugar and caffeine. Coffee played a big role in New Orleans’ history, and at one point in the 1800’s there were nearly 500 coffeehouses in the French Quarter. Cafe du Monde is the sole survivor from that era, with a menu that is virtually unchanged since it first opened in 1862.

Coffee and beignets at Cafe du Monde. (photo by Tui Snider)

Why do they put chicory in their coffee?

During the Civil War, when coffee supplies grew low, the people of New Orleans experimented with all sorts of fillers (such as peanuts and pecan shells) to stretch their dwindling coffee supply.

Adding the roasted root of wild endive (a.k.a. chicory) to coffee is an idea the Acadians from Nova Scotia introduced. To this day, chicory remains a popular coffee additive in New Orleans because, unlike the other supplements, it imparts an enjoyable flavor to coffee, and tones down its bitter notes. Chicory is also purported to have many health benefits, such as: lowering bad cholesterol, balancing blood sugar, supporting healthy liver function, and increasing bone density.

Tray of coffee and beignets at Cafe du Monde. (photo by Tui Snider)

What is a beignet?

A beignet (pronounced ben-yay) is a deep-fried dough ball doused with powdered sugar. They are reminiscent of an Italian zeppole, and just a little bit like an American donut hole – only different. The cafe sells beignet mix, but I think they are best enjoyed in context, sitting at the bustling open-air Cafe du Monde and enjoying the ambiance of the French Quarter.

Cafe du Monde kitchen. (photo by Tui Snider)

When to visit Cafe du Monde?

Cafe du Monde is open 24/7, so if you’ve been barhopping, it’s a great place to wind down before heading back to your hotel. Even waiting in line for the bathroom is entertaining, since you have to stand right in the kitchen. It’s a hive of activity with the sizzle of frying dough and the wait staff dashing around in their paper hats. For a truly magical experience, head to Cafe du Monde shortly before sunrise, when the place is nearly empty, then listen to the birds, watch the sun come up and sip your coffee as the city shakes itself awake.

What about the long lines at Cafe du Monde?

As I mentioned in Stretching Your Travel Dollar in New Orleans, you shouldn’t let the long lines at Cafe du Monde scare you off. Not only is the place teeming with waitstaff, but they are used to crowds and the line moves quickly. Plus, they only serve a few items here (beignets, coffee, orange juice, milk, hot chocolate and soda), so it doesn’t take long for your order to arrive. There are three other locations in town, as well. One is located in the Riverwalk Mall and offers great views of the Mississippi and a laid back vibe for those times when you really want your beignet fix, but you also want to relax and maybe write a postcard or two.

Want to read more?

To read about more weird, offbeat, and overlooked places, check out my best selling travel guide: Unexpected Texas.
For ghost hunting hot spots, check out my best selling travel guide to haunted places: Paranormal Texas.
For a strange-but-true tale of Texas history, check out: The Lynching of the Santa Claus Bank Robber. Happy travels!

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Tui Snider having fun on a Texas road trip!

2 Ways To Brew Coffee While Traveling

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Tasty espresso at a McDonalds in Europe - what a surprise! Photo by Tui Cameron

Perhaps it’s because all 3 of us have roots in Washington State, the birthplace of Starbucks, but fellow bloggers, MJ and Jessica have both written about the difficulty of finding a tasty cup of coffee while traveling.

MJ found a handheld espresso maker called the Handspresso that looks really good. At $100 it seems pricey, but a true coffee junkie would recoup that after a month or two. It would definitely make a great gift for espresso fans who travel a lot. (Heck, it would make a great gift for me.)

All you need with the Handspresso are coffee pods (like the Nespresso uses) and hot water. It’s a tidy little unit that would be easy to tote around. Judging from the video demo on MJ’s post, it makes a primo cup of joe.

After living in Italy, Jessica moved to a small town in northern France where she could not find a decent cup of espresso. She wrote of her coffee woes in a post that pulls no punches.

Jessica’s story has a happy ending, however. She solved her crappy coffee dilemma by cold-brewing her own toddy coffee in an easy process which she describes on her blog. I have since adapted her recipe and brew it all summer long. It’s a lifesaver in triple digit Texas heat!

Here’s how I make toddy coffee: Dump 2 cups of coffee grounds into a large glass jar, to which I then add 6 cups of filtered water. Steep over night, then strain into another jar. The resulting cold coffee can be used as a base for iced coffee drinks made as strong – or weak – as you prefer. (What I often do is fill a tall glass with ice, pour a serving of this toddy coffee in, add a splash of 1/2 & 1/2, a touch of vanilla, and voila!)

What’s great about Jessica’s technique is that the cold-brewing process actually improves the flavor of the beans. If you have an old bag of coffee that was too sharp for your palate, the toddy coffee version will be more mellow. While you’re welcome to use top of the line coffee, a middle-grade bean comes out just fine.

As a recovering barista, the quest for good coffee is a prime concern. Since I don’t yet own a Handspresso, I plan to brew my own toddy coffee on my next trip. In fact, I’m flying to Arizona in a few days, so I will to do some toddy coffee testing while I’m there.

Here’s my plan: I’ll pack a glass jar of some sort (an old dill pickle jar, maybe), whatever I can find that is roughly 32 ounces. I’ll put a heaping cup full of coffee grounds in the jar, fill it with good tasting water, leave it in the hotel fridge overnight, then strain out each dose one serving at a time. If this is too messy, I may invest in either the Planetary Design Travel French press, or the Bodum 16-Ounce Travel Coffee Press for toddy coffee brewing while traveling.

Do you have any tips for brewing a great cup of coffee while on the go? If so, leave a comment and let me know.

Confessions of a Recovering Barista

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Espresso in Naples, Italy. Photo by Tui Cameron

I often describe myself as a ‘recovering barista,’ because when you have brewed as many shots of espresso and steamed as many pitchers of milk as I have over the years, it alters you. Y’know how you can spot a former ballerina by her splayed feet? It’s kinda like that, except that the Zen-like discipline of making wonderful espresso leaves mental marks rather than anything physical.

As a result, when I enter a coffeehouse, I can’t help but eavesdrop on the baristas. By ‘eavesdrop’ I mean listening to what they do, not what they say. I can tell by sound whether they are creating tight, velvety foam, or big snorty bubbles. I can hear if they have scalded the milk.

I watch them, too, of course. I can tell if they need to adjust their grind by how quickly it flows out the portafilter, or if they are tamping with the right psi or not. Unless I’m with another coffee fanatic, however, I generally keep these assessments to myself. I don’t want to seem obnoxious!

Barista is an interesting word, with slightly different connotations in the states than in Italy. In Italian, slapping ista onto a word is a nifty way to explain someone’s occupation. For example, camion means truck in Italian. Add ista to camion, and you get the Italian word for trucker: camionista.

So, in Italy, to call yourself a barista merely means that you work in a bar. It doesn’t necessarily imply any great prowess with coffee. In the states, however, a barista is someone who makes espresso – and up in the Pacific Northwest, where I hail from, ‘barista’ implies that the person knows how to make a masterful cup of jo. There are even barista competitions!

Here in Azle, Texas there is no real espresso to be found – aside from what I make here at home with our tiny machine. I could go on, but we’re gearing up for a belated Thanksgiving feast here tomorrow and my to-do list is still mighty long despite a day of to-doing…

Waiter, there’s a mouse in my coffee

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I can honestly say that I make the best espresso in town. Why am I so confident in this boast? Because I make the only espresso in town. Our little home machine is the closest thing to a real one in these parts. The nearest thing to espresso in this burg is spewed out by automated machines at the gas station. It’s actually pretty tasty, but it’s not a cappuccino.

It’s not just the brew itself that I miss, but the coffee shops. A friendly coffeehouse offers a nice alternative to donut shops, bars, strip clubs, and churches, all of which are in abundance in north Texas. Coffeehouses are fun for people-watching (albeit clothed), playful conversations, learning (they were once known as Penny Universities) and making friends.

So this lack of quality java creates serious culture shock (or lack thereof) for me. After growing up in college towns, living in the Seattle area, owning a coffeehouse, and living in Europe, can you blame me? I have so many fond memories revolving around coffeehouses.

I guess I’m just a bit homesick today.

p.s. I don’t know how I created this mouse with the foamed milk, but I thought it looked kinda cool, so here you go.

I love coffee

New Orleans’ Cafe du Monde: A Taste of History

Why do they put chicory in their coffee?

What is a beignet?

When to visit Cafe du Monde?

What about the long lines at Cafe du Monde?

Want to read more?

Hey, you! Want to come along for the ride?

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