I picked up a can of Trader Joe's New Orleans style Coffee with Chicory. To plainly put it, chicory was added to coffee some time ago to fight the cheapness that coffee once was, and to make it last in periods of time when coffee was a scarce commodity. It has a strong aroma, and (for me, beautiful) bitter aftertaste that reminds me of big espresso, or a citrusy Yirga Cheffe. As you can tell I was much excited to buy a can and bring it home for inspection.
Let me tell you, this coffee did not let me down. From opening the canister, and releasing the aroma from its vacuum sealed hole, I had spice, and orange in my nose.
After pouring in my cold filtered water, I waited patiently the 7 minutes for my small 4-cuper to brew. I'll have to say, this coffee from opening to first taste is amazing. A word of caution though, if you don't like (or can't stomach) very dark slightly bitter coffee, this is not for you. If you do though, are experimentive, are from New Orleans and know what I'm talking about, have had Ca Phe Sua Da, or like dark, bitter (read: orange, lemon, and espresso), then this is all for you.
Getting into the cup tastes, I'd have to say that I had orange and spice come in first. After the coffee cooled a bit, and I had some time to savor my individual tastes, I found not much more in the complexity other than a bit of an earthiness. I don't know what they used as their coffee foundation, but I would have to guess some type of African, or probably a blend of African and South American. It was a clean, naturally sweet cup, but also had some subtle earth tones in it.
Hope this helped a bit if you found this coffee but was just unsure if you wanted to step out of your Starbucks comfort zone.
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