On a recent unseasonably hot San Francisco afternoon I was wandering down Battery Street in search of a caffeine fix. Bored with my usual options of charred iced coffee and shaken iced teas, and having never really caught on to the energy-drink craze, I was at a loss. I headed toward Jackson Place Café hoping for something out of the ordinary.

I walked up to the breezeway café stand and, being the adventurous type, I asked about the only item I didn’t recognize on the menu. After a brief description I ordered it up. It quickly became my new obsession: New Orleans iced coffee. I’ve gone back almost every day since.

I was pleasantly surprised that an hour later I could still recall the coffee’s wonderful flavor and I didn’t have the upset stomach that often follows a caffeine buzz. After chatting with the co-owner, Gabriella Dixson, I discovered that this style of coffee is in fact cold-brewed with chicory unlike most iced coffee, which is brewed hot, then cooled off. The cold brewing process yields less acid than its heated counterpart and has a different flavor.

Divulging her recipe while helping the constant stream of customers, she explained in her brusque Italian accent that chicory has been used as a substitute for or in addition to coffee for years. “Coffee was expensive,” she recalls, peppering the memory with Italian words. “I remember going to a bar and ordering café a la ciccoria. My aunt still drinks it today.” In a country where coffee is as ubiquitous as organic produce is in SF, it’s no surprise that they couldn’t kick the habit when times were tough, so they settled for a replacement. Even in the U.S., when the coffee supply was cut off during WWII, it was replaced with chicory root.

Dixson takes me through each step, from soaking the coarse ground Blue Bottle roast, Bella Donovan, overnight with chicory to the final addition of milk. And when I asked about the drink’s subtle sweetness, she said she melts the sugar with a few shots of espresso.

With few places serving the drink, I wondered who was behind this coffee goodness. Who else in San Francisco serves this delight? I decided to check in with the man behind the beans, Blue Bottle Coffee founder James Freeman.

The idea for this New Orleans–style iced coffee started a few years ago when he was serving joe out of his kiosk at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market. One hot day customers began asking for iced lattes, which was problematic for the coffee guru. Icing the once-hot drink changes the flavor of the coffee, he says. He decided it would taste better if the coffee started out cold. He began tinkering with different types of iced brews, from the French Press technique to Vietnamese iced coffee. His mind finally went south to New Orleans, where a popular murky coffee drink was cold-brewed and flavored with chicory. “I started messing with percentages of chicory, steep time, and technique.” Finally perfecting the balance, he found that using a fine mesh metal sieve to strain this tasty concoction was essential to keeping its distinct flavor; some straining tools can “rob the coffee of its flavor” according to Freeman.

And on a record-breaking hot day he drinks it too, saying that it’s “really refreshing, it’s got a kind of plumpness to it and a great aftertaste. It’s not a connoisseur’s drink, just a nice drink on a hot day. It’s a great way to make an iced coffee drink that we are proud of.”

On a quest to find out more about it and where it was served, I called 30 different coffee shops around San Francisco. Many people had never heard of it before and almost every single person asked me to repeat myself, though some responded with genuine interest about the drink and asked me what it was. After thinking I may be barking up the wrong tree I called upon a couple of restaurants with southern flair. Alas, there was no similar iced coffee at Nola, Kingfish, nor Angeline’s Louisiana Kitchen. The closest I got was Brenda’s French Soul Food, which serves a warm coffee with a chicory flavor.

Blue Bottle’s Café,510-653-3394, in Mint Plaza at 66 Mint St. or the Hayes Valley Kiosk at 315 Linden St., bluebottlecoffee.net; Jackson Place Café, One Jackson Place, 415-225-4891; Cento Kiosk 360 Ritch St.



Make your own flavorful brew with this recipe, courtesy of Blue Bottle Coffee:

Prepare concentrate in large non-reactive stockpot with a lid.

Just before preparing the coffee concentrate, grind one pound of coffee at a very coarse (percolator) grind. (TIP: If your grinder cannot accommodate this type of grind take it to a grocery store and grind it there).

Add the entire pound of freshly ground coffee and an entire bag (1.5 oz.) of roasted French chicory to the stockpot. Pour in 2 ½ quarts of cold water and stir. Let the mixture steep overnight for about 8–12 hours in the covered pot at room temperature.

The next morning, strain through a fine meshed metal sieve into a jar. (TIP: Straining is much easier if you carefully break the crust of coffee grounds with a spoon before pouring). Coffee concentrate should resemble used motor oil—yummy! And it should yield about 4–5 cups of concentrate.

Add 3 oz. of simple syrup to coffee concentrate or melt 3oz. of sugar in a small saucepan into 2/3 cups water over low heat.

Pour coffee concentrate into a serving container and add melted sugar and two quarts milk. Stir and sever over ice.

Note: The unsweetened concentrate keeps in the fridge for roughly a week. Sweetened concentrate should be enjoyed the same day. With milk, the drink tastes best within three hours of making it.