Sentence:  Whatever be the discoverable properties and applications of the dandelion tribe of vegetables, our object in the meanwhile is to see what part <WSD>chicory</WSD> is made to perform in the preparation and sale of coffee. [...] Of the flavour of the pure infusion of <WSD>chicory</WSD> we have already spoken: it was that of a peculiar bitterish sweet, not very palatable, yet not positively distasteful. [...] The flavour of the mixed coffee and <WSD>chicory</WSD> infusion was at once recognised to be that which the beverage called coffee ordinarily has when well made, and which most coffee-drinkers, we should imagine, would prefer. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A coffee substitute made from the roasted roots of the common chicory, sometimes used as a cheap adulterant in real coffee.