Chickery is a flowering plant in the dandelion family that is characterized by a tough, hairy stem, and light purple or blue flowers. And this is not to be confused with the curly endive or red dichios, which are also sometimes called chickery. While having similarities to regular coffee, chickery coffee is often described as having a woody or nutty taste. The history of chickery coffee! Now many people believe that chickery root coffee comes from France in the 1800s, but according to my research it actually goes back a little bit further than this, and a little bit northeast, as it was actually first brewed around 1750 in Holland. Apparently it became popular pretty quick as by 1785 James Bowden, the governor of Massachusetts, introduced it to the United States. And in 1806 Napoleon was trying to make France more self-sufficient, thereby initiating what was called the Continental Blancade, which eliminated coffee imports almost entirely. What French coffee laveresse unite? Revolution! And this forced the French people to turn to chickery root coffee as a substitute for their Java jave. And when the blockade was lifted a few years later, the French found that they acquired a taste for chickery coffee. As they thought the taste was an improvement and it had extra health benefits thrown in as well. In fact, in 1835, France exported 1.25 million pounds of chickery, and only 25 years later, that figure had ballooned up to 16 million pounds. Belgium and Denmark were also reportedly big proponents of the chickery coffee craze as well. And so was the United States. But this time, it was because of the Civil War, the North's blockade to cut off most of the supply of coffee heading into the southern states. As a result, the South turned to chickery root to make their coffee, as well as other substitutes like corn. Not much of a surprise that the corn coffee didn't catch on though. Perhaps it was a little too corny for their taste. Thank you. After the war, chickery coffee lost some of its popularity, but it kept thriving in other unexpected ways. In the late 19th century, companies started lowering their costs by sneakily cutting their coffee grounds with chickery coffee. It got to the point that the New York Times reported that pure coffee couldn't be found anymore. And while chickery root may have lost its popularity elsewhere, this was not the case in New Orleans, where chickery coffee is still commonly served to this day, where you'll usually find it served as a cafe ole, and it's supposedly even better with a plate of banyanes. Hard to argue with that. These days, chickery coffee is often found in a blend, like the French cafe de Monde, which is 60% coffee and 40% chickery. Chickery coffee benefits! By the way, have you liked this video and subscribed to my channel? Yep, it's a mighty good time to do that, and hit that bell notification so you don't miss any future videos! Now one of the nice benefits and reasons people turn to chickery coffee is that it's caffeine-free. So if you're looking to cut down on your caffeine, this is a really good way to go. Many of the key benefits of chickery root come from Innolyn, a prebiotic fiber that is great for constipation and a variety of digestive benefits. However, much of the Innolyn found in chickery coffee gets caramelized and converted into fructose sugar during the roasting process, which is great for the dark coffee color, a touch of sweetness, and it reduces the bitterness of the raw root. But it also means that you're not quite getting the same nutritional benefits in chickery coffee, as you do from regular chickery root. As for the rest of the benefits, there is research talking about how it helps with diabetes, arthritis, skin health, your liver, and kidneys, Candida, and more! And if you want to learn about all the benefits of chickery root in chickery root coffee, then check out my other video all about it, which is linked in the little dot right up there, or click on the thumbnail at the end of this video. How was it made? Very similar to regular coffee, chickery root also gets minced, roasted, and then finally brewed. Fresh chickery root can be roasted at 200 degrees Celsius or 400 degrees Fahrenheit, for 30 minutes in a traditional oven. Although the amounts can vary, it's generally recommended to use about two tablespoons of ground chickery root to one cup of water. And like I mentioned in my Danielian coffee video, the amount really depends on how strong you want it to be. Now if you're steeping your chickery root coffee, well you'll want to give it about 7 to 10 minutes to steep. Or again if you want it stronger, you can go longer, like the rhyme. Now oddly compared to fresh Danielian root, fresh chickery root is actually a lot harder to buy and find, especially over here in the UK, though you can't easily find pre ground chickery coffee. Which is what I have here today! What does it taste like? And now the most important part, that taste test. I'm going to do a straight coffee and then half milk and half coffee for a coffee ole. Here we are with the live taste test. I did this with my French press and I did it for 10 minutes, like it says at two tablespoons, okay? Let's see what we got. It's the first time I've ever tasted it myself. Okay, here we go. All right, okay. Hmm, interesting. I actually find this one rather subdued. I'm compared to the Danielian coffee, especially. This one actually has not so strong of a flavor. It definitely is woodsy and nutty, like they said on the tin. And it does have very much a coffee taste. You're definitely not going to think, oh this isn't a coffee-esque at all. But luckily it isn't bitter, which is nice. So I'm very happy about that fact that it's not bitter. I am able to sit here and drink it. At the same time I probably would want a little bit of sugar and milk in here. I'm going to do the cafe ole next. Yeah, I mean it's definitely fine. If you're looking for a substitute for coffee, this could definitely do it for you. If you haven't tried the Danielian coffee, you should do that too because they both have slightly different aspects. It's kind of like just having different types of coffee. So if you don't like the Danielian coffee, you might very well find a checkery root coffee your way to go. So give it a shot. Let's give the cafe ole a shot now. All right. Okay, I can see why people go for this. Yep, definitely helped smooth out the blend. It takes away any of the bitterness that existed with the other one. And there was quite, you know, the more you drink it, the more you tend to just have that bitterness sitting in your throat. And with this one, it really does smooth the whole thing out. I mean, I would definitely probably add a touch of sugar in here as well. It's just my normal taste buds. I'm a sweetie kind of guy. So yeah, really good stuff. I'm very impressed with the chickery coffee so far. Give it a shot, man. Good stuff. Have you tried chickery coffee before? Are you going to now? Let me know in the comments section down below. If you want to see more videos just like this, go to watch my video on Danielian Coffee next or you can watch the one we already talked about about the benefits of chickery root. Please be kind. Take care of each other. And if you haven't already, get out now and enjoy yourself a nice cup of chickery root coffee.