What Is Chicory Coffee? Taste, Caffeine and Where It Is Used
Chicory coffee is coffee blended with roasted chicory root. What it tastes like, how much caffeine it has, and which ratio to start with.
"Chicory coffee" means coffee blended with roasted chicory root - or, less often, a coffee-like drink made from chicory alone. It is one of the most searched coffee terms in India, and for most people the answer is the same: it is the South Indian filter coffee they already drink.
What Is Chicory Coffee?
Chicory (Cichorium intybus) is a plant whose root is dried, roasted and ground. On its own it makes a dark, woody, faintly bitter-sweet drink with no caffeine. Mixed into ground coffee, it makes a chicory coffee blend. In India, that is usually 10-40% chicory by weight, written as a ratio such as 80:20 (coffee to chicory).
What It Tastes Like
- A thicker, darker cup with more body.
- A rounder, less sharp finish than straight coffee.
- A caramel, earthy sweetness that works well with milk and sugar.
Is It Real Coffee?
The blend is part coffee. The chicory part is not coffee and carries no caffeine, so a 20% chicory blend has about 20% less caffeine than the same weight of straight coffee. A 30g cup of Arabica-based 80:20 has about 310 mg.
Caffeine: ~310 mg per 30 g cup80% coffee / 20% chicory
Where to Start
An 80:20 blend is the usual starting point: coffee leads, chicory rounds it off. Gray Cup's 80% Arabica, 20% chicory Value Blend comes in 500g and 1kg packs, roasted to order and ground for the South Indian filter.
Related Reading
Coffee vs chicory, chicory coffee benefits and the chicory ratio guide.