Frontier Chicory Root • Brewing a Worthy Coffee Substitute

Frontier chicory root is an excellent coffee substitute. Chicory coffee is caffeine-free, contains some very potent compounds with an incredibly long list of health benefits. Chicory coffee is also great for your digestive tract. Unless you are a complete coffee purist, chicory coffee is definitely worth a try.

Frontier Chicory Root

Frontier Organic Chicory Root is roasted and sold as granules. The granules are larger than the normal coffee ground and they are therefore easily strained. However, if you have a coffee grinder, you can make a fine powder of the granules. Some recipes call for chicory powder or you might want to use it as instant coffee. The granules are normally used only once and discarded after the coffee is strained.

We use three tablespoons in a quart of water (1 litre). Therefore, a bag of Frontier Organic Chicory root will last for much longer than standard coffee. We also tried simmering the chicory granules with one or two tablespoons of coffee. While this adds some caffeine, the taste is greatly enhanced, even superb. The legendary coffee blend of New Orleans mixes 2/3 coffee and 1/3 roasted chicory root. However, we prefer recipes with very low or zero caffeine.

Chicory benefits

Chicory root coffee contains several gut-friendly substances. Drinking only one cup per day is enough to reap most benefits.

The two below are the main ones worth mentioning:

1. Inulin is a powerful prebiotic fibre that strengthens the gut colony of healthy bacteria. Inulin also helps produce hormones that control appetite; it’s, therefore, a great support for weight loss. Inulin also lowers cholesterol, reduces colon risk for colon cancer and improves constipation.
2. Lactones are digestive bitters, potent volatile oils that are anti-parasite, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory. They also seem to play an important role in preventing cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Taste

Simmering the Frontier Chicory granules for 3-5 minutes creates a dark, quite strong coffee. This 100% chicory coffee has a deep aroma, a smooth, round nutty, chocolate, bittersweet taste. Mixed with milk the coffee gets a slight hazelnut flavour. Leaving the granules to soak for another 1-2 hours creates a fuller taste.

Whisking the chicory coffee brew for a minute or two while simmering makes the coffee feel a little thicker and with a deeper taste. This coffee is absolutely lovely!

Chicory root granules make a great-tasting coffee. And there seems to be an endless variety of chicory coffee recipes as chicory can be mixed with maca powder, dandelion, cocoa powder, carob root and many other ingredients. Such ingredients add to the complexity of the taste and also additional health benefits. (Chicory coffee recipes.)

Cost

The 1 pound bag (453 g) costs around $17. The Frontier Chicory Root bag lasts for much longer that we thought, even though we drink one or two cups of chicory coffee daily. You don’t need that much chicory to make a strong brew. Therefore, the cost of chicory root coffee is much less than “real coffee.” However, you can also buy chicory root already mixed with coffee, but then the cost will be higher.

In any case, making your own blend at home is cheap, great for your gut and you can create your own blends as you prefer. Frontier Chicory Root is definitely a great buy!