Chicory in Coffee: Why South India Swears by 80:20

Ask for coffee powder anywhere in South India and someone will ask you back: with chicory or without? The 80:20 blend is one of India’s great coffee habits. Here is what chicory is, and why we built our Signature Blend around it.

What is chicory?

Chicory is a plant with a long root, a cousin of endive. Roasted and ground, the root brews dark, heavy and naturally sweet, with a hint of caramel and no caffeine at all. It has been mixed into coffee for more than two hundred years, and South India took to it so completely that, in many homes, filter coffee without it does not feel finished.

What it does in the cup

Mostly three things.

Body. Chicory brews thick. It gives the decoction a syrupy weight that coffee alone does not have at the same strength, which is why a chicory blend holds up so well under hot milk.

Sweetness and colour. The roasted root carries its own caramel sweetness, and gives a good decoction its dark, glossy colour.

Less caffeine. Chicory has none, so an 80:20 cup has about a fifth less caffeine than the same cup of pure coffee. It tastes strong and sits gently.

Why 80:20?

Blending is a balance. Too much chicory and the cup turns woody and bitter, and the coffee disappears. Too little and you lose the body that makes filter coffee what it is. Over generations, eighty parts coffee to twenty parts chicory became the settled answer: enough chicory to do its work, enough coffee to stay the point.

In most 80:20 powders, the coffee half is inexpensive Robusta. Ours is the same single origin Arabica from Arehalli that we sell on its own. So the eighty percent brings flavour of its own, not just bulk and bitterness.

What is in our Signature Blend

• Coffee: 80% single origin Arabica from Arehalli village, in the Western Ghats of Karnataka, at about 1,055 metres.
• Grown by: a group of small farmers in Arehalli, including Geergal Estate, under shade trees and pepper vines.
• Process: sun-dried, the natural way.
• Chicory: 20% roasted chicory root.
• Grind: ground for a South Indian filter and a moka pot.

The chicory is a root, not coffee from somewhere else, so the coffee in the bag is still from one village.

Is chicory coffee?

No. It is a roasted root, and it has no caffeine. A coffee and chicory blend is still mostly coffee: in an 80:20 blend, four fifths of the powder is coffee.

How to brew it

The Signature Blend likes to be brewed strong and met with milk. A steel South Indian filter is best, then a moka pot or a French press. Start with one part decoction to three parts hot milk. We have written a full guide to making South Indian filter coffee at home, tumbler froth and all.

If the cup is not right

Woody or harsh. The decoction stood too long, or there was too much powder for the water. Use the decoction fresh and reduce the dose a little.

Thin, with no body. Too little powder, or the bed is too thin. Use a little more and level it well.

Flat. The powder is old. Keep it airtight, cool and out of the light, and never in the fridge.

Questions we are asked

Does chicory contain caffeine?
No.

Is the Signature Blend 100% Arabica?
No. It is 80% Arabica and 20% chicory. For 100% Arabica, choose our Single Origin.

Why is filter coffee made with chicory?
For the body, sweetness and colour that hold up under hot milk.

Is there less caffeine in chicory coffee?
In an 80:20 blend, about a fifth less than the same amount of pure coffee.