Recipe: Hot New Orleans

Ingredients:
Whole Bean Coffee
Roasted Chicory
Milk of Choice
Sweetened Condensed Milk

Secret Step 0: Pick the right beans
Recently, I’ve been using Jackalope Joe. It’s a fruity Ethiopian coffee that sets the stage for this drink. I’ve also had good results with Dancing Goats from Batdorf and Bronson. In a pinch, you can skip steps 1 and 2 and use a premade cold brew concentrate (if you can’t make your own, store-bought is fine.)

Step 1: Brew cold.
Grind your beans. Grind them right before you brew your coffee.
Don’t grind them ahead of time; this will make bad coffee. Use a burr grinder. If you don’t have a burr grinder, stop. Buy a burr grinder, and then grind your beans. A blade grinder is good for spices, not coffee, no matter what Mr. Coffee says.
Grind your beans in a coarse setting. You want one cup of ground coffee for every 4 cups of water you’re brewing. (1/4 cup of grounds for each cup of water.)
Stick the grounds at the bottom of a vessel. I use a mason jar, but it doesn’t really matter.
If you’re committing the whole pot to New Orleans style, you can, at this point, add one tablespoon of ground, roasted chicory for each cup of water in your brew. If not, we’ll do that later.
Filter your water, then pour it over your grounds. Shake your container gently, then stick it on the counter for 10 – 14 hours to brew.
Check on it in a few hours, and shake it again if you want

Step 2: Strain your cold brew
I affix a coffee filter to the mouth of the mason jar with a rubber band and strain the coffee through this. You could use a fine mesh sieve (like you might use for catching tea leaves) or whatever other method you like. You want to separate this coffee concentrate from your grounds.
This cold brew concentrate will keep for several days and taste wonderful on its own, or with a pinch of salt.

Step 3: New Orleans (part one)
If you did not add your chicory above, separate out a portion of your cold brew to take to New Orleans. Add one tablespoon of roasted chicory for each cup of water.
Let this infuse overnight, and strain again using the method of your choice.

Step 4: New Orleans (part two)
Pour one cup of your cold brew concentrate into a tall glass. Add 1/4 cup of whole milk. Stir in 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of sweetened condensed milk (to taste.)
Stir it well. That stuff is thick, and it will resist incorporation at first. It’s worth it.
At this stage, you have a classic New Orleans iced coffee. This is one of my favorite Summer coffee drinks. You could stop here and enjoy, but I encourage you to press on.

Step 5: Hot New Orleans
The above concoction is wonderful cold, but a little heat and agitation go a long way toward making it even better. You have two options:
1) A saucepan on the stove. Heat over medium heat for 3 minutes. Whisk until moderately frothy, decant, and serve.

2) Use a countertop electric milk frother to heat and froth the beverage. These operate like electric kettles but with an implement for agitating the liquid. This is what I do.

(Of course, if you have an espresso machine, you could use your steam wand. We do this in our shop, but that’s cheating for an “at home” drink.)

Enjoy!
Now, that sounds like a lot of work when it’s all spelled out like that. Let me summarize:
1) Make cold brew (with or without chicory)
2) Add chicory, if you didn’t make cold brew with chicory
3) Add milk and sweetened condensed milk
4) Heat and agitate
I keep a pitcher of cold brew with chicory in my fridge, splash in some milk and a spoonful of sweetened condensed milk in the morning, and let the mixture go for a ride in the Instant Frother. It takes less time than brewing a fresh pot and scratches the same itch as a caffè latte.
You could use a milk substitute (oat milk works well in this case), but I haven’t found a dairy free alternative for sweetened condensed milk that works.