Back in my college days, a friend and I took a train down to New Orleans for spring break. It was a week after Mardi Gras, so no major partying going on, but we got to spend about 4 days wandering the French Quarter and seeing the sights.
We came away with a few impressions. First off, the people there were majorly friendly. Second, no one batted an eye (or asked for ID) for two underaged girls asking for alcohol. Actually, that is not accurate We didn’t ask for the alcohol, they offered it to us and we just said yes and thank you. :)
That was also an interesting year weather wise. It was around St Patrick’s Day and the weather was cold, windy, and rainy. One evening while we were at dinner, it started to snow. Everyone kept wanting to tell us that it NEVER snowed there, let alone at that time of year.
On one particularly miserable day, we ended up spending something like 5 hours huddled up at the Cafe du Monde drinking chicory coffee and an obscene number of orders of beignets. They let us sit there for 5 hours, they deserved some money for us taking up space and man they were good.
The beignets are a hazy memory, but the chicory coffee has always stood out in my mind. That bitter quality really stood out as something I had never tasted before. And Espresso Yourself brought that all back to mind. Only here the bitter chicory stands out more and the coffee is more of an accent flavor. I think I would have preferred more coffee and less chicory. Or maybe even a higher tea to chicory ratio.
The cinnamon is a nice little touch. Something you notice more in smell than taste, though it is there.
But, there seems to be an almost odd aftertaste that isn’t very pleasant. I’m unsure if its the chicory or maybe a aftertaste from the flavorings.
Its been a really long time since that spring break. To give an idea, a few months later I would be up to mid thigh in water tossing around sandbags trying to hold back the flood waters. So my memory of that chicory coffee isn’t enough for me to identify exactly where this after taste is coming from.
But, at the least, its been a nice diversion down memory lane. I remember looking out the train window, staring out at what seemed like endless swamp wondering is there was any dry land for the train to be running on. Or getting back just in time to drop off my bag and dash off to make my 8am Physics lecture. Ah the days when sleep was optional. :D
