Chicory was added to the grinder about 100 years ago in New Orleans due to coffee shortage. Many old timers like it, but fortunately in restaurants, you must ask or be offered it. The best cajin coffee (non chicory) I ever drank was while waiting to service equipment in the Terrebonne Sherriff's office in Houma. It was the special stuff brewed in the radio room. In south Louisiana, if you are offered coffee in a small cup the size of kid's dishes, you should find it very, very strong and thick, with an excellent taste. A small cup of it will keep one awake and alert all day.