When was YOUR First Sip?

What this episode covers

Hey, coffee lovers, do you remember when your first sip of coffee was, or maybe just first taste of coffee somehow, as I alluded to in the trailer for this, my first intro into that flavor of coffee was with my grandparents. So my grandpa and my grandma came here from Hungary. And they were really into coffee. And they would get these little candies called Coffee Nips, which actually still exist, I found them on Amazon. But they were these little wrapped candies, and they used to leave them in their pockets. And whenever like, we would go for walks or something like that, or I was just with them, I always knew that they would hide these little wrapped treasures in their pockets. And I just, you know, anybody who gets candy from the grandparents is pretty happy. So I was kind of introduced to that flavor of coffee in that type of scenario. And so the taste was already ingrained in my memory. I don't know that the smell was at that point, but definitely the taste. And my grandparents also used to have this coffee. It was called Louisiane. I'm probably killing the name, but it was spelt like L U Z I A N N E, and it was a chicory coffee. And that was really common during the Depression, because of the high prices of coffee, so they would cut it with chicory root. And I just remember that smell in their home. And so I started being introduced to coffee, you know, with the candies with that smell in their home. And my mom used to do this thing, because we loved the smell and taste at such an early age, she would put like a couple of teaspoons of her coffee, in my cereal milk, which probably sounds really gross to allow people. But when you're a little kid and like your parents and your grandparents, revere coffee, and they're always having coffee, and that smell is in the house, it becomes something that's important to you, you really love it. So they used to add that to my cereal, which I thought was kind of funny. That was maybe my first introduction to coffee. So maybe it was like a really, really like milk down version of coffee ice cream if you think about it. And it was really cool to me that if I were to talk about like my first coffee, like real coffee, I would probably say when I was in high school, my friends I used to drive to Dunkin Donuts and get coffee before going to school. And it was such an independent time, you know, when you first start college and I lived in an area where you kind of needed a car. And it was not cool to take the bus and have a car and we would go Dunkin Donuts and and we would get that coffee. And the funny thing is whenever I'm in an airport, of course, there's an epically long line at Starbucks, there must be 50 people every single time you go to an airport, and you know, bravo to them. But quite honestly, Starbucks isn't my favorite flavor. And I honestly don't want to stand on line for that long. And yes, if anybody wants to know the app does not work, when you're in the airport, they shut that down so that people don't get mad online who are standing on that line. Anyway, um, The other choice is usually Dunkin Donuts. And it's not so horrible for me because I get that coffee and it takes me right back to high school, which is kind of funny, I think. And I'm curious, what takes you back. The smell, the taste, imparts like those moments of nostalgia and experiences are really impactful. So I want you to share that with me. I'd really like to hear about that. I also, like want to share a little coffee fact with you, which maybe just makes me the total geek of the room, but hey, indulge me. So when I was talking about my grandparents adding chicory to their coffee, it was to stretch it out during the Depression. And Europe actually used it as a coffee substitute. So the roots the chicory root was baked, roasted and then ground and used as an additive. It was done especially in the Mediterranean region, where the plant was native. And as a coffee additive, it's also mixed in Indian filter coffee, and in parts of Southeast Asia, South Africa and the southern United States, particularly in New Orleans. And I actually had like a moment when I was in New Orleans because they had the chicory coffee all over, like in the French Quarter and everything and it took me right back to my grandparents. So see full circle here. By the way, all this information that I'm getting about the history of chicory, I got off a Wikipedia, so I'll put a link in the show notes for everybody for that and as a citation, but also in France, the mixture of chicory is 60% chicory to 40% coffee, and they sell that under the trade name. Record a, I'm sure I'm not sounding remotely French there. So my apologies to anybody who's French. It has been more like more widely used during economic crises, such as the Great Depression in the 1930s. And during World War Two in continental Europe, which is why my grandparents did it which I had mentioned earlier, like during the Depression, they had to conserve money and stretch that coffee. Interestingly, East Germans call it miche Cafe, which is mixed coffee. Now, we did just get through Oktoberfest. So I just want to add here that some beer brewers used roasted chicory to add flavor to stouts because it has like that coffee like flavor, and others added it to strong blonde Belgium style ales to augment the hops, making a wit Loof beer from the Dutch name for the actual plant. So that is my little history lesson full of nostalgia and memories, and I really want to hear about yours. So do me a favor, please subscribe and share this podcast. And you can send me a DM on Instagram at Holly Shannon. I'll have all that in the show notes. I'd really want to hear about your first stories and the first taste of coffee and why those experiences were impactful for you or not. Anyway, again, my name is Holly Shannon, I'm your host of this new podcast called coffee. It's brewed for connection. We're going to talk a lot about coffee meetups, but I wanted to have a few shorts that were five to 10 minutes that you can kind of listen to on a coffee break and be along for the ride with me. Thanks