Interesting trivia: Some roots of the tradition of coffee with chicory can be traced back to the American Civil War. When the South was blockaded by the United States Navy, imported goods (like coffee) became an ever-dwindling (and eventually non-existent) and very expensive luxury provided only by blockade-runners, (fast vessels smuggling goods from overseas), so that most people had to make do with coffee substitutes, the most popular being wild chicory along with ground nuts and corn.