Southerners and Their Coffee

Episode Transcript:

Southerners love their breakfast and that means they love their coffee. Today we're going to talk coffee in the South. Some of the coastal places have their own take and flavor. So grab your favorite cup, and I'll meet you at the table 

I'm Lainie. And I'm Laura Beth. And we are Steel Magnolias, the strength of steel. With the grace of a magnolia.

We're here to have uplifting conversations about life in the south.

And we've got plenty of room at our table. So pull up a chair

can't believe it's taken us this long to get to southerners and their coffee, because I love coffee.  So, it’s really funny, but this was actually somebody's recommendation of a subject that travels a lot in the South. And I said, Hey, let me know if you've got any ideas of topics since you travel a lot in the region. And this guy said, have you done one on coffee in the south? So we're going to talk in a little later in the episode about some specific roasted varieties of coffee. But just culturally, this is a huge piece of culture. Southern breakfast being a very important part of hospitality. I think that, you know, we talk a lot about hospitality on this podcast, and it is, itself a huge part of Southern culture.  The breaking of bread and serving a meal, but then also serving coffee to your guest is a huge piece of hospitality. It's comforting. It's easy. It's so easy. Yeah, it does not need to be complicated. It works as a stand alone. You can just come over for coffee. You don't even have to have nibbles with it. You can get bonus points if you do; it can be served in the morning or afternoon, or evening.  I'm not an evening coffee drinker very much, but some people are.  I would definitely say if you're going to serve coffee anytime after 2pm I have a decaf option for those of us that are really highly affected by caffeine. 

But it is a staple to life in the South. I think you even see it in the growth of coffee shops. Here. I was cracking up because I wrote out my notes for this episode while sitting in a coffee shop. Okay, and I had three great coffee shops to choose from in a one mile radius. Wow. And that was not even counting the two Starbucks that are in that same one mile. That's a lot in a concentrated area and that's not even including restaurants that have coffee that aren't coffee shops. I do have a funny story. Okay. I went to a coffee shop in Nashville at circa three o'clock in the afternoon. Okay, meeting a mutual friend of ours. I've never been in this coffee shop. So you know, it takes me a little minute to look at the menu. What are my choices here? And I really just wanted to put a little cream and sugar in just a cup of coffee.  No fancy macchiato or lattes.  Yeah, no espresso based coffee.

I was told, “I’m sorry, we don't brew coffee after 2:00pm”.  But I guess most people get the fancy drinks and so I literally said to the guys, so you're telling me I'm in a coffee shop, but I can't get a cup of regular coffee. And he just laughed like yeah, that's what I'm telling you. Wow. Sometimes we get too fancy.  Yeah. I mean, I especially crack up when I think about like the old men that are gathered around in gas stations having a cup of coffee once a week together. I mean every day dad would much rather have a coffee from McDonald's then a fancy coffee drink. He doesn't want to pay $4 or $5.

It's a price thing for sure. But he likes like coffee.  Yeah, I've been in coffee shops with our dad and been loving my drink, It's some sort of fancy latte.  I say to dad, “you would love this”, it has cinnamon in it or something that I know he loves, but he just sticks with plain coffee. 

So, I started drinking coffee in college as is the case with lots of people.It was mostly a cross over from hot chocolate into I started with cafe mocha. Okay, which had chocolate syrup at the bottom and it's espresso based.   So, you know, get your study on!  It gave a little caffeine jolt, but it was still kind of just a glorified hot chocolate because they would put whipped cream on it. I got it at the Barnes and Noble that I would go to often because it had a built in cafe. Okay, so I wasn't even in a true coffee shop at this point. Yeah, coffee

shops really weren't much of a thing. I remember thinking, oh people go to Panera Bread to study. Yes, that was the closest thing to a coffee house that we really had. We did have one on campus called the Golden roast, which was an authentic coffee house and it played jazz music and it was just fabulous. But I didn't really want to study there. I just wanted to hang out with friends there. So yeah, I would say as studies became later in the night, right, and you needed that jolt.  When subject matter became less interesting and trying to fulfill courses then I was really just looking more for caffeine and I didn't need all the whipped cream, so then I kind of graduated to like cream and sugar. That's where I started. Like, I don't remember ever drinking lattes.  Okay, so you just did cream and sugar to begin with? Yeah, in college. I mean, maybe even those, which I don't like now, flavored creamers.  

You don't like flavored creamers?  

I mean, there's a couple of them that I like.  

This is shocking and newsworthy to me.

No, I can taste the chemicals. Oh, okay. So I'm mostly use half and half.

Interesting. Well, so over the years, I have lessened my cream and sugar and now I'm straight black coffee. Now, which is just how I absolutely love it. And I would say, I'll take hot tea as well.

that's where I'm at coffee in the morning. Unless I'm sick. And then I might want hot tea.   But, on a normal morning, I want coffee.

That's true for healing properties. I always switch over to tea.

But if it's, you know, a winter evening, I love it.

Yeah, that's true. 

I love it when you go to restaurants like a waffle house or Cracker Barrel, where the coffee is bottomless,  You can be

just three sips in, and the waitress asks, Can I top you off?   Can I warm you up?

They know you want it hot, but it's harder to keep track of how many cups you've had or how much you've actually consumed.  Let me just say another thing that literally just came in my mind and that is the cup matters. Like I see so many cute cutesy cups but they're real big.  Like the “Friends” coffee cups became so popular in the 90s. Your coffee gets cold five sips in.  Do you remember how popular those were from the show Friends? Oh, yeah. At Central Perk, where they sat on the show for three fourths of their time. Anyway, they were so big.and got so popular, you know, green with white polka dots, just like they had on the show. So impractical. You're right, a small cup that fits well in my hand is best. Waffle House and places like that know these things. Their cups are usually not real big. Yes. So your coffee is nice and hot.  A lot of China sets have smaller cups. Yes, sometimes they're wider so it is still getting pretty cool fast. But for the most part most china is smaller coffee/tea cups. 

Well, when I think of like a city that has a coffee culture, I think of like the Northwest, cold rainy cities like Seattle and Portland.  Yes. But apparently according to Lonely Planet, I found an article that was five South East cities with a strong coffee culture. So maybe we can link to the article in the show notes. Okay, but do you have any guesses on what cities might be in that list?

So this is all across the south. Southeast southeast. I feel like it's going to be only big cities because that's going to have an influx of people from other places.  Yes, it depends on your definition of big some are bigger than others do want me just to tell you?

Atlanta?  Yes!  Raleigh?  Well, Durham. So, close.  Raleigh/Durham. That rolls off my tongue.

Nashville.  I know I never want to say Nashville because it's like cheating for me to know.  

Chattanooga

And Tampa.  So of the five, two are in Tennessee. 

Well, I would say as a host so we always just love to give y'all some practical things. Have on hand, some creamer options.  I myself don't need it, I’m sort of preaching this to myself since I drink it black and I don't have creamer options. I was surprised to hear you say you didn't like those others because I always am disappointed when I want to serve you coffee at my house but I don't have any flavored creamer.  If you want to go really the extra mile have a dairy and a non dairy. I love some soy milk and almond milk creamers.  And oat milk makes for a good creamer in coffee. So yeah, just having a couple of options. Most people have sugar in their pantry so I don't feel like that's something you need to necessarily be on the lookout for.  I love this little set I got as a wedding gift. It's cute. It's from Pottery Barn. And it has a saucer for the cream and a little thing for the honey with the little wooden one of those called wooden spool kind of thing right that help it for the honey with the cutest little sugar spoon, you know for dispensing. 

You know Costco sells those small individual creamers. They have plain, and maybe also flavored.  But they don't have to be refrigerated, which is so unusual to me that I'm sure they have an expiration but I think it's pretty lengthy.  Like I would look at that like evaporated milk. It's not evaporated milk what you're talking about, but like in the same way.

Our friend Dianna, she often would host Bible studies and I don't think she drinks creamer. So she would buy those- then, that way it's not always going bad in your refrigerator because she doesn't drink it. Grab some throw those in a bowl and that's out. I should do that. I could put that in the pantry next to all the gummy bears, peanut butter crackers and fruit snacks we've bought in bulk for lunches. My favorite thing, though, is after a delicious meal out at a restaurant to linger at the table and have a French press coffee. Let my food digest, enjoy the company I'm with. I think I actually learned this pretty well studying abroad in Spain and all over Europe they do coffee well. Yeah, we have a lot we could learn from them. But they definitely know how to make it an experience. There is no rush. They laugh about that. They have definitely perfected the art of not being in a hurry at their table. I just love having coffee after a nice meal. Even if I'm not having dessert, honestly, I mean, it goes really well with dessert. In fact, I wonder if I should say a couple of things that I jotted down that I think it goes best with. I found a fun article that is called Best southern foods to eat with coffee. That's hilarious. Okay, I mean, it's all over the place because it was well even for breakfast.

I do love coffee. If I'm having a sweet something like a doughnut or a scone. Yes. I think coffee is so good with it.

The bitter and the sweet. Buttermilk biscuits. Okay, Beignets. Yes. Come on with it. We're gonna be talking about New Orleans here in a second. Yeah. Coffee Cake.

Any southern breakfast though. You know, eggs bacon, whatever you think of as a large southern breakfast and then my favorite pound cake.

Okay, since you said Coffee Cake and pound cake, I’m just going to mention this:  White Lily has come out with I believe it's five cake mixes. Really this is brand new and you know they just do baking so well.  So they have a pound cake, a lemon pound cake, a coffee cake. I can't remember the other two, there was like five choices.  I'm not eating sweets right now. Well, we love White Lily. Those would be so good with coffee. And that's the kind of thing, there again, we'd like giving you all hospitality tips. You could keep on hand and I bet you all you add his milk and eggs or something.  So that if somebody is coming in, you're not ready. You could at least quickly get together a coffee cake. 

Chess Pie- Come on with it. Um, so yeah, I'm still kind of on Southern foods, but I'm just gonna link to the article and y'all can read some other southern foods that go really well with coffee.

Well, there's a couple of places in the south that have their own kind of twist. So if you've ever been to New Orleans, there's a famous place there for beignets and coffee called Cafe Du Monde. Yes, that was the first place I had ever even heard of chicory coffee.  Yes. The first beignet I'd ever tasted was there.

So, apparently chicory is a popular ingredient like a mixture in coffee in New Orleans.  So I even kind of wanted to talk about the why of that. Go for it. So apparently it's unclear as to exactly when and why. But, chicory started being put in coffee and became particularly popular in 19th century France after Napoleon initiated the continental blockade. This trade blockade caused a major coffee shortage in France.  And so to make their coffee supplies stretch, the French began roasting, grinding and mixing chicory root in with their coffee.

Interesting. You know how they say necessity is the mother of invention.  But, why chicory? Why not, you know, the peelings have a sweet potato? how did they know? Did they know? Well? That's a good question. I don't have that right. Now, maybe just it was already being roasted and ground and they just thought since it was similar they could mix it.

It's kind of similar to a sugar beet. Okay. And so the root is pulled from the ground with specialized equipment and cut into small pieces. And then kiln dried, roasted and ground. Okay, so there you have it. I guess that process was already happening. And then they thought this could make our coffee go further. Okay, but it also has some amazing healing benefits. So just quickly, here's a few things I read. It's used against pulmonary consumption, and jaundice and liver enlargement. It's a used as a laxative because it works without irritation. Wow. Increases bile production, moderates a rapid heart rate, lowers cholesterol. A lot of doctors do say in moderation of course that coffee can be good for you.

And I believe you know, what you see in New Orleans is a mixture. It's not just chicory, not just coffee. It's chicory coffee. And I would say even I mean, the Cafe Du Monde is the brand to get.  That’s on grocery store shelves. I don't know how wide their distribution is, but they themselves make their own coffee.

Well, I thought that made sense that this would come out of France being that you see at New Orleans because there's so much French influence, but apparently it wasn't until the American Civil War that coffee and chicory became popular here. There again, same thing we don't have enough coffee so well you naval blockades cut off the Port of New Orleans and one of the largest importers of coffee, you know at the time. Yeah. And so those desperate people down there in Louisiana said hey, we know what to do. That's so great. Our ancestors had to do this before will stretch our supply by adding chicory back in. So there you have it.

That's a southern yes specific thing.

Ray Thompson, who wrote daily for years for the Biloxi Daily Herald stated the charm of chicory is the bold, distinctly different taste, which gives a coffee, a taste, which first annoys then tempts and finally turns you into one of those ardent devotees who think pure coffee is dishwater.

Oh my gosh, that's funny. Isn't that the way it is with something that's different? Like at first, you're kind of like, well, coffee in general to me. Yeah. I remember, as a little kid, you know, your parents would drink coffee. And let me try it. And it's like, oh, this is disgusting because you just don't have a taste for it. 

So again, this is another thing that came out of kind of tragedy, I guess you could say, down in Miami, you will see a strong Cuban influence with food in general.  But that includes coffee.  In 1959, there was a Cuban revolution that kick started kind of a huge migration of people coming into the United States. And because the climate was similar, and it was close, and there was a Latino Spanish speaking population- many liked Miami. Yeah, you know, so that makes sense. Well, those who lived under Castro's rule had experienced a nationalization of food, when there's food rations. Oh, and coffee, you could only get four ounces of coffee a month. That's nothing. So to make the small amount last as long as possible, they added toasted chickpeas to ground coffee. Okay. And the serving size were kept really small. And this became their coffee preparation that you still see. Yep. In Miami. And there's three particular drinks that are really popular in that area. That I just thought I would mention. I hope I pronounced them right the colada, or it's also known as a Cafe Cuban, or Cuban espresso. It's a strong and sweet drink consisting of Dark Roasted double espresso plenty of sugar. It's really small. Intense and you know, the bitterness is kind of balanced with the sugar. Next up is the Cortadito, It means small cut is made with half coffee and half milk and resembles a macchiato. Okay, as far as the amount of milk that's in it. The milk can be replaced with evaporated milk. Our mom would probably like this. It makes it thicker and more intense. And also sometimes condensed milk is used like for dessert like beverage, which that's how I've heard of Cuban coffee is where they put the sweetened condensed milk. And then there's a Cafe con Leche, which translates to Coffee with milk. Yes. And it differs from those other two it's more like a cappuccino. It's steamed milk instead of milk froth. It cracks me up so much hearing you say Cafe con Leche, because I feel like that was all I knew and was comfortable ordering in Spain and I always got something different. Oh, so everybody makes things their own way? Yes. So, this one makes no since to even try and learn the other words here because I'll get something different.  Well, that's some of things you might see in Miami, which I know it's questionable if we even truly call that the South, but it is in the region.Yeah. Well, and I was I was cracking up as I was even doing some notes for this discussion because if you come to Franklin where we live and are on the lookout for celebrities or artists, coffee shops are their offices, and that is the place to see a celebrity. If you're looking for just a general spot it's not on Broadway in our honky tonks.  No it's in coffee shops here in Franklin. I've spotted Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman right, separately and together. That was at a Starbucks countless Christian artists, many speakers and public figures. I know Christian speakers, they don't have offices. Their office is the local coffee shop. So that's where they take their meeting. So if it's a weekday , that’s a great place to see a celebrity. I also thought it was fun. Just to even think about this time of year one other food that's fun to consume with coffee is king cake. Oh yeah, we're we're almost to the end of where those that are partaking of King Cake.

We did an episode at Mardi Gras, where we talked a lot about the king cake and the baby inside and why. Many celebrate in January all the way through Mardi Gras. You're gonna see bakeries especially in New Orleans producing that cinnamon yummy cake.

Well, I would just say in closing if you'd like to try some coffee brewed in the south and we didn't go into any list of roasters all across the South but if you want to get some southern coffee mailed to you, I found a great article from Garden and Gun that has some lists of the top places that will roast and ship to you. And so I'll put those in the show notes but don't think that's how that's what southerners exclusively probably were Folgers lovers as well down here. I love Dunkin Donuts coffee Yeah, I don't just exclusively purchase the southern roasters. So, but if that's something of interest to you, I'll put that link in the show notes as well. Now I'm craving sweets and coffee. So I'm sure many of you listening have wanted to turn turn your car around from your commute and wish that you'd grabbed a second cup but hopefully that was a fun discussion for you. And until next time, Lainie, Peace be with you.

And also with y’all!