How does the addition of Chicory affect coffee?

Question

Chicory is a common additive in Indian Coffee. A quick search in wikipedia reveals that it is usually 20-30% in coffee powder. Can coffee be made solely out of chicory? Does the chicory root contain caffeine or just the flavor profile of coffee?

Answer 1

Roasted chicory root (which is what you are adding to coffee) contains no caffeine.

What chicory does is add a nice, roasted flavor to coffee, which is desireable either for cultural reasons, or to offset the bitter flavor of over-roasted low-grade coffee beans. Originally, it was also added because it was much, much cheaper than coffee. That's not true anymore, even in India as far as I know.

Proper New Orleans or Vietnamese coffee also contains a lot of chicory.

Answer 2

Chicory has no caffeine, hence it reduces the caffeine content in brewed coffee. It also thickens the brew.