{"id":52021,"date":"2019-12-08T09:46:01","date_gmt":"2019-12-08T15:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=52021"},"modified":"2019-12-09T23:57:19","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T05:57:19","slug":"suzanne-stone-brews-up-new-orleans-coffee-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/suzanne-stone-brews-up-new-orleans-coffee-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Suzanne Stone brews up &#8216;New Orleans Coffee&#8217; history"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By ALAN SMASON<\/p>\n<p>When Suzanne Stone first moved full-time to New Orleans in 2013, she was busy attending to her duties as the temple administrator for Congregation Gates of Prayer in Metairie. A Chicago native who had spent her life hither and yon, she had relocated at that time from the Washington, D.C. area, where she had been living for quite some time. It didn&#8217;t take long after her arrival for her to note the city&#8217;s love affair with Mardi Gras, food, cocktails and coffee.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/FRONTCOVER.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-52061 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/FRONTCOVER-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/FRONTCOVER-201x300.jpg 201w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/FRONTCOVER-768x1144.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/FRONTCOVER-687x1024.jpg 687w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/FRONTCOVER.jpg 968w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 201px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 201\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-52061 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/FRONTCOVER-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/FRONTCOVER-201x300.jpg 201w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/FRONTCOVER-768x1144.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/FRONTCOVER-687x1024.jpg 687w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/FRONTCOVER.jpg 968w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a>After her retirement a year later, she decided to explore that local connection more fully as she took courses to become certified as a tour guide and immersed herself in all things about the Crescent City she found interesting.<\/p>\n<p>That journey from temple administrator to tour guide has now led her to her becoming an author with the publication of her book &#8220;New Orleans Coffee: A Rich History&#8221; by American Palate, a division of History Press.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Stone is quick to point out that it all stemmed from her lifelong love of learning, which derived from her practice of Judaism, and a blog post.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I wrote a post about two characters in New Orleans coffee history,&#8221; Stone told the CCJN in a phone interview. &#8220;One is the woman most people know as Rose Nicaud.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Born a Creole slave, Nicaud was the first coffee vendor in New Orleans, who became so famous for her coffee that she was able to buy her freedom. Her coffee was famously described as, &#8220;the benediction that follows after prayer,&#8221; which is the title for the chapter in the book about her.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I had always admired Rose. I loved the story. Here you have this great empowering story of a woman in the 1700s able to do what she was able to do because of the French and Spanish laws that not everybody knows about,&#8221; Stone related.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I also talked about a man who is not nearly as well-known, Henry Lonsdale,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;Lonsdale was this fascinating guy. He invented the burlap bag and then lost his entire fortune in the Panic of 1838.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_52062\" style=\"width: 209px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/chicory-plant.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-52062\" class=\"wp-image-52062 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/chicory-plant-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/chicory-plant-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/chicory-plant.jpg 405w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 199px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 199\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-52062\" class=\"wp-image-52062 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/chicory-plant-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/chicory-plant-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/chicory-plant.jpg 405w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-52062\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The chicory plant. (Photo via Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>While most people recall Lonsdale today as the original owner of the Garden District home Anne Rice sold to Nicholas Cage, Stone had done the research on Lonsdale&#8217;s important connection to the coffee industry and New Orleans coffee history.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Today all over the world, coffee is shipped in burlap bags. It is still the mode of bagging and shipping,&#8221; she continued. But that&#8217;s not the only reason Stone was taken with Lonsdale.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He was the biggest coffee importer before the Civil War. There were rare &#8211; now and&nbsp; again comments &#8211; that he was the man who introduced chicory to New Orleans and the question of chicory had always intrigued me,&#8221; Stone noted.<\/p>\n<p>If the port was blockaded, how did chicory get into the city, she wondered. &#8220;Even today most chicory is imported from France.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>So, it was her curiosity about chicory that prompted her to do more research, which fostered the blog post and caught the eye of History Press. They approached Stone about writing a book on coffee in New Orleans, the scope of which still makes her laugh.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was a bit of a challenge, but I&#8217;ve been articulating lately something I had never completely realized myself,&#8221; Stone mused. &#8220;One of my absolute first loves is learning and what better way to do it than have to research a whole book?&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_24101\" style=\"width: 235px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Stone_Suzanne.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24101\" class=\"wp-image-24101 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Stone_Suzanne-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Stone_Suzanne-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Stone_Suzanne.jpg 462w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 225px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 225\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24101\" class=\"wp-image-24101 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Stone_Suzanne-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Stone_Suzanne-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Stone_Suzanne.jpg 462w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-24101\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Suzanne Stone (Photo courtesy of Suzanne Stone)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Stone enlisted the services of a fellow Jewish tour guide she had met in classes at the Cabildo, David Feldman, to co-author the book. She assigned him the task of researching coffee because he is an avid coffee drinker, while she delved more deeply into the history of coffee and New Orleans&#8217; more historic connections.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;During the process \u2013 maybe a third of the way in \u2013 he became quite ill and pulled out entirely,&#8221; Stone explained. &#8220;I let him know that I was going ahead with my plans. I was going to pick up the chapters on coffee.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While Stone continued her research, she put off the interviews with the current coffee shops, hoping Feldman would be finished with his medical treatment later in the year and might be able to return to the project. &#8220;I told him: &#8216;The book is the last thing you need to worry about,'&#8221; Stone recalled. As it turned out, he did.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He came back in and helped the coffee chapters,&#8221; Stone was quick to point out. &#8220;He actually reviewed every word and we collaborated very much in an editing process. Having a collaborator made it much, much easier, especially someone I knew loved history and research and history as much as I did and was the coffee drinker.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Stone begins the work on coffee with several fundamental chronological history chapters as an overview of New Orleans, its culture and its people. &#8220;Since it&#8217;s about New Orleans, we opened with New Orleans, then went back to coffee and once coffee is covered, then went back to New Orleans chronologically,&#8221; Stone expounded.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_52064\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/roasted-chicory.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-52064\" class=\"wp-image-52064 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/roasted-chicory-300x230.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"230\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/roasted-chicory-300x230.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/roasted-chicory.jpg 473w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/230;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-52064\" class=\"wp-image-52064 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/roasted-chicory-300x230.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"230\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/roasted-chicory-300x230.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/roasted-chicory.jpg 473w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-52064\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dried chicory root. (Photo via Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The question of&nbsp; how chicory got into New Orleans coffee was the first thing she researched, although it appears in the book first in the sixth chapter. &#8220;Its place in the history did seem to be in terms of&nbsp; introduction in New Orleans (in the) 1800s. That&#8217;s when it was introduced,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;Whether it was by French coming here in the 1820s and 30s or by&nbsp; Germans in the 1840s, it definitely comes here and the letters and advertisements were all (in the) 1820s and 1830s.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Today chicory as an ingredient in coffee is commonly used in just a few areas, which include Belgium, France and New Orleans. While a decrease in domestic chicory consumption was noted after World War II, its popularity here in New Orleans continues unabated.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I believe historically it was a replacement and then because people liked it, they kept it in their coffee as a flavor,&#8221; Stone said.<\/p>\n<p>Stone noted that everywhere else in the world the use of chicory was considered as counterfeit or a swindle. Due to its being cheaper than coffee, it was commonly used as an additive to &#8220;extend&#8221; coffee and make more money. &#8220;It was a cheat on you,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The difference is that chicory can be kept for at least a year and coffee shouldn&#8217;t be kept that long,&#8221; Stone added.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to chapters with numerous photos featuring the roasting and &#8220;cupping&#8221; processes in manufacturing coffee also penned by Feldman, Stone&#8217;s book includes a number of recipes peppered throughout the book such as Dora Teles&#8217; honey cake, which has coffee as one of its ingredients.<\/p>\n<p>Famous coffee houses such as Caf\u00e9 du Monde are featured prominently along with famous industry figures like Phyllis Jordan, the founder of P.J.&#8217;s Coffee.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;New Orleans Coffee: A Rich History&#8221; &#8211; by Suzanne Stone with David Feldman 190 p. &#8211; $21.99 &#8211; American Palate &#8211; History Press<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Suzanne%20Stone%20brews%20up%20%27New%20Orleans%20Coffee%27%20history\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":52061,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10353,7418,10354,8790,8795,8788,7086],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52021"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52021"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52092,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52021\/revisions\/52092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}