The Easy Coffee Hack For Cutting Back On Your Caffeine Consumption

Over the years, coffee lovers have been pulled and pushed in all sorts of directions. Coffee could help you live longer! No, drinking too much coffee is bad for you! No, coffee is good for you ... again. You shouldn't drink more than this many cups — or maybe you should drink more? 

It's all a bit confusing, but most people who like to start their day with that warm, tasty beverage just want to drink it because it tastes good. It can make coffee drinkers feel more alert, too; it clears the cobwebs from your brain in the morning, so to speak.

However, if you're concerned about having a few too many cups, there are a few things you can do about it, including cutting back. And if you're one of those people who can easily cut out indulgence, then go for it. But for the rest of us, the answer might be something that New Orleanians have been doing since the 1700s.

If you've been to New Orleans, you might have ordered the scrumptious, square donut-like beignets topped with powdered sugar at the famous Café Du Monde. And you might have grabbed a cup of café au lait to go with them. But what you might not know is that a New Orleans café au lait's flavor comes from the fact that it's a blend of coffee and chicory root. It's not just a gimmick for tourists; it's the coffee that many New Orleanians wake up to on a daily basis. It also has another benefit: Chicory doesn't contain caffeine.

Chicory has been harvested since ancient Egyptian times and was once used as a medicinal brew, according to Smithsonian. Many people use it as a substitute for coffee altogether, but in France, it became popular to mix chicory root with coffee. This not only makes the coffee beans last longer but also adds to the flavor profile. This practice was brought over to the United States when the French owned Louisiana, and like many things, was integrated and is still part of popular culture today.

What the French and the Louisianans probably didn't know was that by using this practice of mixing coffee and chicory, they were also reducing their caffeine intake. And it's something that you can incorporate into your daily routine as well. You can buy chicory root coffee blends such as CDMs, French Market Roast, and Community Coffee online.