The two cups of café au lait I have every morning are a wonderful addiction. I make them with Union coffee and chicory, brewed so dark that it leaves the side of the cup deep brown for a moment when I swirl it. I mix that with an equal amount of milk, and the pleasure begins.

Serious purists insist that great coffee and chicory can only be brewed in an enamel coffee biggin (an old-fashioned pot that requires one to slowly drip small amounts of water through the grounds manually). Ho