The Iowan

In the March/April 2010 issue of The Iowan

Iowa Roast
a strong brew of conversation and comfort

[ Story by Mary Gottschalk | Photography by Paul Gates ]

It’s 10 o’clock on a Wednesday morning, and the Copper Cup is percolating. Only one table near the back of the 4-year-old Cherokee coffeehouse sits empty. Several groups of women have gathered, filling most of the space. One young man sits alone with a laptop. A middle-aged couple has claimed the upholstered chairs and settled in with the morning newspaper. All are nursing a warm mug. The aroma of freshly ground beans drifts through the air.

“I used to love coffee klatches with friends when my kids were at school,” says Mary Ann Miller, the proprietor, looking out over her assembled patrons. “I wanted my shop to be welcoming, a place where friends could gather over really good coffee.”

The Copper Cup is one of more than 150 independent purveyors of specialty coffees in Iowa, most of which have opened in the last decade. A steadily increasing number of smaller communities in the state now have at least one independent coffee spot. Iowa’s largest metropolitan area boasts more than two dozen. “Indie” coffeehouses continue to open in Iowa, even as Starbucks, the country’s largest gourmet coffee retailer, has trimmed its U.S. coffee outlets by more than 5 percent.

brewing a taste for coffee
Despite the recession, the consumer market for quality coffee — espresso, latte, cappuccino, and a variety of other drinks made from freshly roasted and just-ground coffee beans — is strong. Many coffeehouses today have their own roasters and sell not only brewed coffee by the cup but also premium beans by the bag.

Iowa’s first pioneers in specialty beans and roasts poured cups of coffee primarily
for purists and those willing to pay premium prices to learn about coffee. The coffeehouses often had an exclusive “clubby” atmosphere that could seem daunting to people who didn’t speak gourmet coffee and who might feel awkward trying to sort out the complex menu that ventured well beyond the simple cup of joe.

Several national studies suggest that Starbucks may have helped indie coffeehouses expand their consumer market. The national chain popularized gourmet coffee, making “latte” and “cappuccino” part of everyday vocabulary. Stores spread across the country, creating coffee classrooms where the masses were invited to learn. A sort of coffee-for-dummies strategy brought gourmet into the mainstream.

Of course, Iowans have been drinking coffee for decades, meeting over steaming cups in diners and cafes, where, as a general rule, one could nurse a bottomless cup of regular coffee with or without a bite to eat. In a good diner, the cup was refilled — without asking. But such establishments have traditionally been barebones affairs with utilitarian furniture and ground coffee out of a can.

The first Iowa coffeehouses opened nearly two decades ago, pouring premium coffee that appealed to a small niche market. “We had to educate our customers,” recalls Cyndy Coppola, one of the founders of Des Moines’ Java Joe’s, which opened in early 1992 (followed later that year by Ames’ Stomping Grounds and the following year by Des Moines’ Zanzibar’s Coffee Adventure). “Midwesterners who’d grown up on Folger’s and Maxwell House had to be convinced that fresh-roasted coffee made from top-quality beans was worth the extra price. We vented the roaster out onto 4th Street in downtown Des Moines during the business day so people couldn’t miss the aroma.”

creating a space for gathering

While coffeehouse business models may be anchored to the beverage, most independent Iowa shops tap into the traditional quest for a provincial anchor. Diners and cafes have long been community gathering spots where Iowa farmers, politicians, and business leaders trade local gossip and do a little business in an informal setting, explains assistant professor Amahia Mallea, who teaches urban history at Drake University and is a devoted patron of local coffeehouses. Iowa’s indie coffeehouses, she says, follow the tradition of community gathering spots, but for a market that includes students, young professionals, and singles of all ages and stripes. “As more and more people live alone or in smaller family units, coffeehouses fulfill a similar need, a place where you can meet your friends or just hang out when you don’t want to be at home.”

Indie coffee houses attract customers with a three-pronged formula: comfort, convenience, and, most important, personality. Some are filled with upholstered chairs and sofas, often in conversational groupings around a fireplace, where patrons can hole up, undisturbed, for hours. Many offer free Wi-Fi, a huge draw for the non-Blackberry set who want to check email as well as for students who can do a little online researching. And some establishments draw a diverse crowd with expanded menus (including fruit juice and smoothies for the non-coffee drinkers) and areas where kids can play while parents chat. Add to the amenities a distinctive style — the personality set by the proprietor and staff and even the people that spend time there — and a community gathering place is born.

Cabin Coffee in Clear Lake reflects the Texas background of owner Brad Barber. The log-cabin feel, with wagon wheels on the walls, and a couple of tables paired not with chairs but saddles draw in passers-by who aren’t expecting a Western decor in Iowa, let alone in a coffeehouse. Many of those visitors become loyal customers. “We want people to feel free to nest, to settle in,” notes Barber’s wife, Angie. As in many coffeehouses, the Barbers encourage study groups and book clubs, and they even provide a play space —The Kids Korall — for young children. An after-school menu targets middle schoolers. “Parents set up an account so their kids can buy smoothies or cinnamon rolls,” says Angie. “The kids love it!” Angie and Brad are serious about good coffee — they roast their own — but creating a cozy environment was just as important. Angie notes that a number of their customers who have lost jobs still come in regularly. “It’s a social place to be while they are looking for a job, but now they order regular coffee rather than a latte.”

Julie McGuire brings her own unique background to Zanzibar’s in Des Moines. “After working in an upscale coffeehouse in California, I had a passion for good coffee,” says McGuire, proprietor, “and for a place where adults in the neighborhood could gather.” McGuire gave Zanzibar’s a very homey feel in a spartan sort of way. Open bags of raw coffee beans surround the roaster, and the whirr of a coffee grinder often punctuates conversation. Photos, drawings, and paintings by local artists grace the walls. Breakfast, but only breakfast, is served all day. A dozen small tables atop well-worn floors fill the long, slender space, encouraging cozy conversation. Throughout the day, the seats are filled — by Drake University faculty grading papers, people working on laptops, and neighborhood residents reading a newspaper. “We’re a low-cost luxury,” notes McGuire. “A comfortable space for the price of a cup of coffee. A lot of friendships in this community have developed over a cup of Zanzibar’s coffee.”

Saints Rest, the almost-always busy coffeehouse near Grinnell College, draws its own unique crowd. The warehouselike space is conscientiously unpretentious. The walls are plastered with consignment art, most of it by local artists, and the collection of mismatched chairs and tables looks like leftovers from a garage sale. “I was always bothered by the friction between ‘town and gown,’” says owner Jeff Phelps, a longtime resident and graduate of Grinnell College, describing the once minimal contact between the college and the larger community. “I wanted a place where different groups — students, faculty, businessmen, retirees — could mingle.” Phelps has been pleased to watch friendships develop over the last decade.

Another community space has been created at Java John’s in Decorah, one of the most recent entrants to the coffeehouse market. The menu offers made-to-order espresso and specialty coffee drinks using organic beans. “But my drawing card,” says proprietor Mary Klimesh, “is fresh-baked breads and homemade soups. I want people to feel like they are coming over to my house.”

Professor Mallea views coffeehouses through a personal as well as a professional lens. “It’s important to me — a place where I can sit and work and also run into friends,” she explains. “Even though I don’t generally buy specialty coffee drinks, having Grounds for Celebration in Beaverdale definitely influenced my decision on where to live.”

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