TIFFIN -- Deja Brew Coffee House & Bakery has started anew with signature drinks and an expanded menu for breakfast, lunch and baked goods in a new town.
Over four years after it started, Deja Brew has come full circle back to about the same location it first opened in.
From a 1958 vintage travel trailer, owner Kara Molle started serving coffee in 2021 at the same Tiffin parking lot her customers park in now.
After serving there for four days a week, as well as other locations, Deja Brew moved into its first brick-and-mortar at 116. N. August Ave. in Oxford in December 2022.
In June, the coffee house and bakery has moved back to Tiffin with a new brick-and-mortar where eclectic antique furniture, a forest mural and a hand-painted floor offer warm vibes with a larger menu.
"I get to really expand my palate, which is important to me as a creator," Molle said.
Molle, previously a longtime employee for Big Grove Brewery in merchandising and human resources, has known baking her whole life.
Growing up in Missouri's Amish country, she learned to bake from a German grandmother and neighbors like "Miss Sarah."
But as a grown-up, baking took on a new definition as Molle raised her children at home and battled cancer, on and off, for 19 years. For the holidays, she would make New York-style cheesecakes, dinner rolls, French bread and more.
"Anything I can think of just to kind of generate some personal income," she said.
When cancer returned in early 2020, Big Grove Brewery cofounder Doug Goettsch encouraged her to follow her dreams and open a bakery.
After initially taking another job as a personal banker, it's advice she eventually followed up on. With a passion for baking, she formulated a cafe by teaching herself about coffee and espresso through a home espresso machine and plenty of trial and error.
Today, Deja Brew Coffee House's drinks feature a wide variety of handcrafted espresso drinks, brewed classics and energy drinks.
A custom coffee blend by Capanna Coffee Roasters imbues single-origin beans from a seventh-generation family farm in Guatemala with a medium body, citrus-berry aroma, and rich milk chocolate finish.
"I set the bar high for quality of beans and every ingredient that goes into it," Molle said. "I am a black coffee drinker. I really love the taste and flavor of coffee. If I can't drink it black, I don't want it."
That standard applies to the rest of her menu, almost all of which is made with organic and raw ingredients sourced locally, whenever possible.
"I think it makes a huge difference in the product," she said.
Her new drink menu embraces the nuances of high-quality caffeine with signatures like the shaken espressos in flavors like Sandy Shores with white mocha and cookie butter, or French Toast with cinnamon, maple syrup and chocolate sauce -- all made with raw brown sugar.
The new location's clientele and higher traffic volume has allowed for greater range in the menu.
"Nobody would order a shaken espresso to save your life (in Oxford)," Molle said.
In addition to classic espresso drinks and a rotating menu of monthly specials, the drink menu also offers Tiki Breeze energy drinks made without synthetic ingredients in fruity, tropical flavors like Summer Breeze, Cherry Limeade and Purple Paradise.
What started with a simple selection of baked goods has grown into a full restaurant menu with sandwiches, salads, bagels and more.
For breakfast, served all day, Molle's signature bagels are made in house daily before they fly out the door.
Find them used in sandwiches like the popular Bee Sting with egg, bacon or sausage, American cheese, hot honey and homemade scallion cream cheese. Or, try them in the bite-sized bagel bomb -- a hard-to-find form stuffed with cream cheese or ham and cheese.
The breakfast menu is rounded out by popular items like the loaded breakfast burrito and toasts topped with avocado or salmon.
For lunch, a simple menu includes the BLT sandwich, a chicken salad, chopped chicken on Molle's signature focaccia bread or a soup of the day.
The bakery case is filled daily with Molle's original cinnamon roll, focaccia bread, banana bread, gourmet cookies and double fudge brownies.
Drinks and a selection of food can also be found semiweekly at Deja Brew's coffee cart at the University of Iowa Health Care's Medical Center Downtown campus, as well as other mobile locations. Keep an eye on the café's Facebook page for each week's hours of operation.
No matter the location, Molle prides her business on serving more than caffeine and calories.
"We're so much more than coffee. We're really community focused and family focused," she said. "We pride ourselves on creating a safe space."
Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or [email protected].
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