Patti Bess: Perseverance furthers

The long process of preparing his rental space began more than twenty months ago. Steffen signed a lease and teamed up with his mother, Wendy Hawkins. She developed the menu and works as the marketing aficionado, cook and baker. Getting the required updates done at their new site during and after the pandemic was slow going. Perseverance became their lifeline. Suppliers were back ordered. Plumbers and electricians had long lines of eager customers. Steffen and Wendy finally opened the new space, Outer Heaven Espresso.

They started with GoFundMe to raise money for repairing the espresso machine and updating the building. Surprisingly, money to begin this new endeavor appeared more generously than they had dreamed; mostly from people they didn’t know; even the owners of GoFundMe sent a generous gift for the startup company.

Most of the coffee beans purchased for Outer Heaven come from small farmers through an efficient middle man process. Beans from Ethiopia and Oaxaca are currently Steffen’s preferred varieties. He also buys naturally processed beans from Brazil, one of the world’s largest coffee producers. Snell blends the beans after roasting to balance flavors and minimize acidity.

You’ll find no “candy bar coffees” at Outer Heaven; but a deep experience of the flavor of coffee itself. “I think of my roaster as a kind of crucible, a tool to temper the beauty of the bean. I believe in a balanced medium roast, light enough to really grasp the nuance of terroir and process while developed enough to be smooth and accessible,” Steffen commented.

Outdoor seating will be happening soon, but meanwhile Wendy’s take and carry menu options sound mouthwatering including a Benedict Arnold Sandwich; not exactly Eggs Benedict but a toaster muffin slathered in Hollandaise sauce, layered with sliced ham, and a 6-minute egg squished inside. And it’s possible to get toasted at Outer Heaven Espresso with a multi-grain, thick cut bread from Truckee Sourdough Company toasted with toppers like goat cheese and baby greens or avocado, lime and salt.

Outer Heaven Espresso has been open for several weeks and is located next to Jernigan’s on Searls Avenue in Nevada City. They are planning on being open every day in the near future. Their grand opening will take place on November 19 and 20. The following recipe is one of Wendy’s specialties and often offered at the shop.

Mango Fruit Muffin

Two cups organic all purpose flour

One tablespoon baking powder

One half teaspoon salt

One half cup organic sugar

One third cup organic coconut oil

Two eggs

One cup coconut cream

One teaspoon vanilla

One small handful of fruit per muffin (use mango, blueberries or cut up pears)

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees, then reduce to 375.

Combine dry ingredients. Blend oil, eggs, vanilla and coconut cream together. Fold into the flour mixture. Add the cut up fruit to the muffin cup; then fill dough evenly to just below the top of the cup. Sprinkle with coconut sugar.

Reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake for approximately 30 to 40 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Makes 9 jumbo muffins

Patti Bess is a freelance writer and cookbook author. She lives in Grass Valley.

The origins of coffee

There are many stories about the origins of coffee. One from the seventh century tells of a Yemenis goat herder in the highlands of Ethiopia, named Kaldi. He noticed his flock running and dancing happily after eating red berries growing on a strange-looking bush. Being a curious goat herder, Kaldi chewed on some berries and experienced the same urge to run and dance as his goats. He excitedly took some of the berries to the abbots at a local monastery. Disapproving of the berries’ psychoactive qualities, the abbots threw the berries into a fire and claimed they were evil. The enticingly rich aroma of the roasting berries aroused their own curiosity. They decided to rake the embers from the fire, grind them and dissolve them in hot water. They then proclaimed they were not evil, but divine. Word spread quickly across northeast Africa and coffee drinking spread into the Arabian Peninsula where its popularity burgeoned.

Explorers to the Near East in the 1600s returned to Europe with tales about an unusually aromatic, dark beverage that made them feel energetic and euphoric. Traders rushed to exchange their wares for the coffee, which they brought back to Europe in large quantities.

By the 1700’s coffee houses had spread throughout Europe. They became centers of communication and social gathering spots; often known as “penny universities” because patrons (men only) could buy a cup of hot aromatic coffee for one penny and enjoy lively conversations.