Coffeehouse pepping up Pine Ridge

By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer | Sunday, January 15, 2006

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PINE RIDGE - Like clockwork, Angie Sam arrives at Pine Ridge’s newest coffeehouse every Thursday morning for her weekly macchiato, an espresso coffee topped with foamed milk.

“I have a conference call at 8:30 a.m. every Thursday, so I have to be awake,” Sam said.

After downing the caffeine-saturated drink, Sam said she’s “alive and kicking after that.”

She is just one of the many customers who have found their way into Higher Ground, a new coffeehouse owned and operated by Belva and Leon Matthews, both members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

Leon Matthews, 40, who is also pastor at Gospel Fellowship Church in Pine Ridge and Slim Buttes Oglala Wesleyan Church, said they have tapped into a culture of coffee drinkers, both locally and nationally.

“Part of this is just growing that coffee culture. It’s a business where we’re going to grow and develop our clientele,” Matthews said. “We’ve been open for eight months, and we’re still getting first-time customers.”

The Associated Press reported that the 2005 National Coffee Drinking Trends survey by the National Coffee Association found that more than 172 million American adults drank coffee and 15 percent — about 32 million — said they drank gourmet coffee daily. That’s an increase of 9 percent from six years ago.

The Matthews opened the cozy coffeehouse — complete with full coffee bar, Internet access, music sound system and an overhead TV — after renovating the two-bedroom house that formerly served as a parsonage to Gospel Fellowship Church.

Leon Matthews said that Belva, 40, the true coffee lover of the family, dreamed of creating a first-class business. A little more than two years ago, she thought they might be able to do this, he said.

“It was all her vision,” he said.

“This house has a lot of memories for me,” Belva Matthews said of her business.

Born and raised in Pine Ridge, Belva remembers playing in the parsonage as a child. She left home to complete her college education, but returned in 1995. Her mother, Louella Brown Eyes, with her extended family, had moved into the parsonage, which had become dilapidated.

At Pine Ridge, Belva taught school and managed The Nook, a little book and video library that she opened once a week in the corner of her husband’s church basement. Wanting to encourage family literacy, Belva would serve free coffee, rolls or a meal to the people who attended. It was the beginning of her dream of a coffeehouse.

But her mother’s deteriorating health and her daughter’s poor health stalled those dreams. By the time Louella Brown Eyes died in 2005, the roof had started to collapse into the interior of the parsonage. The house was abandoned. “We thought about tearing it down,” Belva Matthews said.

In 2003, the Matthews lost their 17-year-old daughter, Kayla Lou, who had been on a waiting list for a heart transplant. “I was at a point in my life where I was so discouraged,” Belva said.

But soon, friends and strangers stepped forward to contribute money, materials and labor toward remodeling and replacing the roof of the ramshackle house. College students on spring break stripped and stained discarded furnishings and erected lattice-work railings on the patio deck. When one group had to leave, another group took its place to grout and tile, replace doors, windows and flooring or paint the building.

“The whole place is based on a very strong faith in God,” Belva said.

Even the name “Higher Ground” is steeped in faith.

“It’s from one of my favorite hymns,” Belva said.

Situated on a corner on U.S. Highway 18 only two blocks east of the Main Street stoplight, the coffeehouse opened May 15 with the help of a small army of college and church ministry volunteers and aid from the Oglala Oyate Woitancan Empowerment Zone, a program designed to boost economic development on the reservation.

A small parking space in back of the rust-colored building with brown trim leads to a 1,531-square-foot L-shaped patio deck that surrounds the north and east sides of the house.

Inside, customers can sit at four small tables and choose among four Dark Canyon Coffee Co. coffee blends or 27 flavors for the espresso drinks. Along with the coffee menu assortment of cappuccinos, lattes, mochas, frappucinos and smoothies is the Lakota-inspired Wojapi Bomb — a thick blueberry smoothie. A garland of braided wild turnips decorates the kitchen wall, next to a pan of blueberry muffins cooling on a gleaming stove.

Two comfortable, brown leather couches offer customers a place to relax, read the newspaper or simply soak up the atmosphere. Artist James Two Elk’s ink drawings accent the room and hallway. There is a wireless Internet connection so people can connect their laptop computers to the Internet.

As a student in Minnesota, Belva spent plenty of time in coffee shops developing a taste for Starbucks and Caribou brand coffees.

“When I started drinking those, I thought ‘You know, I’m never going to drink that stuff you get at the gas station anymore,’ ” she said, laughing at the memory.

Like many coffeehouses, local musicians have brought guitars to Higher Ground to play acoustic sets for the evening crowds. The last Thursday of each month is poetry night, during which local poets and students read their work.

“When we thought of opening, I believed we could do the same thing as other coffeehouses,” Belva said.

She said she didn’t want to serve coffee and foods that were just OK but tried to provide her customers an excellent product.

“I didn’t want to go second-rate,” she said.

That decision continues to pay off.

Like her daughter Angie, Emma Featherman-Sam of Pine Ridge stops by Higher Grounds about three times a week for her fix of gourmet coffee and a muffin.

“My favorites are the cappuccinos and the gourmet hot chocolate,” she said.

Bob Farmer, a Crossroads Christian Church task force leader from Kentucky, knows the Matthews and had stopped by to visit and sample the Breakfast Blend.

He and Leon shared one of Higher Ground’s four tables, sipping coffee and talking.

“I drove all the way from Kentucky for this,” Farmer said, lifting his cup.

Although Farmer may good-naturedly rib Leon and Belva Matthews, he is absolutely serious when it comes to his morning cup of coffee.

“There is none better than this,” he said after his first sip.

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com