I don’t normally write reviews at the place I’m reviewing, but I’m glad I decided to write in Daisy Chain Coffee today. Owner Daniel Bosman greets customers as they pop in, showing them his new coffee grinder. The fig tree behind me rustles as a breeze comes through the open door, and I hear the light tink tink tink of a long metal spoon hitting the sides of a glass as Bosman mixes another drink.
I was just here on Sunday for a vintage flea market co-hosted by Daisy Chain, its neighbor Raygun and DSM Flea. It turned out to be the second-busiest day of business ever for the shop, which opened in late 2020. Sitting here on a much calmer Tuesday morning, I get to listen to Bosman chat with customers as they browse the menu, jars of Daniel Bee’s Raw Iowa Honey (which just took home a blue ribbon at the Iowa State Fair) and shelves of sculpted beeswax candles (also blue ribbon winners). I overhear one person say they’re visiting from Michigan, and butt in to say that’s where I’m from, too.
The walls are filled with art from a local artist called Payton. It’s probably my favorite art installation I’ve seen here yet. The black and white canvases are filled with trees, mountains, moonlight and the silhouettes of wild animals, soft white brush strokes bringing them to life. There’s an octopus morphing out of its own black ink spill, titled Oops, you made me ink. Much to my chagrin, it’s already sold. Finding Nemo is my favorite film.
Daisy Chain’s current art installation is by an artist called Payton Anson. — Dan Ray/Little Village 
‘Midnight Mountain’ by Payton Anson 
Daisy Chain Coffee hosts DSM Flea’s $20-and-under vintage market on Aug. 17, 2025. — Dan Ray/Little Village 
The author’s finds at the vintage market. — Dan Ray/Little Village 
The menu at Daisy Chain Coffee, 505 E Grand Ave #104, Des Moines. — Dan Ray/Little Village 
The menu at Daisy Chain Coffee. — Dan Ray/Little Village
The paintings seem to breathe, and they perfectly mimic the taxidermy hanging from the walls. A bison mounted from the shoulders looms over the espresso machine. An elk adorned with a macrame plant hanger keeps watch from the west wall. Coyote and fox pelts drape down from a wood arch. (If you read my Bar Nico write-up in last month’s Bread & Butter issue, you’ll know I’m a sucker for taxidermy.)
Walking through the vintage market, I dripped with sweat in the Iowa summer heat. So I drank a Desert Pear Honey Lemonade, made with Bosman’s award-winning honey and suggested by his daughter, Lemmy, who often works with him on weekends. I was expecting the drink to be thick with sugar, but the honey made it ever-so-subtly sweet, like a fresh-squeezed lemon on my salted tongue.
DJ Nick Nystrom played a cover of “No Diggity,” and a bright red magazine cover caught my eye. It was a Playboy from February 1994, Anna Nicole Smith on the cover. One of the headlines reads, “Heidi, Madonna, Amy and Joey: What more could you want from a year in sex?” I bought it, along with an issue from July 1991 titled, “Have they got legs! Tall Girls: The Pictorial.”
Today, Daisy Chain’s specials are updated for fall: Pumpkin White Mocha, Caramel Apple Butter Latte, Toasted Marshmallow Mocha and Salted Vanilla Cold Brew. It’s still much too hot outside for me to have a fall drink right now, so I sip on some tea and look out the window at Black Magic Tattoo and the slow-drifting clouds. If it wasn’t for the caffeine, it’d be hard to resist a pleasant nap. The wifi at Daisy Chain is free, and so is the ASMR.
This article was originally published in Little Village’s September 2025 issue.
