Coffee House began with Toothpaste, a mimeograph magazine founded by Allan Kornblum in Iowa in 1970.[5] After taking a University of Iowa typography course with the acclaimed Harry Duncan, Kornblum was inspired to turn Toothpaste into Toothpaste Press, a small publishing company dedicated to producing poetry pamphlets and letterpress books.[6] After 10 years of publishing letterpress books, Kornblum closed the press in December 1983; the following year, he moved to Minneapolis, reopened the press as a nonprofit organization, and began printing trade books.[7] Concerned that the press's lighthearted name belied his serious commitment to the press's authors and readers, Kornblum renamed it Coffee House Press.[8]