Maeva's

Before leaving Alton, IL this morning, I had breakfast with my niece Karen at Maeva's Coffee (http://www.maevascoffee.com). After dinner last night, we Googled Alton coffee shops and were surprised to learn about Maeva's; it claims to be Alton's only independently owned coffee shop as well as 100% crowd-sourced funded. Maeva's is built (I believe in 2014) inside Alton's historic Milton Schoolhouse; seems like a great repurposing of this old building.

I wanted to try their baked steel-cut oatmeal but it includes sugar (not sure why) so I ordered the artichoke/tomato quiche instead with white tea. The tea was very good, the quiche was ok. They had several other baked goods including scones, muffins, cookies, and blueberry coffee cake (Karen ordered the latter). She had coffee with her coffee cake (kinda makes sense:) and loved the coffee.

Really like the atmosphere of the coffee shop but we both wondered how they could possible make a go of it. One customer arrived before us (we got there at 6:55am - 5 minutes before they opened) and only a couple after so not a lot of traffic.

Turns out my niece and I share a passion for baking; must be in our genes as my mother (her grandmother) was the family baker. Can't wait to start baking again. Before leaving Alton, I gave Karen the sourdough starter my sister Jean gave me before I left Colorado; I'll get more when I land in MD.

The baked goods.

The menu - very affordable.

Would love to have this spoonbill artwork on my wall if I had a wall:)

The entrance.

Me (I'm o the right) and a species of African antelope (I think).

Blueberry coffee cake.