Have you ventured over to Shorewood’s newest café? If so, you probably already know that Love Cafe, 3801 N. Oakland Ave., isn’t just another coffee shop. But you may not know the story behind this unique space where healing comes without jargon or a sense of exclusivity.
Sure, you’ll find words like spirulina, ashwagandha and ceremonial cacao on the menu. And you can order a $15 Ayurvedic elixir that will make you feel amazing. But you’re also welcome to grab a $3 Americano and enjoy it while smoking a cigarette on the patio. Either way, there's no judgment.
“The wellness industry has a really bad reputation,” says owner Kaleigh Atkinson. “Things tend to be expensive and they feel exclusive. If you’re not part of the clique, you feel out of place. That’s not what I want Love Cafe to be. I don’t want to be stereotyped with the typical woo-woo wellness and yoga. I want to simplify things for the average person who’s walking by. There’s a place here for everyone.”
Her unique approach has made Love Cafe both approachable and intentional. Guests stop in for Ayurvedic elixirs or nourishing lattes, but just as often, they linger for conversation and connection. “People tend to come here to commune,” she says. “To talk, to share, to just be.”
Coffee, cacao & creative drinks
Peruse the menu at Love Cafe, and you’ll find a wide range of high-quality items, from locally roasted coffee and espresso drinks to drinks made with housemade syrups and thoughtfully sourced teas and botanicals, such as ceremonial cacao, long known for its wellness benefits.
Coffee lovers can start their day with a V60 pour-over made with Sugar Leaf Coffee, alongside the full complement of espresso drinks and cold brew.
But you’ll also find specialty creations like the Love Scoop — a miso vanilla sea salt date caramel latte named after a special moment during an event at the café with Kayte Vogelsang (@k_creative_counsel). Ask for it; it’s delicious.
Matcha fans can keep it traditional or order the iced Mango Matcha, which blends ceremonial-grade matcha with fruity mango nectar.
And if you’d prefer something sweet without the caffeine, try the housemade Electric Love featuring ginger ale and blueberry sage syrup, topped with the sparkling vigor of Topo Chico.
Love Cafe also offers freshly blended smoothies filled with simple, healthful ingredients, including fresh fruit, coconut milk, freshly squeezed juices, herbs and superfruit powders. You can even customize signature creations like the Scarlet (made with berries, spinach, mint and apple juice with ashwagandha blend, turmeric blend, superfood mushrooms, flax and chia seeds or almond butter).
Not without coincidence, numerous drinks on the menu also make delicious use of ceremonial cacao, an ingredient long-prized for its antioxidants, minerals and mood-boosting neuro-compounds (including phenylethylamine, sometimes called the "love molecule"). That includes Ethereal Cacao with palo santo syrup and Follow Your Bliss with ashwagandha blend and roses.
This beauty is called Love Child (ceremonial cacao, turmeric blend and chai syrup).
Nourish your body
The food at Love Cafe isn’t an afterthought. Thanks to a chef-led menu from Juneil Cabreza of The Bad English, the café offers breakfast and lunch dishes that are just as nourishing as the drinks.
Peruse the offerings and you’ll find granola, yogurt and fruit bowls and breakfast sandwiches, including a Filipino breakfast sandwich featuring housemade focaccia, fluffy steamed eggs, Gouda, longanisa pork sausage, atchar (pickled ginger, carrots, green papaya and garlic) and Sriracha aioli.
Breakfast burritos begin with a whole wheat tortilla, two fluffy steamed eggs, roasted sweet potato, roasted pepper, green onion and spiced black beans with red or green salsa (also available vegan or gluten-free).
Housemade Jackfruit Tamales are both vegan and gluten-free, filled with seasoned jackfruit, caramelized onions, roasted garlic, tomato and hibiscus wrapped inside blue corn masa with red or green salsa.
There are also lighter, seasonal, vegetable-focused salads, including Carrot Sesame or Cucumber Salad with lemon vinaigrette.
Guests can also stop in for Girl Dinner (snacky, shareable, communal dinner) on Wednesdays from 4 to 8 p.m. and The Bad English Filipino food pop-up every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
In addition to nourishing her customers with tea, coffee and food, Atkinson teaches yoga at the café from 7 to 9 a.m. She also opens the space to others who want to offer workshops, yoga or healing circles.
The woman behind the café
For years, Kaleigh Atkinson wasn’t sure she’d live past 28.
She spent her twenties in the service industry, caught in a cycle of late nights, heavy drinking and temporary escapes. Life, she recalls, was pretty dark. But travel offered moments of clarity.
During a lengthy stay in Australia, she worked as an au pair. She spent days filled with reading, yoga and meditation. She went hiking, captured the beauty of the landscape on camera – and fell in love with the simple ritual of coffee, watching a man brew pour-overs on the beach. Before she left, she applied for a 10-day Vipassana.
Even then, she fell back into the spiral.
“I came home. And the first chance I could get, I ran away,” she says. “I went to Santa Fe, I met a boy and I started drinking. We had a great time. But it turns out he was on the run… and I was an idiot...”
Years later, having been beaten down by their particularly turbulent relationship, a cross-country detour that ended back in Milwaukee and a broken heart, Atkinson hit a breaking point. “That’s when I realized I had lost myself,” she says. “And I didn’t want to waste any more time.”
Creating a safe space
Sobriety came next. Atkinson started teaching Ashtanga yoga, dove deeper into meditation and slowly began piecing together the life she wanted. On weekends, she rolled out a small coffee cart at Zócalo Food Park, serving drinks with an eye toward both flavor and wellness.
It was a tiny start, but it planted a seed.
By December 2023, she had signed a lease on a former bakery space in Shorewood. And just two months later, on Valentine’s Day 2024, she opened the doors to Love Cafe, a space she describes as “a culmination of everything that saved my life.”
But for Atkinson, Love Cafe isn’t just a business. It's a coffee shop, a yoga studio, a wellness space, an eatery and a place for folks to connect.
It’s also the product of years of searching, healing, and rediscovering herself. It's proof that there’s recovery in the quiet act of brewing coffee. And it's evidence that there’s power in the simple act of choosing to stay.
“This space is about survival,” she says. “It’s about community. And it’s about love.”
Love Cafe is open for yoga clients seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. The coffee shop is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Wednesday from 4 to 8 p.m. (for Girl Dinners). The Bad English pop-up takes place during regular hours on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Additional programming is scheduled after hours. Follow @lovecafemke on Instagram for upcoming workshops and pop-ups.
As a passionate champion of the local dining scene, Lori has reimagined the restaurant critic's role into that of a trusted dining concierge, guiding food lovers to delightful culinary discoveries and memorable experiences.
Lori is an avid cook whose accrual of condiments and spices is rivaled only by her cookbook collection. Her passion for the culinary industry was birthed while balancing A&W root beer mugs as a teenage carhop, fed by insatiable curiosity and fueled by the people whose stories entwine with every dish. Lori is the author of two books: the "Wisconsin Field to Fork" cookbook and "Milwaukee Food". Her work has garnered journalism awards from entities including the Milwaukee Press Club. In 2024, Lori was honored with a "Top 20 Women in Hospitality to Watch" award by the Wisconsin Restaurant Association.
When she’s not eating, photographing food, writing or planning for TV and radio spots, you’ll find Lori seeking out adventures with her husband Paul, traveling, cooking, reading, learning, snuggling with her cats and looking for ways to make a difference.