Orland’s busy community center is home to a coffee shop and bakery again.
Ebee’s Sweets, based in Castine, opened a second location Wednesday at the former elementary school in a spot that formerly housed the short-lived Compass Rose Cafe.
The shop brings back grab-and-go options to the rural town and will also become a space for community events, according to owner Erin Schmal. It’s among several new tenants in the building, which has been repurposed since it shuttered in 2011 due to low enrollment. This year a variety store and a medical practice have joined other businesses including hair and nail salons, a barbershop, a fitness center and professional offices.
Schmal, originally from Arizona, got serious about baking through a job on a windjammer that sailed out of Camden, where she worked in a small galley baking for up to 37 people with no power on occasionally rough seas. There, she learned to do more with less, found joy in providing good food and discovered a new way to be creative through developing recipes and using available ingredients.
“I wouldn’t say I’m the most creative person, but I feel like it draws the creativity out of me, in a different way than like an artist type of creativity,” Schmal said. “It’s nice to be able to kind of think about a flavor or something and just create it.”
On the boat, she met the owner of Compass Rose Books in Castine, which had housed another cafe inside and opened a second location at the community center in 2024. Schmal started her own baking business in the bookstore last summer and later jumped at the opportunity to expand into Orland.
The Orland location will also have weekly special deals. The menu includes espresso-based drinks, cold brew and drip coffee, matcha, smoothies and golden milk, which is a latte-style drink mixed with spices including turmeric. Syrups and flavoring are handmade in-house, including ganache for hot chocolate and mochas.
Bakery specialties include fudgy brownies with a hint of salt, rotating cookie choices, different bar flavors and a daily breakfast pastry like a muffin or scone. Those options will be anchored by cookies including s’mores-flavor, brown butter chocolate chip and gluten-free coconut chocolate chip. Biscuit sandwiches are also available with egg, cheese and optional sausage.
Schmal plans to use the eclectically decorated space for community events like game nights and a book club. Customers are also welcome to hang out or get remote work done, she said. The walls will feature rotating displays by under-the-radar local artists.
The cafe in the building on Schoolhouse Road is open Wednesday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.