FOLEY, Ala. — A few steps from the heart of downtown Foley, Coastlands Coffee has become a place where the espresso is serious, the food leans savory and the whole operation is built around the idea of bringing people together. The shop on North Alston Street opened in 2025 and is run by a local couple who see it as both a business and a ministry.
Joanna Mayes owns Coastlands Coffee with her husband, Robert. The family has called the Baldwin County area home since around 1998, and the shop grew out of their long involvement with a church right next door.
A Building Next to Church
For years, the Mayes family has attended The Table Church, which sits beside the property at 358 N. Alston St. The building was once an office for the financial services firm Edward Jones. Walking past it one day, Mayes said, she felt the property could become something that worked hand in hand with the church.
When she stopped in to ask about it, the timing turned out to be right.
“I got really fortunate when I walked over and talked to the ladies,” Mayes said. “They said that they were actually in the process of wanting to move to a different location, and they connected me with a man that owned the building, and we were able to get him to let us buy it, so we purchased the whole property.”
The building already had some coffee history. A shop called Our Coffee operated there before it closed in 2023. Mayes said she had long pictured a community coffee shop with a ministry mission behind it, and eventually she and her husband decided they were brave enough to open one on their own. Coastlands Coffee opened its doors in 2025.
A Name From Scripture and the Shoreline
The shop’s name comes from the Bible. Isaiah 42:12 reads, “Let them give glory to the Lord and proclaim his praise to the coastlands.”
Mayes said the name arrived while she was sitting at home, looking out at the water.
“I was sitting and looking out behind my house,” Mayes said. “I live on the water. I live on coastlands, so I was looking out at the water and then the name came, and I remembered I’ve seen the scriptures that have that name also. It’s one of those times where you feel like God just drops a name.”
For a shop in south Baldwin County, where bays, rivers and the Gulf of Mexico shape daily life, the name fits the setting as well as the mission.
Locally Roasted Beans
Coastlands Coffee sources its beans from Nova Coffee, a roaster based across the bay in Mobile. Working with a regional roaster keeps the supply chain close to home and ties the Foley shop to the broader Gulf Coast coffee community.
The everyday menu covers the classics: lattes, cortados, cold brew and cappuccinos. For those less familiar with coffee shop terminology, a cortado is a small drink of espresso cut with roughly an equal amount of steamed milk, making it stronger and less milky than a latte. A cappuccino, meanwhile, balances espresso with steamed milk and a thicker cap of foam.
Fall Flavors on the Board
Seasonal drinks are a big part of the shop’s personality, and the fall lineup is already in place. Current offerings include:
- Pumpkin patch espresso, made with a house-made brown butter pumpkin syrup.
- Maple tree cold brew, sweetened with maple syrup and finished with cold foam and cinnamon.
- Amber harvest chai, made with apple cider and a touch of maple syrup.
Those drinks join a steady rotation of seasonal specials that change through the year, giving regulars a reason to check the menu board on each visit.
Savory Food With a Sweet Coffee
Coastlands Coffee is not just a stop for pastries. Alongside a selection of bakery items and muffins, the shop serves savory food including turkey and cheese melts, avocado toast and chicken salad.
That balance was intentional, Mayes said.
“It was really important to me to be a coffee shop that doesn’t just have sweet stuff,” Mayes said. “I love the sweet stuff, but I love savory food. If I’m gonna get a sweet coffee, I love to have something savory with it personally.”
The savory options make the shop a practical choice for a quick breakfast or a light lunch, not just a mid-morning caffeine stop.
A Place for Life’s Moments
For Mayes, the heart of the business is connection. She wants Coastlands Coffee to be somewhere people can gather over food and coffee and mark the important moments in their lives, whether that means a catch-up with a friend, a meeting with a mentor or a quiet morning alone.
She said the response from the community has been encouraging.
“It’s been really incredible to see the community and support us and come behind us,” Mayes said. “It’s a lot of work doing something like this. I had an idea, which is why I resisted for a long time, because I didn’t want to add another thing to my plate, but I really felt like I wanted to see something like this here in my area, and sometimes you end up doing the thing that you want to get for yourself. You end up being that one that’ll put forth the effort to make that happen for others, so it’s been really amazing to see people support us.”
Part of a Growing Downtown
Foley, one of Baldwin County’s fastest-growing cities, sits along Alabama 59, the main route that carries beach traffic south toward Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. Its historic downtown, anchored by the old railroad depot area and a collection of shops and restaurants, has drawn more locally owned businesses in recent years as the population around it has grown.
Small independent coffee shops like Coastlands have become a familiar part of that mix, offering residents and visitors a place to linger close to downtown rather than grabbing a drink on the go along the highway.
If You Go
- Where: Coastlands Coffee, 358 N. Alston St., Foley, next to The Table Church.
- Fall hours: Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Coffee: Beans from Nova Coffee in Mobile.
- Try this season: Pumpkin patch espresso, maple tree cold brew or amber harvest chai.
- Food: Bakery items, muffins, turkey and cheese melts, avocado toast and chicken salad.
Hours can change with the seasons, so visitors planning a trip may want to check the shop’s social media pages before heading over.