FOLEY — Coastlands Coffee is a spot that provides fellowship and coffee near the heart of downtown Foley.

Joanna Mayes owns the business with her husband, Robert. Mayes said their family has lived in the Baldwin County area since around 1998. Mayes and her husband have long attended The Table Church just next door. She walked by the building at 358 N. Alston St., which used to be an office for financial services firm Edward Jones, and felt that she could acquire the property and turn it into something in conjunction with the church.

“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.”

Another coffee shop called Our Coffee operated there before closing in 2023. Mayes, who said she always had a vision for one day seeing a community coffee shop with a ministry mission behind it, decided they were brave enough to do a coffee shop on their own, opening Coastlands Coffee in 2025.

Mayes said the name Coastlands Coffee comes from Isaiah 42:12 in the Bible, which reads, “Let them give glory to the Lord and proclaim his praise to the coastlands.”

“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.”

Coastlands Coffee is sourced from Nova Coffee out of Mobile. Its menu includes traditional coffee drinks such as lattes, cortados, cold brews and cappuccinos, but it also serves a lot of seasonal drinks.

With fall upon us, it is serving pumpkin patch espresso, made with homemade brown butter pumpkin syrup; a maple tree cold brew, made with maple syrup and topped with cold foam and cinnamon; and an amber harvest chai, made with apple cider and a touch of maple syrup.

Along with coffee, there is also has a selection of bakery items and savory foods that includes turkey and cheese melts, avocado toast, muffins and chicken salad.

“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.”

For Mayes, having a place where people can come and connect over food and coffee while hosting important moments of life is important.

“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.”

For its fall hours, Coastlands Coffee is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.