Palm Coast travel café Southernly Sips opens
The shop offers everything from hot coffee and iced lattes to Southern tea and lemonade
A brand new mobile café has opened in Flagler County.
Southernly Sips is changing what we know about traditional coffee shops, serving everything from hot coffee and iced lattes to Southern tea and lemonade — on the go. The mobile café announced its grand opening on social media last month, before it began welcoming customers in the Woody’s Bar-B-Que parking lot at 99 Flagler Plaza Drive in Palm Coast.
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Starting out as just a pipe dream for owner Carolyn Loveman, Southernly Sips was created in hopes of putting a whole new spin on the traditional comfort that accompanies a classic coffee shop. According to Loveman, she and her husband have worked tirelessly to bring a Southern girl’s dream to life in their small town, and they hope to reciprocate the love they’ve received from the community so far by providing quality coffee drinks and a welcoming, relaxing atmosphere. And recharge your energy on the weekend.
“This was my dream,” Loveman said in a phone interview. “I’ve had this dream for a long time. I’ve always wanted my own café. I’m just a girl from a small town and didn’t have the money to start my own shop, so I came up with the idea of doing something like a food truck – I came up with the idea of creating a café on wheels so that instead of By serving food at the window, people can walk in, watch their drinks being prepared, and enjoy the café experience.
The new travel café offers caffeine lovers, like me, an extensive menu, from espresso sips like the Dirty Mocha ($5-$5.50), with espresso, dark chocolate, steamed milk, and whipped cream, to the Blueberry Cream Shook Iced Breve ($5.50-$5.75), a blend Of espresso, raspberry syrup, white chocolate sauce, breve — a coffee mixture made with espresso and steamed half-and-half — and a cold, sweet raspberry foam.
Along with a tempting selection of lattes, cold brews and espresso drinks, the new store also offers decaf coffee and a range of Southern teas and lemonades, such as Rosey Raspberry Tea ($3.50) and Sunrise Orange Southern Lemonade ($4.25).
The mobile café is also equipped with a variety of blends, such as oat milk, almond milk, whole milk and breve, with many menu items available that can be served hot, iced or blended. According to the café’s Facebook page, all cold drinks are available in 24 ounces, while all hot drinks are available in 16 or 20 ounces.
The new creative coffee area is as charming as it gets, with two glass doors at the back of the mobile shop, leading guests into the black-and-white, Southern-inspired store where their orders can be placed, picked up and enjoyed in the inviting, air-conditioned trailer.
Although no formal seating is available, the trailer does have a small bench for those waiting for their coffee and needing a short break from the Florida heat.
According to Loveman, Southernly Sips currently serves Flagler County, with plans to expand to Ormond and Daytona Beach in the future. The mobile café travels to new locations every weekend – usually opening at 8am and closing at 3 or 4pm – and posts its updated location and opening hours weekly on its Facebook page.
Although Loveman noted that it’s just testing her longtime dream for now, she hopes to continue expanding the café’s menu and is planning a larger opening in the future.
“I want everyone to feel at home and feel welcome. I want them to have that feeling you get when you walk into a place and feel appreciated,” Loveman said.
For information and to see where Southernly Sips will travel next, visit Facebook.com or call 386-529-4960.
Helena Piray is the restaurant and dining writer for The Daytona Beach News-Journal. She, an enthusiastic storyteller and New Jersey native, can be reached at hperray@gannett.com. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook. Support local journalism by subscribing
