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Posted on July 28, 2026 by Teri Greene
Teri Greene

A smiling man with a beard, long brown hair, and a black polo shirt stands with arms crossed outside a shop named "Carpe Diem Coffee & Tea Co." data-lightbox='featured'
Alan Tolson '04, a Mobile native, graduated from South’s Mitchell College of Business in 2004 with a degree in management.

Alan Tolson ’04 helped Carpe Diem grow from Mobile’s first roasting coffeehouse into a city staple. 

Carpe Diem Coffee & Tea Co. hums with espresso, open laptops and fresh-roasted beans. For Tolson, it is the backdrop to a life’s work.

Opened in 1995, Carpe Diem was Mobile’s first coffeehouse to roast its own beans. Thirty years later, it still roasts in-house from its century-old Victorian home in Spring Hill. “I started here in ’99, just as a student looking for a part-time job,” Tolson says. He poured coffee, wiped tables and soon talked the owners into teaching him to roast. By year’s end, it was full time.

Tolson, a Mobile native, graduated from South’s Mitchell College of Business in 2004 with a degree in management. When Tomi Sue Rusling retired in 2014, he bought the shop he had helped shape for more than a decade.

“My management degree exposed me to finance, accounting, marketing, even HR,” he says. “When you’re a small-business owner, you’re the head of every department.”

Tolson has watched Mobile’s coffee culture change. Before social media, coffee shops were true social hubs. Today, a full house may mean headphones and Zoom calls, but Carpe Diem’s community still holds. Some regulars have come since childhood.

As national chains entered Mobile, Carpe Diem leaned into its loyal following, its spot near USA and Spring Hill College, and the freedom of being independent. That flexibility shapes seasonal drinks, favorites like the Alpine Mocha and local ties, including a coffee ice cream with Cammie’s Old Dutch Ice Cream Shoppe.

The biggest growth is behind the scenes. Since 2019, Tolson has expanded wholesale roasting, letting the brand reach beyond Old Shell Road.

“With one cafe, you’re limited to only so many parking spots and tables,” he says. “But wholesale is incredibly scalable. We can always roast more.”

Carpe Diem has added a second roasting machine, hired its first additional roaster in nearly three decades, invested in automated equipment and started work on a wholesale website.

Still, Tolson does not see Carpe Diem branching out. “This has always been the core place in Mobile.”

This article appeared in the 2025-2026 issue of the Mitchell Magazine, an annual publication of the Mitchell College of Business. READ THE FULL ISSUE >>>

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