JACKSONVILLE, Ala. (WBRC) – The Square in Jacksonville has a new kind of energy—and it smells like fresh-baked pastry and espresso.
Welcome to Tulip Cafe, a bright, open hangout that feels like a big-city coffee shop landed right in the heart of town. It’s the kind of place where you look up and see students posted up with laptops, friends catching up over lattes, and small groups tucked into conversations that look suspiciously like “we’re getting things done” meetings.
Tulip Cafe(WBRC)
At the center of it all is owner Moe Housheya, a Palestinian entrepreneur who brings a global point of view—and a very personal mission—to Jacksonville.
“I’m originally from Palestine,” Moe said. “I moved to Miami in 2005.” After years there, he relocated to Alabama in 2024 for business, but something was missing. Not money, not opportunity—a place to just be.
“When I try to go outside—me and my wife and my kids—there’s nothing here,” Moe explained. “Either way, I don’t want to go to a gas station. I don’t want to go to a steakhouse to sit with my wife for a cup of coffee.”
So he built what he couldn’t find: a café designed for real life.
Tulip Cafe in Jacksonville(WBRC)A café with passport-level flavor
Tulip Cafe isn’t trying to be like everyone else—and the menu makes that obvious right away.
The pastries? They’re not locked into one lane. Moe describes them as a mix of Middle Eastern and Italian, pulling inspiration from across the region and into Europe.
“It’s mixed between Middle Eastern—which is all the Middle East is the same pastry—and some Italian,” he said. “I put my own experience with it from the Middle East. So I mix it up between Middle East and Europe.”
Translation: you’re getting something familiar, but with a twist—and a little bit of “where has this been all my life?”
The bread is the flex
Yes, Tulip Cafe serves coffees, pastries, and sandwiches. But Moe isn’t doing basic.
The sandwich lineup is simple on purpose—then upgraded where it counts: the bread.
“It’s in our own bread,” Moe said. “The ciabatta bread—this is like sourdough. We make it every day fresh here. This is our signature.”
Fresh-baked daily. Signature style. That’s not a side detail—that’s the whole vibe.
And if you want something fresh and green, there’s the caprese: pesto, arugula, and ingredients that hit the “clean and organic” note without losing flavor.
Built for a college town that needed a third place
Tulip Cafe isn’t just a coffee stop—it’s a community space that Jacksonville didn’t have before.
“This is what this area needs,” Moe said. “We are in the college town. We got the GSU. It’s a mile away. There’s no place to go.”
Now there is.
Students come to study. People meet up for work sessions. Groups gather. Moe says there are even church meetings and events—proof that when you build a welcoming space, the community shows up and makes it theirs.
Come to the Square
Tulip Cafe is located on the Square in Jacksonville, and it’s already becoming the kind of spot you recommend to out-of-towners, like it’s a secret you don’t want to share too loudly.
If you’re looking for a new experience—something different, something warm, something that feels like Jacksonville leveling up—Tulip Cafe is it.
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