Dine & Dash: Latin swagger 🍽
Mexican-inspired Caféina coffee trailer laces lattes beautifully; go for the mofongo at Yeyo Will Puerto Rican; and don't miss Urban Animal Beer Co.'s Piña Colada Hazy IPA
Caféina
Caféina, a Latin-infused mobile coffee bar, originally launched in 2022 in a smaller cart form for private events. But in September 2025 sisters and co-owners Ariana, Alondra and Paulina hit the road — which is to say began regular commutes into the Springs from Ellicott, a half hour to the east — in their upgraded coffee trailer. It’s a cute, simply designed, vintage-looking cafe on wheels with a wide ordering window. Both flagship and seasonal menus are displayed outside it.
Paulina, the oldest, says the venture has been her dream. “I love making coffee at home, and crepes too,” she says, noting they’ll sometimes serve those as specials. (The day I catch them they’re offering matcha tres leches cake, instead.) The sisters say their ultimate goal is to grow into a coffee shop and bakery somewhere in the Springs. Meanwhile, they all keep side jobs, ranging from hair styling and baking to truck driving and immigration-related paralegal work.
To construct their drinks, the sisters buy beans from Denver’s Huckleberry Roasters, a respected craft coffee brand also used by Totem, locally. They make some syrups in house and utilize French-made 1883 Syrups otherwise. (That’s a naturally-produced brand also used by The French Kitchen and Kangaroo Coffee).
While you can order traditional espresso drinks, Caféina shines with their Latin-influenced creations. We first order the fabulously creamy and somewhat beach-y Coquito Latte, a Puerto Rican-inspired breve (with half-and-half) made with Caribbean syrup, coconut cream, cinnamon, coconut and hibiscus flakes and a cream top. If you’re a matcha lover, try the Matcha Palmera, which subs out the double espresso shot for ceremonial matcha, while all other inputs are the same.
Next up we try the Arroz con Leche Latte, Mexi-Mocha and Mazapán Latte.
You know arroz con leche as the Mexican rice pudding dessert, and here the sisters spin that with caramel sauce and cinnamon added to the espresso and breve base, with the same sweet cream top that comes on all our drinks (think: cold foam). The drink works equally well hot or iced (between our group, we order it both ways), and sips balanced despite its sweetness. That can generally be said about all our lattes.
The Mexi-Mocha leans on chocolate cocoa milk and cinnamon for its flavor enhancements. While the Mazapán latte offers a choice of milk, to which macadamia nut and white chocolate syrups are added, then garnishing crumbles of De la Rosa Mazapán peanut candy on the cream top. Though that ratchets the sweetness factor higher, it still makes for a delightful (if guilty) sipper, with a unique and addictive nutty flavor.
Caféina tends to post their weekly schedules on Monday evenings on Facebook and Instagram, so check in there to find a spot convenient for your schedule. They regularly park at KAE Event Studio & Floral Boutique downtown and UCHealth Eastview Medical Center off Powers Boulevard (on the south side of the building).
Yeyo Will Puerto Rican Food
What Yeyo Will lacks in curb appeal — tucked away off B Street just outside Fort Carson, with windows to the dining room blocked out — it more than makes up for in flavor.
Owner William Santiago Ortiz launched the business as a food truck during the earlier days of the Covid pandemic, but moved to brick and mortar a couple of years ago.
He offers a simple, two-sided menu, wherein proteins come with either rice or mofongo — the awesome Puerto Rican side item made from mashed, fried, unripe plantains, garlic (notably) and typically pork broth or chicharrón. Protein options include roasted pork, mojo or Creole shrimp, chicken wings, meatballs and pork chops ($16-$20).
I nab the mofongo with chicken kebabs to-go, and wait a little over 10 minutes for it to be prepared fresh as I wait in the small dining room, painted a bright orange and adorned with Puerto Rican flags and signage. I’m glad to see items made to order and not languishing in a hot-hold condition. The chicken’s nicely tender and chewy, grill-marked with a basic barbecue sauce, lightly sweet. The mofongo delights with its starchy texture, satisfying (filling) richness and deep garlic essence. (I’m burping it a couple hours later and not mad for it.)
Some meals don’t require deep analysis or storytelling; they just offer sincere pleasure through authenticity and proper execution. This is one of those. If you’re not familiar with Puerto Rican food, Yeyo Will’s offers a great place to start, the humble settings aside.
For me, my visit created a touch of nostalgia, having visited Puerto Rico in late 2021 and gotten to taste the culture on its home turf. From the Ruta del Lechón (“pork highway”) to meals in San Juan and small coastal towns, we had a blast.
Urban Animal Beer Co.
We dropped into Urban Animal recently and sipped through a couple of tasting flights so that we could try more of the alluring beer lineup without having to get sauced at higher volumes.
I love tasting paddles for this reason, even if they do set you back $14 each for four pours here, which is basically the going rate these days. Relatedly: When I wrote a cover story for the CS Indy years ago I asked a bunch of local brewers why paddles are so expensive compared to a pint. The takeaway was beertender time and effort (i.e. pain in the ass factor) plus some extra beer waste due to clearing foam and maybe they said something else substantial, but I can’t recall.
I don’t love the value proposition, but I know what I’m consenting to when choosing to order them, and that’s on me. At least at Urban Animal — who’ll turn three come September — the beers rate so across-the-board stellar that I’m left feeling like it’s worth it still — again for the convenience of wide sampling.
On our first paddle we choose: the Street Taco Skies Mexican Lager (Lauren’s favorite for simple, crisp, light drinking); the Strawberry Banana Ultrasuede fruited sour (creamy from oat inputs, really fruity, only mildly sour and not too sweet); Berriosa! tart raspberry kölsch (clean berry flavor and not that tart really); and Kahuna Ninja Piña Colada Hazy IPA (my favorite, truly pineapple-y and coconut-y and bursting with tropical flavor with wonderful aromatics).
Next up on a mostly dessert-beer-y paddle: Shark Wheat pomegranate wheat (truly tart and easy drinkin’); Jock-A-Mo pistachio blond (a fun Mardi Gras inspiration with big nutty vanilla notes that evokes Italian gelato); Upside Down Hangover pineapple pancake ale (surprisingly on-the-nose with caramel, cinnamon and brown sugar flavors rounding out the sweetness); and Stouty McStout (a thin mint tribute with cacao, almond, vanilla, oats and mint, plus added lactose, with enough foundational roasty flavor to balance the sugariness).
Of the batch, I very much enjoyed tasting some of them but would not want a full pint, or perhaps even a half pint, so the tasting paddle served its purpose. I’m mainly talking about the sweeter beers there. Overall, “the artistry is impressive” says Lauren, noting the true flavors and creativity.
If there’s one beer I would have happily taken a pint of (or more), though, it’s that Piña Colada Hazy IPA. Go by the Star Ranch or downtown location soon after you read this, while it’s still on tap, to enjoy your own little island-flavor vacation.
Departing and coincidental fun fact relative to this batch of write-ups: The Piña Colada was created in Puerto Rico, and when we were there I visited the bar in which it was supposedly conceived. Honest review: It was just okay, and better versions abound, but nonetheless it was cool to partake in the cocktail history.
So many tasty things!