Settling down

OTHELLO — After more than a year of roaming around Othello, Caffeine Fix has found a home. 

“I always wanted to start a coffee shop,” said Danae Mendez, who co-owns Caffeine Fix with Yaremy Ibarra. “And (Ibarra) always told me, ‘Well, you don’t know anything about running a coffee shop.’ So she came up with the idea of doing a trailer, and she built it herself.” 

The mobile coffee trailer made its debut in May 2024, but Mendez and Ibarra found it wasn’t as easy as just locking the wheels and firing up the espresso maker. 

“When we first started, … we were parking out at City Hall, at the parks during baseball games, just kind of moving around town,” Mendez said. 

But that created some conflicts, Mendez said, so the partners began parking their mobile coffee shop in private parking lots, doing pop-ups, and sometimes setting up at McCain Foods to offer coffee to employees there. But the dream of a permanent location was always in the background. Then it turned out that El Jazmin on Main Street had a coffee stand built into the back of the building that the owner was willing to rent out, and Caffeine Fix had a home. The shop opened Aug. 1. 

Ibarra owns another business, so she mostly keeps the books for Caffeine Fix, she said. Mendez runs the shop full-time from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. 

“There are a lot of people who go out of town for work, (and) nothing's really open before six o'clock,” Mendez said. “So it gives them a chance to be able to stop for coffee on the way out. And then for people who go out to Moses (Lake), it hits them right here and they go down Seventh (Avenue) and they grab the highway that way.” 

The trailer is still in operation for a few hours three days a week, Mendez said. Ibarra’s cousin Jayleen Carreno works for them as well, and Ibarra’s teenage son puts in some hours as well. 

“(Danae’s) handling most of the days here,” Ibarra said. “I told her when we were talking about opening, ‘You know you’re not going to have days off, right?’” 

Right now, Caffeine Fix is just a drive-thru, but Ibarra and Mendez are looking into putting in a counter by a side door and setting up a couple of tables outside. Being close to the high school means students will start coming by, Ibarra said, not all of whom drive. 

Caffeine Fix uses locally-roasted coffee from Conversatio, Mendez said. They also find ways to show appreciation through rotating discounts. Last Monday, first responders got $1 off their orders, she said. Tuesday city workers got the same discount and on Wednesday it was employees at nearby Ace Hardware. Ace was helpful to the partners when they operated out of the trailer, Ibarra said. 

“They allowed us to park in their empty lot,” she said. “We're really grateful for that.” 

The discounts were popular, Ibarra said; some of the customers came back for a second coffee drink. 

“That's what's nice about being in a small town and not like a big chain coffee shop,” she said. “Danae’s always working on new things to bring into the to the stand, working on how we could get out there.” 

Caffeine Fix 

78 N. Desdemona Drive, Othello 

509-331-6445 

5 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 

    Caffeine Fix co-owner Danae Mendez mixes a coffee drink for a customer Thursday. The shop uses Conversatio coffee, roasted in Othello.