Is there a non-alcoholic Carajillo?

Yes. JAS® Carajillo Tejas is a ready-to-drink non-alcoholic Carajillo, sold in 8.4 oz cans. It is made with Mexican coffee extract, agave, toasted pecan, vanilla and warm spice, nitro-infused for a creamy pour. As of September 2026 it is the only canned non-alcoholic Carajillo we have found in U.S. retail. If you can't get one near you, there's a from-scratch recipe further down.

Update, September 2026: Carajillo Tejas is currently sold out. It is made in small runs, and the next batch isn't ready yet — head to the product page and hit Notify me when it's back to hear the moment it returns. The from-scratch recipe below will hold you over.

First, what is a Carajillo?

A Carajillo is espresso and liqueur, served over ice. In Mexico it is made with Licor 43, a Spanish liqueur built on vanilla, citrus and spice, and it is poured at the end of a meal rather than the start of a night. It belongs to the sobremesa — the hour after the plates are cleared when nobody gets up from the table.

That timing is the whole point. A Carajillo is not a party drink. It is a stay-a-little-longer drink. It is warm, sweet, bitter and a little bracing, and it is meant to keep the conversation going.

Why a non-alcoholic Carajillo is hard to make

In most cocktails, alcohol is the base and the flavor is added on top. Take a gin and tonic: remove the gin and you still have tonic, lime, and a botanical profile you can rebuild.

A Carajillo does not work that way. Licor 43 is 31% ABV, and it is also where nearly all the flavor lives — the vanilla, the citrus peel, the baking spice. Strip the alcohol and you do not lose the kick. You lose the drink.

This is why most non-alcoholic Carajillo recipes online end up as sweetened iced coffee. Vanilla syrup gets you the sugar and the vanilla note, but not the weight, the length, or the bitter edge that makes the original worth sitting with.

How JAS makes one

Carajillo Tejas is built from scratch. Nothing was dealcoholized, so there was nothing to take out.

Most non-alcoholic drinks start as an alcoholic product and have the alcohol removed, which strips aroma compounds along with it and usually leaves a thin, slightly hollow taste that gets covered with sugar. JAS starts at zero and builds the flavor up: bold Mexican coffee extract for the espresso backbone, organic blue agave and raw cane sugar for the sweetness, and natural extracts for the vanilla, citrus and warm spice that Licor 43 would normally carry.

Then it goes somewhere the original does not. Toasted pecan is a Texas addition, not a Mexico City one — this is a Carajillo that grew up in both places. It is nitro-infused, so it pours with the soft, creamy texture you would expect from a nitro coffee rather than the sharpness of a carbonated can.

It also carries 100mg of caffeine from the coffee itself, plus Lion's Mane, one of the functional ingredients in the JAS lineup. A Carajillo was always the drink you reached for when you wanted the table to last a little longer. This one is built for that on purpose.

Built from scratch, not stripped down

There are two ways to make a drink without alcohol, and the difference shows up in the glass.

The common way is dealcoholization: make the real thing, then take the alcohol out. It works, but removing alcohol also removes aroma compounds that were dissolved in it, which is why dealcoholized drinks often taste slightly hollow in the middle and get sweetened to cover the gap.

JAS goes the other way. We never make an alcoholic version. The cocktail is built from zero, ingredient by ingredient, so there is nothing to take out and nothing to replace.

To be precise about what that does and doesn't mean: some of the natural extracts that carry flavor are alcohol-based, the way the vanilla extract in a kitchen cupboard is. That is standard across flavored beverages — sodas, juices and coffee drinks included. Our recipes are built so the finished can stays under 0.5% ABV, the FDA's threshold for a non-alcoholic beverage. Trace ethanol at this level turns up in a lot of ordinary food and drink, from ripe fruit to fresh bread, and there is nothing in it to feel.

How to serve Carajillo Tejas

It is good straight from the can. It is better in a glass, and it takes about thirty seconds.

1. Chill the can all the way through. Cold is doing half the work here.
2. One big cube, in a rocks glass. A single large cube melts slower than a handful of small ones, so it stays a cocktail instead of turning into iced coffee.
3. Pour hard, straight down the middle. Don't tilt the glass. This is nitro — the rough pour is what wakes up the cascade and builds the soft foam head on top. Everything you know about pouring gently is wrong here.
4. Express an orange peel over the glass and drop it in. The citrus oil hits before the first sip and it changes the whole drink.
5. Optional, and worth it: a toasted pecan on the foam, or the smallest dusting of cinnamon.

Serve it after dinner, when nobody's ready to leave the table yet. That's the moment it was built for.

The numbers

• Size: 8.4 oz (248 ml) can, sold in 4-packs
• Calories: 60 per can
• Added sugar: 15g
• Total carbs: 16g, including 1g dietary fiber
• Caffeine: 100mg, from coffee
• Functional ingredient: Lion's Mane extract
• Alcohol: under 0.5% ABV — non-alcoholic by FDA standard, and never dealcoholized
• Price: $19.99 per 4-pack, $4.99 per can
• Ingredients: Mexican coffee extract, organic blue agave syrup, organic raw cane sugar, natural extracts and flavors, phosphoric acid, Lion's Mane extract

Where to buy JAS® Carajillo Tejas

Carajillo Tejas is made in small runs and is currently sold out online. Head to the product page and hit Notify me when it's back to hear first when the next batch lands. Remaining stock may still be on shelf at select H-E-B and Whole Foods stores in Texas — the store locator is the fastest way to check what's near you, and availability by SKU varies store to store.

In the meantime, Paloma Libre and Mojito Fresco are both in stock.

No can nearby? Make one by hand.

If you can't get hold of Carajillo Tejas, this is the closest you'll get on your own. It takes about three minutes.

You need: 1 shot of espresso (or 2 oz strong cold brew), 1 oz vanilla syrup, 1/2 oz orange juice, a pinch of ground cinnamon, a small pinch of salt, ice, and an orange peel.

Method: Fill a short glass with ice. Add the vanilla syrup, orange juice, cinnamon and salt, and stir until the salt dissolves. Pour the espresso over the top so it layers. Twist the orange peel over the glass to release the oil, then drop it in.

The orange and cinnamon are doing the job Licor 43 would do. The salt is the part people skip, and it is the part that makes it taste like a cocktail instead of like coffee — it pulls the bitterness forward and keeps the syrup from sitting flat. If you have a cocktail shaker, shake everything except the espresso, then pour the espresso on top for the foam.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a non-alcoholic version of Licor 43?

Not a direct one-to-one substitute sold in the U.S. as of September 2026. Licor 43's flavor comes from a proprietary blend built into a 31% ABV base, and no producer currently sells an equivalent. The workarounds are vanilla syrup with orange and cinnamon, or a ready-made drink like Carajillo Tejas that rebuilds the profile from scratch.

Is Carajillo Tejas dealcoholized?

No. It is built from scratch rather than made with alcohol and stripped, which is why it doesn't carry the hollow note that dealcoholized drinks often have. Some natural flavor extracts are alcohol-based, as they are in most flavored beverages, and the finished can is formulated to stay under 0.5% ABV — the FDA's threshold for a non-alcoholic beverage.

Do you serve a canned Carajillo over ice?

Yes. A Carajillo is traditionally served over ice, and Carajillo Tejas is no different. Use one large cube rather than several small ones so it doesn't dilute, and pour hard down the center of the glass to activate the nitro.

Does a non-alcoholic Carajillo have caffeine?

Yes. A Carajillo is a coffee drink, so caffeine is the point. JAS® Carajillo Tejas has 100mg of caffeine per 8.4 oz can, which is roughly one cup of coffee.

Is a Carajillo a dessert drink?

It is an after-dinner drink, which is not quite the same thing. In Mexico it arrives during the sobremesa, the stretch of conversation after the meal. It is sweet, but it is bitter and strong enough that it reads as a cocktail rather than a dessert.

What does Carajillo Tejas taste like?

Bold roasted Mexican coffee first, then vanilla and toasted pecan, with warm spice and a hint of citrus on the finish. The nitro infusion gives it a smooth, creamy mouthfeel rather than a fizzy one.

What is Lion's Mane doing in a coffee drink?

Lion's Mane is a mushroom extract, and it is one of the three functional ingredients across the JAS lineup — ashwagandha in Paloma Libre, yerba mate in Mojito Fresco, Lion's Mane in Carajillo Tejas. It does not change the flavor.

Written by Cecilia Rios Murrieta, founder of JAS. Published September 1, 2026.

Have a JAS® and be libre.