Out of the very small Dreambeans / Greenbean team, four of us are cyclists. We love coffee and we love cycling. We know how important coffee is to cycling and how seriously cyclists take their coffee. We believe in cycling. We believe in sustainability. We wanted to contribute something. We wanted to give cyclists the best coffee they had ever tried, whether they were on the bike or off it. We had our own ideas about what a cycling coffee should be but we wanted to be sure that what we wanted was the same as what you wanted. So we asked the cyclists.
In 2021, we did a survey of cyclists around Ireland and we got a great response. We took the survey results and we went in to the roast house and started roasting, blending, cupping, tasting, over and over again.
We created a survey on Google Forms and invited cyclists to fill it out. We are delighted that we got such a good response as it allows us to rely on our findings and to make decisions based on a proper representative sample. Some of the results are along the lines of what we expected, some were a but surprising. The survey is here and we still welcome responses if you haven’t taken it yet.
53.6% of cyclists prefer an Americano
What is your coffee drink type for a spin?
What type of coffee are you most likely to order when you are on a training or leisure spin or just before a spin?
Americano: taste and hydration.
Unsurprisingly, nearly 64% of you like an “long” coffee when you’re cycling, as the extra water will help keep you hydrated. Even though coffee has a mild diuretic effect, which means that it encourages urination, it doesn’t dehydrate the body so it’s good for cycling or vigourous exercise.
Next in popularity is a flat white – 2 shots of esoresso and some textured milk. A lovely drink, with a decent poke too. Cappuchino is next, followed by a cafe latte. A little bit unexpected that the espresso shot, the drink that is most associated with European bike racing is favoured by only 2%.
60% add milk
Do you drink it black or with milk?
If you chose Americano, Espresso, Decaf or Ristretto above, do you usually add milk to your coffee or drink it black?
Like the majority of the Irish population, most cyclists prefer to add some milk to their coffee. The milk can give you a few extra calories for energy and also some protein, fat and and calcium. Some people prefer to stick to low-fat milk in their coffee during the ride as full fat can be hard to digest while exercising. Post-ride, the proteins and fats in full-fat milk can help your muscles recover.
More cyclists drink black coffee on race days
We were very interested to note that the numbers taking milk in their coffee changes on race days. When racing, only 43% take milk, meaning that 57% prefer black coffee on race days. Quite a difference. I’m sorry now that we didn’t as a follow up question to ask why it was different for racing. :)
Only 8% track caffeine intake
Do you keep track of your caffeine intake?
Do you monitor on your caffeine intake in a structured way when cycling or do you freestyle it according to how you’re feeling in the saddle?
Fewer than one in ten cyclists track their caffeine intake in a structured way, with most of us opting to make it up as we go along and choose to drink coffee or not according to how we’re feeling on the day.
This is in sharp contrast to professional cyclists, who monitor their caffeine intake very closely and use it as a variable in analysing their performance. Up until 2004, high levels of caffeine were banned in competitions by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA). Even though caffeine isn’t banned now, WADA still monitors it. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), however, still considers more than 12mg of caffeine per litre of urine to be a doping offence. Now, that’s quite a lot of caffeine. You’d need to be drinking 4 or 5 cups of coffee per hour to achieve that level.
Great taste is top priority
What are your coffee priorities?
What do you look for from your coffee break when you’re cycling?
We’re glad to see that Irish cyclists’ top priority is great tasting coffee. This is as it should be. That’s what we’re all about. Number one priority by a long way. A social break and a chat is the next priority, which is also good to see. We’re glad that cyclists prioritise enjoying ourselves.
An energy boost (coffee and a scone) is the next priority, followed by a caffeine kick, followed by a rest for the legs. All good things in a coffee stop.
Long and medium finish preferred
Length of finish.
Do you like a LONG finish on your coffee, so that you can still taste the coffee a few minutes later?
A pretty even divide on this one. Some like it long, some like it inbetween. Very few cyclists like a short finish in their coffee.
61% drink real coffee at home
Coffee at home.
If you drink coffee at home, do you mostly buy whole beans, ground coffee, pods or instant?
The good news is that most cyclists take their coffee seriously enough to make proper coffee at home. Between beans and ground coffee, 61%make real coffee at home. Coffee pods are often viewed as a substitute for proper coffee but most of them are so disastrously bland that the coffee isn’t worth drinking. It pains me to note that 14.7% of cyclists are still drinking instant at home. :) How are you going to win anything drinking instant?
Not just for cyclists!
A terrific blend of four top quality coffee beans, roasted to perfection and designed to deliver. An excellent Strictly High Grown (SHG) Brazilian is the backbone of this blend, complemented by a beautiful, rich Ethiopian Arabica which deepens the flavour profile and adds citrus to the immediate upfront tatse. We added seven percent of a small bright Costa Rican bean, just enough to give it the right length and bite, and rounded it out with a smooth, rich Yellow Bourbon from Colombia. A beautiful blend. Great as an americano, great with milk or without. Revolution has a decent caffeine kick (about 66mg in an expresso), enough to keep you going strong but not enough to give you the shakes if you’re on your third one!
When you need a boost to pull away from the peloton (or to get you through another Zoom meeting), our Revolution blend is the answer. It’s got the caffeine kick you need and the depth of flavour too. It’s perfect for an everyday coffee too. It has loads of flavour and strength without being harsh or bitter. It’s really great coffee and you’ll love it whether you’re out every day hammering up the road on a slammed stem or whether you haven’t been on a bike since you were a kid.
By Pat McArdle