Cycling and coffee always have a way of finding each other. When we opened the doors to our first flagship store in Palma de Mallorca in the spring of 2020, we wanted to offer an exclusive coffee that celebrated our passion for cycling and complimented our growing commitment to sustainability. The natural choice was to partner with Coffee Collective - industry leaders in pursuit of developing a more sustainable, transparent coffee marketplace. Coffee Collective shares our dedication to creating the highest quality products, and together we selected a coffee that encapsulated the shared culture and history between our two passions.

The Coffee Ride

All it takes is a simple internet search to understand the depths and intricacies of the modern relationship between cycling and coffee. The ever-popular listicle favourited by cycling tourism blogs battling to stand out in the oversaturated digital world has attacked the subject of the hottest cycling café stops in the region with determined ferocity.

This bond between cycling and coffee is evident and only expected to strengthen as numerous cycling-themed cafés continue to crop up throughout metropolitan areas and their surrounding suburbs. The popular opinion of coffee consumption as an integral part of the cycling experience has been attributed to multiple explanations. We hear about the caffeine kick, injecting that extra boost of energy to keep you pushing hard through those last few kilometres. There is the argument promoting the laid-back environment offered up by the charming countryside café that delivers an informal social atmosphere for cyclists to relax and socialize. And finally, there is the historical relationship between coffee-related brands sponsoring cycling teams and the resulting popularity of those brands being attributed to the success of their teams. Coffee companies have been sponsoring teams since the 1950s. The successes of some of these teams have led companies like Faema, Saeco, and Segafredo to become household names synonymous with cycling.

But the term "farmers" was never used when discussing the individuals growing the coffee. Those producing the crops were always referred to by their family names or, more often, by their first names. The Coffee Collective team does this intentionally as a means of encouraging more transparency in the coffee market and acknowledging the efforts of those responsible for the crop's success. But more than a means of creating transparency, this level of personability seemed natural, genuine. Each family of farmers felt like an extension of the entire Coffee Collective family - something that is only possible from taking the time to develop these intimate, familiar relationships.

It was here where we were introduced to the name “Enciso.” The Enciso family farm spans over 200 hectares across the mountainous region of Tolima, Colombia. Plants, trees, and all varieties of vegetation coat the mountainous terrain promoting a healthy ecosystem and rich biodiversity, which allows the family to farm organically. The family's dedication to growing the best possible crops is shown by the fact that they bring an agronomist along on visits to the farm to maintain an accurate overview of the soil fertility levels, resulting in an increased quality grade of the beans and, therefore, a higher income per pound of coffee. The mountains and climate in the Tolima region provide an optimal environment for growing the sweet, aromatic coffee that we were hoping to showcase in our flagship stores. The coffee we selected, Planadas, is a unique blend created by Coffee Collective with the Enciso family and six additional farmers from the Tolima region.