Coffeeneuring – Bicycles & Coffee

My first coffeeneuring experience started a few years ago. It was my first winter in Berlin after living in San Francisco and a couple more places in the U.S. & Canada for a few years. I had just bought a new bicycle and was ready to explore Berlin. The city had changed quite a bit. I now lived in Prenzlauer Berg. Kreuzberg had been my neighborhood for many years since the late 90’s before I moved away.

Perfect combo of cycling & coffee = Coffeeneuring

In my book a bike ride always includes a stop at a coffee shop, or on a bench somewhere. Just a little break in a neighborhood, on a side street, in a park, to do some people/dog/bird watching, and let my surroundings sink in.

So the Coffeeneuring Challenge I came across on Mary’s blog chasing mailboxes put a name to my passion. Mary has developed this fun challenge which happens twice a year. She is an avid randonneur, which is also known as audax in some countries. It is basically a long-distance bike ride combined with orienteering. Competing randonneurs need to stop at various checkpoints along their route.

To make randonneuring accessible for city cyclists there is no 200km distance to cover.

But there are rules for the Coffeeneuring Challenge:

From number
1) Ride your bike to 7 different local coffee shops from Saturday October 3 through Sunday, November 15.  Any place that sells coffee– or “coffee,” as the case may be– qualifies as a coffee shop. via
4) Only 1 coffee shop per day counts and a maximum of two rides per weekend. to
20) Buying Beans Rule: You may use ONE of your seven coffeeneuring trips to purchase beans (or tea) from your local roaster or tea emporium for future consumption.
they are all fun, and you can even add your own theme to the challenge such as using a different bike for each trip. Mine was to only go to „never had coffee here before“ places.

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This coffeeneuring round is almost done. Submissions need to be made by November 25. See my list below. But there will be a new Coffeeneuring Challenge in early spring. Hope you’ll join me & the community of coffeeneurs around the globe. A special shout out to hamburgfiets who is the only other coffeeneur in Germany as far as I know.
Correction: Bicyclist Abroad joined this fall’s challenge as well! (added on Nov 27, 2015)

Coffeeneuring #1
Steel Vintage Bikes Café
Weidenweg 63
10247 Berlin-Friedrichshain

Date: October 3rd, 2015
Drink: Cappuccino
Bike friendliness: 10/10
Total mileage: 12km = 7.5 miles
Bike: Else

Coffeeneuring #2
Bar Tabaccheria Cerchio
via Cerchio, 56
48121 Ravenna
Italy

Date: October 10, 2015
Drink: Cappuccino
Bike friendliness: 5/10 (no bike parking)
Total mileage: 20km = 12.4 miles
Bike: Free Ravenna Tourist Bike

Coffeeneuring #3
Bar Tabacchi
Via dei Calzolai/Via Pianelle
44100  Francolino  (FE)
Italy

Date: October 14, 2015
Drink: Cappuccino
Bike friendliness: 8/10 (close to one of the most beautiful bike paths along the Po river)
Total mileage: 35km = 22 miles
Bike: Pink – my host’s bike in Ferrara

Coffeeneuring #4
Friedas Glück
Lindenallee 55
13088 Berlin-Weissensee

Date: October 26, 2015
Drink: Cappuccino
Bike friendliness: 10/10 (more bike racks would be nice – extra points for handmade bicycle tattoos sold in shop!)
Total mileage: 8km = 5 miles
Bike: Blue

Coffeeneuring #5
IKEA
Landsberger Allee 364
10365 Berlin

Date: October 28, 2015
Drink: Espresso
Bike friendliness: 8/10 (no parking for cargo bikes to be found in IKEA parking lot)
Total mileage: 16km = 10 miles
Bike: Yuba

Coffeeneuring #6
Flying Roasters
Hochstr. 43 – walk into yard, they are next to the car repair shop
13357 Berlin-Wedding
Open: Mo/Wed/Fri – detailed opening hours here – beans directly traded with farming cooperatives, sustainable, fair, & extremely good coffee roasted in Berlin!

Went on November 9, 2015
Drink: Cappuccino & bought some perfectly roasted beans
Bike friendliness: 10/10 – no bike racks, but plenty of room & safe in backyard
Total mileage: 9km = 5.6 miles
Bike: Blue

Coffeeneuring #7
Keirin Cycle Culture Café
Oberbaumstr. 5
10997 Berlin
Founded in 2004 by two bicycle messengers, Keirin is THE bike shop/coffee shop/repair shop in Berlin. They are currently looking for a new place to move to since their lease terminates in June. Read more about it on their Save Keirin page. And please keep your eyes peeled & get in touch if you know of a spot!

Went on November 12, 2015
Drink: Cappuccino
Bike friendliness: 10/10
Total mileage: 15km = 9.3 miles
Bike: Blue