What is it about coffee and bicycles that makes them go so nicely together?  I’m not sure who first came up with the idea of a bicycle cafe, but coffee being served in bike shops dates back to quite a long time ago.  The first official bicycle cafe that I heard of was “Look Mum No Hands” which is located in London, England.  I’ve never been, but it totally looks like a place I need to visit one day.

So what makes a coffee shop a bicycle cafe?  Well, I figure it all comes down to a business that loves coffee and bikes and does what they can to combine them together.  Some bicycle cafe’s sell bikes and coffee, while others simply have a bicycle theme.  Look Mum No Hands is a bicycle themed cafe that plays cycling videos on their big screen, offers bicycle repairs, and serves a lot of coffee and beer.

OTB Bicycle Cafe is located in Pittsburgh, PA and are all about “Bikes, Beer, and Bloody Good Food”.  I had to include them in this bicycle cafe write up because the owner just happens to have the same last name as me….but as far as I know we’re not related.  We share a pretty unique last name so I thought it was pretty cool that we both dig bikes and own a bike cafe.  OTB seems to be a little more focused on beer and food than a traditional coffee and pastry cafe, but one things for sure….they are totally bike crazy.

The Musette Caffe got its name from the shoulder bag given to riders during a cycling race which contains food and drink.  So with a name like that, it’s easy to tell they have cycling on the brain.  This bicycle cafe is located in Vancouver, BC and apparently my fellow Canadians like to add an extra f to cafe.  Musette seems like a pretty cool place and although they call themselves a bicycle cafe….they really cater to each and everyone who enjoys life on and off the bike.

I think it’s safe to say that all bicycle cafe’s are not only meant for people who love bicycles.  They are a place where everyone is welcome, and if the customers aren’t bicycle lovers when they walk in…hopefully they will be by the time they walk out.

It’s this stereotype of a bicycle cafe that has given me the most concern during my process of setting up Mocha Spoke in Grenada.  I want so badly to call ourselves a bicycle cafe, but worry that non-cyclists will feel that it’s not the place for them.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Mocha Spoke is a cafe that is passionate about cycling, but is a place where people with all interests can feel at home.

So yeah…we’re a bicycle cafe, and as far as I know we’re the first and only bicycle cafe in the Caribbean.  I wonder how long it will take for more to pop up here in the islands?

I’ve mentioned a few things about Mocha Spoke over the past months, and please forgive me if I’m going overboard with posts focused on my new venture.  It’s just that I’m so excited about this and can’t hold back my enthusiasm.

As of today, we’re officially in business as a bicycle rental and tour company….but the cafe end of things is still coming.  We hope to have the cafe open by mid February, and you’re all welcome to drop in any time.  We’ll have some amazing hot and cold beverages for you, as well as the finest food the island has to offer.  If you don’t bring your bike along with you, we’ll set you up on a 2013 Jamis Trail X2 bike and supply everything you’ll need to tear up the roads of Grenada.  We also do repairs and have a whole bunch of cool Mocha Spoke merchandise to fill up your suitcase.

Oh, and thanks to Julie Starling and @shinyredthings for coming up with the tagline we’re now using for Mocha Spoke.  We wanted to use something that showed we were a bicycle cafe, yet also catering to everyone.  Their submission of “Adventure is Brewing” seemed to fit quite well and we’re happy to have it as our slogan.

One of the first people I started following when I jumped into the world of social media was an amazing family who was cycling from Alaska to Argentina.  The Vogel family, otherwise known as Family on Bikes, were doing something that I thought was absolutely incredible and over the years I’ve become friends with Nancy, the mom of the family.

Now that their 17,300 mile adventure is complete, Nancy is working on her “next big thing”….the release of a book depicting their Pan-American journey: One Family, One Dream, One Very Long Road.

She recently wrote a post explaining the details of her new project as part of a networking type event among bloggers and writers.  It’s called The Next Big thing, and she “tagged” me so that I would be the next to write about the big things going on with me and my life.

Before I start explaining my big thing, I invite you to read all about what Nancy and her family are cooking up.  You can read her story right here.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your project?

The fun and adventure of opening a bicycle cafe on the Caribbean island of Grenada.

Where did you get the idea for this project?

Let me try to give the short version of this answer for you.  My Family and I have been wanting to move back to a location like the Caribbean for a few years now, and have spent the past couple years researching and waiting for it all to come together.

My Wife and I decided that opening a bicycle cafe would allow us to bring together our passion and interests to create a great Family business.  Soon after we came up with this idea, a friend of mine from Grenada wrote me an e-mail explaining this new idea he had.  It was as if he had been reading my mind because it was so very (and creepily) close to what we were wanting to do.

Within moments of receiving that e-mail, the wheels started turning and about 3 months later we moved to Grenada and will soon be ready to open Mocha Spoke.

What else about your project might pique people’s interest?

How about the words: Coffee, Bikes, Caribbean, and Peace?  Mocha Spoke will be a full service cafe offering amazing hot and cold beverages, light breakfasts and lunches, as well as snacks and other items.  Along with that we’ll be offering bicycle rentals, tours, repairs, and accessories.  We just purchased some great mountain bikes from Jamis, and our coffee equipment and the products served are going to be the best this island has to offer.

We have so many great things that will be happening at Mocha Spoke that it really will have something that piques the interest of everyone.

When will Mocha Spoke be open for business?

The building is currently being constructed and we’ve pretty much got all the equipment ready to go once it’s up.  Ideally we’d like to open the first week of January 2013 and will be pushing hard to make that happen.

The Jamis bikes will be here within a couple weeks so once they arrive we can start doing the rentals and tours even before the business is officially up and running.

What inspired you to pack up your family and move to the Caribbean?

That’s a good question.  It’s a huge thing to move a family of 5, plus 2 dogs, to a third world country….but we’ve always lived an adventurous and gypsy type life so we were able to jump over the hurdles along the way.

It’s hard to pinpoint one thing that inspired us to move here, but if I had to narrow it down to just one aspect…I would say it’s the vibe.  My Wife and I have always went with what “feels” right or offers a vibe that is comfortable and satisfying.  We felt that Grenada and this business offered the vibe we were looking for.

How can people find out more about Mocha Spoke and your next big thing?

We have a simple website up at www.mochaspoke.com, and you can friend us up on Twitter and Facebook to get news and updates on everything.  I can also be contacted directly at info@mochaspoke.com for questions on the business, Grenada, our Family adventure, or anything else.  I hope to see all my Loving the Bike friends and followers here in Grenada in the near future.

It is now my pleasure to introduce you another blogger who is working on something big and making it happen.  Joel Phillips from Reasons 2 Ride is working with his local Chamber of Commerce and implementing a strategy for a community-wide public service and well-being campaign. That’s his Next Big Thing.

There’s no shortage of people out there to totally dig Coffee and Bikes…actually, who are addicted to them is more like it.  So it’s no surprise that the two often get mixed together.  Many bike shops have been offering coffee to their customers for years….but it’s only recently that the “bicycle cafe” idea has exploded.

Look Mum No Hands was one of the first bicycle cafes that started the whole buzz (pun intended) when they opened up their London cafe in 2012.  Since then they’ve been popping up all over the place…and I for one am totally stoked to see them emerging on the scene.

I think the idea is so cool that I’m actually jumping into the bicycle cafe business myself.  Yep, I’ve been keeping things mostly under wraps but I’ll soon be the co-owner of Mocha Spoke which will be located in Grenada, West Indies.

Our bicycle cafe will provide all the goodness of your favorite coffee shop and we’ll also be doing bike tours, rentals, repairs, and selling accessories.

We won’t be selling bikes (at least not right now) in and of themselves….but this place is going to rock, and you better be thinking of booking your flight to Grenada right now as you read this.

Create a Tagline and Win

Okay, so we need your help.  We’ve already got a great logo together for the bicycle cafe, and I’ll be sharing it with you all very soon.  But we need to come up with the greatest tagline of all time.  A tagline that describes what Mocha Spoke is in a short statement or group of words.

The selected tagline wins the following prize pack:

IMPORTANT: We want people to know that Mocha Spoke offers bike related products and services, but we also don’t want to scare off people who aren’t cyclists by thinking it’s only a place for bike people.  Know what I mean?

My Wife came across a great tagline for another bicycle cafe so we can’t use it, but just to get your creative juices flowing here’s the one she liked: “Ride it, Eat it, Love it”.

We’ve also have some great ideas come in through Facebook and Twitter, but the winning entry has yet to be submitted.

Give us your idea by submitting it in the comments section below.  Entries submitted by Monday, October 8th will be used in the selection process and a winner will be announced soon after.

*Loving the Bike and Mocha Spoke will be given full rights to use selected tagline.  Upon submission you are giving up any rights to the phrase.

We’ve got a winner….actually, winners.  Congratulations to @shinyredthings for supplying us with the winning tagline which was derived from a suggestion by Julie Starling.  Since they both had a part in the winning tagline, we’re going to split the prize and give them each something great:

Adventure is Brewing