FAEMA and KOFFEINE bar

Coffee and bikes. Two wonderful things that go together very well. Is it a fashion fad or is it a tradition? If it was only a trendy thing it would have been gone by now, I suppose. But when you stroll in the city of Gent, (or any other town in Europe) you can’t ignore the amount of new coffee bars and thousends of bicycles in the streets. And still more bike shops and coffee cafés or combination of the two open their doors. No wonder so many coffee related brands use cycling as billboard. Few months ago I listed on this blog some of the biggest sponsors in that line of business. Coffee bars open their doors with annex a place where you can clean or even repair your bike. Some sell cycling equipment or clothing! The bar I talk about below uses one of the famous coffee machines that sponsored two of our Belgian number one cycling icons!

KOFFEINE

Two weeks ago I enjoyed a brew in  the “Wander” coffee bar, after the Ghent 6 days track cycling race,  and saw opposite the road another place. But it was closed. I went back this week and found the door open! Koffeine is the name of the small bar. The first impression was an untidy set-up.  After all this is only because the place is very small and you have to put your things somewhere. Yes you can see some empty beer crates in a corner. The solution for the small room is that they build a handy mezzanine. But no matter how the place looks like, we always try the hot drinks. A friendly guy (Zoran, with Macedonian background (Skopje)) took our orders and the brews were perfect, rich taste and right temperature. A perfect cappuccino and a strong espresso macchiato. For the hungry (breakfast, lunch) there is not a big variation, this could be better. The conclusion, a good place to escape from the tourists with great brews, but maybe a varied food menu would be an extra. I will certainly visit again soon however it is hard to find the opening hours on social media.

KOFFEINE – Lange Kruisstraat 6 –

9000 Gent 

http://hipsteadresjes.gent/nieuw/koffeine/

FAEMA, stands for Fabbrica Apparecchiature Elettromeccaniche e Affini, founded by Carlo Ernesto Valente, Milano. It doesn't surprise anybody this is 100% Italian.

Since 1945 one of the best coffee machines on the market.

But also since 1955 Faema has a long history of sponsoring professional cycling teams, acted as main or co-sponsor.

When I was talking above about two Belgian cycling icons I meant not only Eddy Merckx, but also Rik Van Looy. Both riders rode many years in the red/white colors, Rik, 7 years and Eddy, 3 years.

Faema was main sponsor in:
1955 FAEMA - GUERRA (with Koblet, Poblet and ...)
1956 FAEMA - GUERRA - VAN HAUWAERT (with Van Looy, Bahamontes, Gaul, Schotte and...)
1957 FAEMA - GUERRA - GRANOLLERS (with Van Looy, Gaul, Koblet and....)
1958 FAEMA - GUERRA - CLEMENT (with Van Looy, Bahamontes, Gaul and....)
1959 FAEMA - GUERRA (with Van Looy, Impanis, Sorgeloos and....)
1960 FAEMA (with Van Looy, Bahamontes, Impanis, Sorgeloos and....)
1961 FAEMA (with Van Looy, Gomez Del Moral, Impanis, Post and.....)
1962 FAEMA (with Gomez Del Moral, Jimenez and.....)
1963 FAEMA - FLANDRIA (with Foré, Gomez Del Moral, Jimenez, Planckaert, Stevens and....)
1964 FAEMA (only two Spanish riders had Faema as private sponsor)
1968 FAEMA (with Merckx, Adorni, Reybrouck, Sercu, Swerts and .....)
1969 FAEMA (with Merckx, Reybrouck, Sercu, Stevens, Swerts and....)
1970 FAEMINO - FAEMA (with Merckx, Huysmans, Stevens, Swerts, Zilioli and....)

they also were co sponsor in following teams
1961 EMI - FAEMA (only in Giro d'Italia)
1962 FLANDRIA - FAEMA - CLEMENT (with Van Looy, Foré, Planckaert, Post, Stevens and ...)
1978 BIANCHI - FAEMA (with Gimondi, De Muynck, Van Linden and....)

1979 BIANCHI - FAEMA (with Gimondi, De Muynck, Van Linden and....)