Olympic Champions leave their bikes to be baristas at George Street’s Meander Apparel this weekend
For one weekend only, the gold-winning Rio trio of Olympic cyclists Callum Skinner, Owain Doull and Philip Hindes will be donning their medals and rolling up their sleeves to make coffee, give out signed cards and chat about the epic stories behind their newest venture at their Meadowbank Cafe situated inside the Meander Apparel pop up shop on George Street.
The Five Rings Coffee founders will be parking their bikes to work behind the bar offering the pick me up on Saturday November 14 and Sunday November 15 and with any purchase over £30 in the Meander Apparel shop, visitors can get their Five Rings coffee for free.
The coffee bar also preserves a piece of Edinburgh history, as the Five Rings Coffee bar is made from part of the track from the Meadowbank Velodrome, which hosted two Commonwealth Games and kickstarted the career of many cycling legends including Skinner.
After the velodrome closed down, and the wood which made the track was left for scrap, Callum managed to talk the security guard in to allowing him to take a piece, and took as much as he could carry from the site as a keepsake.
The wood, which was made into a bar table was then put to use as a symbolic part of the Five Rings story, nodding to Edinburgh’s cycling history as well as showcasing a part of the coffee culture of cyclists.
Callum said: “As a new brand launched in lockdown, it’s been tricky for us at Five Rings to get the crucial customer facetime that we’ve craved, which is why we originally jumped at the chance to set up shop in the Meander Apparel pop up.
“It’s been absolutely amazing meeting customers and spreading the word about the brand and we can’t wait for this weekend when, for the first time, all three of us can come together in store to chat about our two passions - cycling and world-class coffee.”
Jill Henry, co-founder of Meander Apparel added: “We’re so excited to have all three Five Rings founders in store this weekend. It’s an incredible and unique opportunity for us as a small business to work alongside such inspiring and successful athletes, and we are thrilled that we can share a bit of this experience with our customers through our store.”