The link between cycling and caffeine is well established, both for performance enhancing reasons, but in the gravel world, the link is arguably more of a social one. Team Gravel Union are just as addicted as anyone else and we’ve had the pleasure of trying out some of Torq’s Three Peaks coffee beans recently. Read on to find out what we thought.

“This tempting blend of Brazilian, Honduran and Guatemalan Beans delivers a fruity aroma and delicate flavour profile with robust hints of five spice and dark chocolate.” There are some bits of marketing fluff for food and beverages that you read and you think “yeah, right” but tasting notes for coffee (in our view anyway), tend to be less waffly and more accurate. At the very least, they helped generate some excitement about the arrival of Torq’s Three Peaks blend of coffee beans. Torq are known for their wide range of nutrition/hydration products and although you might not instantly think of coffee in that category, it does have definite performance enhancing properties.

Torq have got a really detailed article on their website about the science behind how caffeine works in the body, but essentially it does two things – it allows muscles to mobilise calcium better, which increases the efficiency of muscular contractions and secondly, it blocks adenosine receptors in the brain which helps to keep us focussed and stimulated. Depending on whether you’re sat in the office trying to get the latest Gravel Union article finished, or heading out on your gravel bike for a ride, both of those things sound pretty positive. Overuse of caffeine can have downsides too though, so we’re big fans of the quality-not-quantity school of thought when it comes to drinking coffee.

You can buy your Torq coffee in bean format  (which is what we did) or ready-ground into a style of your choice. Their Three Peaks coffee which they describe as their “flagship offering” is said to “create a medium-high bodied, low acidity blend making for a delicious early morning go to.” Those of you with a proper caffeine addiction will know the rabbit hole that you can dive head first into when you start grinding your own beans. Trying to find the goldilocks grind ratio of fineness versus time is something you will either completely understand or will roll your eyes at. The benefit (when you get it right) is that you should get a better tasting coffee.

Luckily, we managed to dial the office grinder in pretty much straight away for the Three Peaks beans and we got perfect full-bodied espresso with plenty of flavour and a great crema which made delicious caffe macchiato. Whether it actually had any performance enhancing capabilities is harder to quantify, but the taste was delicious, so we’re now properly hooked.

Torq’s Three Peaks coffee is available direct from their website and costs from £8.95 for 250g.