We had three riders today in our banded group ride that were not able to access the coffee break feature, but majority of the group was able to access and use coffee breaks. The riders entered the pen from a free ride and not a pace partner ride. The riders came from a different world (Watopia) when entering the pen (Shisa Shakedown ride) as well. When the ride ended, they had roughly a minute delay but then they were able to use the coffee break feature appeared. This has happened to a couple riders over the course of our banded rides for the past several weeks.
Let’s see, today is March 13th, 2025 and today, I did a banded ride with Bikealicious: Big Foot Hills. Alas, my coffee break was not functioning…again! For other participants, this did not appear to be a problem. This has happened several times and I have written to customer support, but no reply. Based on the dates and experiences of other Zwifters, this is an ongoing issue that has not yet been resolved. Why?
Coffee stop isn’t working for me in meetups since the last update. Not in a workout I’ve been on for an hour, I have more than 5 km to go and it’s not even a greyed out icon.
Coffee stops weren’t available for anyone in a club ride (not a workout) that I did today. I can’t say if they were previous to this as I’ve never looked but someone mentioned it today.
The coffee stop icon didn’t show up (not greyed out – it was not there at all!) on a 90 minute banded group ride this morning. This wasn’t a workout – just friends riding together. Is this a bug?
if its already banded, then why would you need a coffee stop?
To stop pedalling?
you won’t just coast along with the group? I don’t know, haven’t done a banded ride in a very, very long time
Nope. You need cadence > 0 and power > 0 
No if you want to hop off the bike or stop pedaling for any reason, coffee break is the only way to stay with the group.
The banded ride issue was raised on Facebook recently and some people responded that it was working in their events. It is not possible to know if the lack of coffee stop is a bug without knowing how the specific event was comfigured.
If you stop pedaling on a banded ride, you’ll get dropped. Maybe you can catch up, maybe you can’t…
The idea of the coffee stop is to keep the group together so this doesn’t happen.
What they should probably provide instead is a way to easily teleport to any ride leader you’re with. Then you can have 3 mins or 10 mins to do whatever you want and just teleport when you are done.
A simple teleport back to the group or the beacon rider would solve this perfectly and avoid the need for people to face to destroy themselves trying to sweep slow riders back to the group which is sometimes futile when the slow rider(s) is/are too tired or gives up.
Coffee stops have been described repeatedly as being beneficial for this sweeping.
This would also avoid “distracting” icons that people insist on hiding. It may keep also keep riders in an event for longer before they drop out due to being too tired or not motivated - improving the social experience.
I know why people don’t want this solution - no free distance!
Yes, teleporting would do the trick for sure. But consider this: when you have a small group of friends riding together and one friend just wants to take a breather, it’s nice to be able to keep everyone together without the mickey mouse of that rider having to drop out and then teleport back in.
I’m not sure what problem Zwift was trying to solve when they eliminated the coffee stop from banded rides. Perhaps someone from Zwift could chime in here?
They have not eliminated coffee stop from banded rides. I’m unsure if this is a bug or a configuration problem. The best way forward would be for the event organizer to explain your experience to the Zwift events team directly.
Banded rides are not workouts, and banded meetups with friends are definitely not. A coffee stop lets you tend to the life that continues on while you stay with the group.
Folks get so bent out of shape about riders using coffee stops, as if it slows them down in some way. I don’t get it. All I’m looking for is a way to stay with the group so you can hop off and tend to life for a minute or two. Teleport would work if that were possible in a banded meetup, but it’s not. Add that in, or return the coffee stop. Either could work.
I’m not bent out of shape over it, I didn’t know that if you stop pedaling in a banded ride that you get dropped. The only thing I don’t like about coffee stops is seeing the icons above peoples heads cluttering up the screen.
Which event, or was this a meetup? Or a club banded ride?
Mostly I see the issue relegated to banded Meetups
This was a banded meetup. The coffee stop works on banded club rides.
Maybe Zwift things the banded meetup, or any meetup for that matter, as a race or race training rather than a friendly gathering. To relieve this issue there should be a Coffee Stop disable button when you setup the meeting.