Coffee Encounters Book, 2013
Suspended Coffee
In a world where many of us want to help the less fortunate but aren't sure how, the suspended coffee movement offers a simple answer—one that combines Italian tradition, charity, and warm coffee. The process begins when one courteous customer purchases an extra coffee in addition to their own order at a coffee shop. Then, the cafe holds onto this coffee, a suspended coffee, until a person who can't afford to buy a coffee visits and asks for it. The cafe serves it up piping hot, making all the difference for someone down on their luck.
Thought to have begun in Naples where the movement goes by "caffe sospeso," suspended coffee is a way of paying it forward. After Italy, approximately 150 cafes in Bulgaria took up the cause, serving the comforting flavours of coffee to thousands of impoverished people. In January 2013, a Facebook page was developed for suspended coffee, and within three months, it received over 37,000 likes. Actor Nathan Fillian has since tweeted about suspended coffees to his 1.7 million Twitter followers, and cafes around the world, from Sydney to Seattle, have adopted the cause. Its success can in part be attributed to the fact that the movement doesn't require a pledge of financial support from a major donor to get off the ground. With suspended coffee, one person can make a real and immediate impact.
Social media is indeed playing the role of messenger again, and it appears that it will continue to do so. Social media has proven itself one of the best ways for people who embrace suspended coffees to communicate, and the movement requires significant communication. Firstly, cafes have to tell their customers that they're onboard, and additionally, customers will want to see how they've made an impact. To share the effects that suspended coffee has made in thousands of people's lives, cafes have begun to use Facebook and Twitter to share pictures of smiling people enjoying suspended coffees. Other sites are compiling lists of participating cafes, city by city.
But what about sharing the movement with those less fortunate? After all, it's unlikely those in need will have access to the internet. Cafe owners and baristas from London to San Paulo have asked this question, and many agree that a simple sticker in a window does the trick. In Melbourne, Declan Jacobs, who set up the Suspended Coffee Society Melbourne Facebook page, printed 200 window stickers with the message "Suspended Coffee Supporter" for cafes, and others are following suit.
Another question has been how to keep track of the number of suspended coffees purchased by customers, and many cafes have found an easy solution in keeping a jar full of tokens, whether bottle caps or sugar sachets. Additionally, others have asked what will happened ifthe number of people purchasing suspended coffees outgrows the demand. In response, cafes have said that they will donate any excess funds to charity at the end of each month.
These solutions, mostly conceived by cafes, reveal one of the greatest aspects of the suspended coffee movement: It is a grassroots movement, and by working together, the coffee world can help those less fortunate. Quite simply, the movement turns a simple cup ofcoffee into a random act of kindness.
Since gaining momentum, Suspended Coffee has inspired others in other industries to start their own suspended campaigns. For example, The Local Grocer grocery store in Perth has initiated the Suspended Food Box campaign. Customers can purchase a suspended food box for a flat fee, and the store fills it with healthy groceries at cost and then donates the boxes to Foodbank Western Australia. The grocery store makes no profit. The idea of suspended giving seems to have no boundaries, and it may be applicable to everything from clothing to housing-even education.
The real importance of suspended coffee can only be fully experienced when you see the look on the face of a person receiving a warm, free coffee. A story from Toronto in Canada gives a glimpse into the magnitude of the campaign. On a frosty morning, a young girl saw a man who looked almost frozen lying on a cardboard box. She had seen the Suspended Coffee Facebook page, and she asked him if he would like a hot beverage. The man accepted, and·they walked together to the nearest cafe. There, the shop owner said that the cafe didn't have a suspended coffee available but that it did have a suspended meal. The man's face lit up, and the girl felt that, for one moment, nothing separated the two of them. A picture of the man eating the meal has since circulated widely online, sharing the cause with others.
Suspended Coffee
In a world where many of us want to help the less fortunate but aren't sure how, the suspended coffee movement offers a simple answer—one that combines Italian tradition, charity, and warm coffee. The process begins when one courteous customer purchases an extra coffee in addition to their own order at a coffee shop. Then, the cafe holds onto this coffee, a suspended coffee, until a person who can't afford to buy a coffee visits and asks for it. The cafe serves it up piping hot, making all the difference for someone down on their luck.
Thought to have begun in Naples where the movement goes by "caffe sospeso," suspended coffee is a way of paying it forward. After Italy, approximately 150 cafes in Bulgaria took up the cause, serving the comforting flavours of coffee to thousands of impoverished people. In January 2013, a Facebook page was developed for suspended coffee, and within three months, it received over 37,000 likes. Actor Nathan Fillian has since tweeted about suspended coffees to his 1.7 million Twitter followers, and cafes around the world, from Sydney to Seattle, have adopted the cause. Its success can in part be attributed to the fact that the movement doesn't require a pledge of financial support from a major donor to get off the ground. With suspended coffee, one person can make a real and immediate impact.
Social media is indeed playing the role of messenger again, and it appears that it will continue to do so. Social media has proven itself one of the best ways for people who embrace suspended coffees to communicate, and the movement requires significant communication. Firstly, cafes have to tell their customers that they're onboard, and additionally, customers will want to see how they've made an impact. To share the effects that suspended coffee has made in thousands of people's lives, cafes have begun to use Facebook and Twitter to share pictures of smiling people enjoying suspended coffees. Other sites are compiling lists of participating cafes, city by city.
But what about sharing the movement with those less fortunate? After all, it's unlikely those in need will have access to the internet. Cafe owners and baristas from London to San Paulo have asked this question, and many agree that a simple sticker in a window does the trick. In Melbourne, Declan Jacobs, who set up the Suspended Coffee Society Melbourne Facebook page, printed 200 window stickers with the message "Suspended Coffee Supporter" for cafes, and others are following suit.
Another question has been how to keep track of the number of suspended coffees purchased by customers, and many cafes have found an easy solution in keeping a jar full of tokens, whether bottle caps or sugar sachets. Additionally, others have asked what will happened ifthe number of people purchasing suspended coffees outgrows the demand. In response, cafes have said that they will donate any excess funds to charity at the end of each month.
These solutions, mostly conceived by cafes, reveal one of the greatest aspects of the suspended coffee movement: It is a grassroots movement, and by working together, the coffee world can help those less fortunate. Quite simply, the movement turns a simple cup ofcoffee into a random act of kindness.
Since gaining momentum, Suspended Coffee has inspired others in other industries to start their own suspended campaigns. For example, The Local Grocer grocery store in Perth has initiated the Suspended Food Box campaign. Customers can purchase a suspended food box for a flat fee, and the store fills it with healthy groceries at cost and then donates the boxes to Foodbank Western Australia. The grocery store makes no profit. The idea of suspended giving seems to have no boundaries, and it may be applicable to everything from clothing to housing-even education.
The real importance of suspended coffee can only be fully experienced when you see the look on the face of a person receiving a warm, free coffee. A story from Toronto in Canada gives a glimpse into the magnitude of the campaign. On a frosty morning, a young girl saw a man who looked almost frozen lying on a cardboard box. She had seen the Suspended Coffee Facebook page, and she asked him if he would like a hot beverage. The man accepted, and·they walked together to the nearest cafe. There, the shop owner said that the cafe didn't have a suspended coffee available but that it did have a suspended meal. The man's face lit up, and the girl felt that, for one moment, nothing separated the two of them. A picture of the man eating the meal has since circulated widely online, sharing the cause with others.
