Suspended Coffee: It’s About More Than The Coffee – Pay It Forward
SuspendedCoffees.com is approaching it’s first birthday on 27th March. I heard about Suspended Coffees a few months ago and thought what a great idea it was. So what is ‘suspended coffee’, how did it start and how does it work?
Coffee drinking is almost a religion in Italy and the Neapolitans led the way in establishing a tradition called ‘Caffee Sopresso’ – suspended coffee. Legend has it that if good fortune favoured a citizen of Naples, the individual would mark the occasion by purchasing a celebratory coffee for themselves and buying an extra cup which was suspended for someone less fortunate. The ‘Barista’ – the bar or coffee shop owner – would keep a log of any extra paid-for coffees and, if, as and when, an individual who was down on their luck enquired about a suspended coffee, a cup was duly served and chalked off the tab. As a national tradition ‘Caffee Sopresso’ continued through the war ravaged, recession-hit early 1900s all the way through the 2nd World War, but began to wane in the wake of Mussolini’s downfall and the years of frugality that followed.
Now, John Sweeney, the man behind Suspended Coffees, a 29-year old, unemployed plumber from Cork, has bridged a divide spanning decades, resurrecting the ethos of ‘Caffee Sopresso’ and ensuring it percolates through to a worldwide audience. The married, father-of-four suffered an industrial injury last year and subsequently was unable to work. Notwithstanding the stresses of having to provide for his wife and four children, John came across the origin of Suspended Coffees and, in his own words was ‘blown away’. “I’ve always wanted to find a way of ‘making a difference’ –yes, I know that might sound a bit clichéd, but I honestly did, and when I read about Suspended Coffees I thought ‘this is it’.”
Being unemployed, John found himself looking at the world from a different perspective and his desire to make it a better place came to the fore. He started up a Suspended Coffees page on Facebook and set about trying to find stories of human kindness, ones in keeping with the ethos of Suspended Coffees.
“It’s simply about doing a good deed, something kind where the individual doesn’t seek individual recognition. The reward is simply knowing that someone less fortunate, someone in genuine need will benefit from the generous deed of a fellow human being.”
John is clear about one thing: “A cup of coffee—it’s not going to change the world. It’s not going to change someone’s life. It’s a good will-gesture. Start with a cup of coffee, and the sky’s the limit.”John’s Suspended Coffees idea spreads across the globe. A few volunteers cropped up—six spread across the U.S., Canada, Belgium, and the UK—to help sort through hundreds of backlogged messages and keep up the website. The sweep of Suspended Coffees has been such that John still needs more volunteers.
Coffee shops have adopted the program in different ways. Starbucks in the UK donates and matches proceeds through its charity program. Idaho Cafe in Cork was overrun with a glut of suspended coffees and ended up donating 1,600 euros to the local homeless shelter.
John (far right) with strangers he met on the streets of Cork while introducing the idea of Suspended Coffees.
This is the spirit John sees in the movement. “It’s about local coffee shops, where you know your barista,” he says. “It’s about communities coming together and looking after people directly in their communities. It’s about starting small. I think pretty much everyone will be comfortable with the price of a cup of coffee, if they feel it would brighten someone’s day.”
If you would like to get involved here’s how you can help whether you’re an individual or a cafe.
Here’s a list of participating cafes in the UK
